As local charities face increasing challenges to secure funding and engage new donors, Twin Cities In Motion is launching the Raise the Community Pace initiative, a transformative effort to more than double its annual charity fundraising impact from $1 million to $2.62 million by 2028.
The ambitious plan intends to grow the number of race participants raising funds at Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend events from 800 to 3,000 as well as increasing the roster of charity fundraising teams from 54 this year to 100 by the culmination of the campaign.
A key component of Raise the Community Pace will be the shift from a random registration drawing in TCM’s popular Medtronic TC 10 Mile to first-come, first-served registration opening in March.
The 10 mile registration change serves two important objectives:
Providing Certainty to Runners: By opening registration in March, thousands of runners will be able to secure their spot in the 10 Mile early in the year, eliminating the uncertainty of the summer drawing.
Enhancing Fundraising Impact: By starting the registration process earlier in the year, charity teams will have more time to recruit and engage fundraising runners and fundraising runners themselves will have more time to secure donations.
"This change gives charities like Brave Like Gabe more time to engage and support charity runners, which will lead to more runners for us and more money raised for rare cancer research," Alyssa Hawkins, Executive Director of the Brave Like Gabe Foundation explained.
Registration for the 2025 Medtronic TC 10 Mile will open to the general public on Tuesday, March 4, alongside the other races of Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend. The first 2,000 spots in the 10 mile will be available at $110, with prices increasing as the race fills. The 10 mile field will be capped at 12,000 runners; 1000 entries in the field will be reserved for fundraisers on charity teams.
"We want our 10 mile race to be a centerpiece event on their running calendars ..."
“As the largest race on marathon weekend, the Medtronic TC 10 Mile has a special place in the goals and plans of our runners,” TCM President Dean Orton noted. “We want our 10 mile race to be a centerpiece event on their running calendars, one that they can plan for early in each year.”
With the Raise the Community Pace initiative, TCM aims to increase charity fundraising participation across all of its events from under 3% of runners to more than 10% of participants over the next four years.
“In order to meet our Raise the Community Pace goals, we’ll be asking our runners to step forward and seriously consider using their Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon races in 2025 and beyond to run on a fundraising team,” Twin Cities In Motion President Dean Orton said. “We see fundraising running as another example of our organization’s Move for More ethos.”
Additional first-year efforts of Raise the Community Pace include:
Optimizing 10 Mile Charity Entry Use – The 10 mile registration change will leave fewer charity entries unused due to the longer interval between the opening of registration and the race itself.
Reducing the Cost of Entries – The price charity teams pay for their fundraising entries will be reduced for both the 10 mile and Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.
Adding Charity Team Entries – The initiative will add 150 charity fundraising entries to the TC Half Marathon for More, the charity-only race added to marathon weekend this year.
Increased Charity Team Support – TCM is committed to enhancing the resources it devotes to support charity teams to help them achieve better results in our events.
Increased Runner Support – Twin Cities In Motion is committing to raising awareness and support of charity running through its communication channels with inspirational and practical content for fundraising runners.
Beyond these initial actions, TCM ultimately intends to open its shorter, more approachable run/walk races on marathon weekend – the TC 5K, presented by Fredrikson, and the TC 10K, presented by Dermatology Consultants -- to charity teams, as well as initiating charity opportunities at its Get in Gear races held in spring.
" ... together we can achieve the goals we’re setting and make a big difference in the community.”
“We know having 3000 runners raising $2.62 million is an ambitious goal,” Orton said. “But we’re confident that between the capacity of our events, the need for additional fundraising opportunities voiced by fellow nonprofits, and the open-heartedness of the running community, together we can achieve the goals we’re setting and make a big difference in the community.”
Nonprofit organizations interested in learning more about fundraising opportunities should visit TCM’s Charity Program page for details and to apply to become a charity team on Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend in 2025.
Runner-fundraisers and individuals interested in learning more about running for charity can peruse the 2024 list of charity teams, here. The list of 2025 charity teams will be unveiled in late February, prior to the launch of marathon weekend registration on March 4.
“We hope that in March when our participants are choosing their 2025 marathon weekend race distances, they’ll also choose a cause as well and dedicate their efforts toward it,” Orton said. “Together we can Raise the Community Pace.”