Every year thousands of our runners much needed funds for charities from across the UK. Since 2000 nearly £30m has been raised, which is an amazing achievement and one that we want to really build on. In 2023 our goal is to smash our best year and raise £3m for our charity partners! We work with more than 150 incredible charities, small and large; local and national and they are all very important to us. Help us to help them. In this section you'll find everything you need to get involved, if you have your own entry or if you'd like to apply for a guaranteed entry.

What's an 'own place' runner?

If you have entered our public entry system and paid for an entry, you’re what’s known as an own place runner. You might not have thought of running for a charity before, but you should, it can be really rewarding. You don’t need to raise a pre-agreed amount of money for your chosen charity like you do if you apply for a ‘guaranteed entry’, but just bear in mind that if the charity you pick does provide you with any products or services like a running shirt or training tips, it all cost money. Do your best to raise as much as you can. Aim for £200 and then keep going…

What is a guaranteed charity entry?

A guaranteed charity entry is one that is owned by the charity. They are allocated to runners who can guarantee to raise a pre-agreed amount of money for that charity. This amount will differ by charity and some charities will have a lot more entries than others. Whatever the amount agreed it is important that the runner sticks to the agreement and raises the amount that was agreed at the start. Charities will have budgeted for this and it’s important that they receive what was promised. Some charities will receive more enquiries for their entries than they have entries available so just because you apply doesn’t mean you’ll get one. All of the guaranteed charity entries in the Bath Half come with free membership of Realbuzz Club’s subscription training plans that give you extensive training and fundraising support from the minute you sign up right through to race day and beyond.

Charity Runner Rewards

You’re no longer running this race alone – you're running shoulder with a whole team of charity runners; all working together to reach the finish line and raise money for an amazing cause. Your chosen charity will be with you every step of the way, offering you all the support you need during your training and fundraising, race day and beyond!

You'll receive a whole host of benefits as a charity runner. These vary from charity to charity and between charity place and own place runners, but here’s the type of thing you can expect:

• Charity running vest or t-shirt
• Training plans
• Coaching sessions
• Access to virtual events for training
• Run groups and meetups
• VIP pre and post-race zones on the big day
• Dedicated cheering stations on the course
• And of course, the all-important party after the race!

What charity can I run for?

You can run for whatever charity you like, but if you are looking for one of the special guaranteed entries the only charities that have these are listed here. If you have an entry that you have secured through our public entry system you can run for whoever you like. If you choose one of our partner charities however, you know that they know all about the event and will be able to support you in your fundraising and training journey.

What charity should I choose?

There are a lot of charities to choose from! It’s always a good idea to choose one that you have an affinity with. The more you can relate to your charity the more committed you’re likely to be and the more you’re likely to raise for them. Fundraising can be extremely rewarding and it’s a lot easier if you have a connection or relationship with your charity. Check how they can support you as well. Do they offer fundraising advice or training tips? All of our partner charities are listed here.

Our partner charities

We have partner charities from all over the UK. There are many from the local Bath area and some much further afield. Many have been working with us from our very first event and some are new for 2023. They have one thing in common. They are all committed to making your Bath Half experience a highly memorable one and in return they'd love as much support from you as possible. They are all listed here and you can also search for them by charity type.

We have five lead charities, and you'll find more information on them below. They are our local charity, Dorothy House, and four national charities, Prostate Cancer UK, the Alzheimer's Society, Cancer Research UK and NSPCC. They will have a big presence on race day and will all support you every step of the way.

How do I raise money?

The first thing you need to do is to set up a fundraising page. We work with justgiving.com and they can offer you plenty of support when it comes to maximising your fundraising opportunities. Once you’ve followed all their tips to setting up the perfect page (like great copy and pictures and detail about why you’re running for your chosen charity) then you need to tell everyone you know about it! Use every social media channel you have at your disposal to get the word out. Email it to contacts, WhatsApp, text, everything. Got a TikTok account? Get one and start posting. Document your running and fundraising experiences and have some fun. The more imaginative you can be the more money you’ll raise!

With the support of your charity, you’ll easily be able to fit your fundraising around your training efforts, and you’ll have so much fun along the way. From bake sales to bucket collections, there are so many exciting and effective ways to fundraise.

On realbuzz.com you'll find 100 fundraising ideas that actually work. There’s something for everyone in there, and these are all proven techniques to smash your fundraising target!

Fundraising targets

When you get a charity place, you’ll agree on a fundraising target with your chosen charity. The typical fundraising amount for one of the charities guaranteed entries is £500 – this will make a huge difference to your charity and enable them to carry on their life-saving work. If you have your own entry, you can fundraise whatever you like, but obviously the more you can raise the better!

The Virtual BATH HALF and BATH 10K

You can also fundraise by running the BATH HALF or BATH 10K virtual events if you can’t make it to Bath for the physical event (or you could do the physical and virtual events for charity, with the virtual being part of your training!) The virtual events are part of the Roman Britain series from realbuzz Adventures. Some charities have guaranteed entries in the virtual events as well as the physical event. Get in touch with them here to find out more. There is some seriously good bling on offer!