Running for a Reason: Eugene Marathon’s Charity Program Doubles in Size and Fundraising

Team Ronald McDonald House before the start of the 2025 Eugene Marathon.

When the 2026 Eugene Marathon, Half Marathon and Eugene 5K presented by OCCU sold out in mid-January, there was only one way for participants to get into those races — by joining a charity team through the event’s charity program: Run for a Reason presented by Ronald McDonald House. 

Immediately following the sell-out, all 20 charity teams had a sudden influx of runners and over the next few months, 1,000+ new runners signed up for a charity bib in exchange for their commitment to fundraise. Now, with two more weeks to go until race weekend, the teams have already raised over $535,000 with three more weeks to fundraise.

That is exponential growth since 2022, when the Eugene Marathon returned to Hayward Field at the University of Oregon after a three-year hiatus and the Run for a Reason program returned as well: with 10 teams, 115 runners and a fundraising total of $75,000. 

The program saw growth in both 2023 and 2024, raising over $175,000 in 2023 and $233,000 in 2024. Then, in 2025, the event sold out in March and a significant jump was made to 23 teams, 497 runners, and over $284,000 fundraised.

Enter 2026; following the January sell-out, runners from all over the US started learning about the charities and joining a team to get their bib. Combined with the runners who had already committed to a team prior to the January sell-out, a total of 1477 participants are signed up to Run for a Reason on the following teams: A Family for Every Child, Boys & Girls Club of Emerald Valley, CASA Lane County, Children’s Cancer Research, Circle of Friends, Community Supported Shelters, Fanconi Research, Functional Foundations, Girls on the Run Greater Oregon, Jhpiego, Kid’s First, Parkinson’s Foundation, Portland Rugby, Relief Nursery, Ronald McDonald House, Rose Women’s Choir, Sponsors Inc., Susan G Komen, and Two Daughters Foundation.

“The early sell out made a huge impact this year,” said Jess Ubel, Development Director at Heartfelt House, Ronald McDonald House Oregon. “And I would say the success of this year’s program for us, has been a combination of the sell out and that our team has such a dedicated group of returning runners along with supporting business partners.”

Ubel’s team and fundraising numbers have also seen huge growth over the last five years, from $50,000 in 2022 to over $150,000 in 2024 and now with 325 members, she’s hoping her team will get close to $200K in 2026.

Boys & Girls Club of Emerald Valley team members following the 2025 Eugene 5K.

Boys & Girls Club of Emerald Valley has also seen huge growth since it joined the Run for a Reason program in 2023. 

“When we first started we were seeing 30-50 runners sign up each year and raising about $15,000,” Boys & Girls Club of Emerald Valley Executive Director Shelley Ivey said. “This year has been very different for us. In January, when the marathon sold out, we had tons of interest and we now have over 170 runners who have already raised over $71,000, and the money they raised is going toward summer camp scholarships.”

“It’s been really tremendous to see the national reach that the marathon has as a destination event,” Ivey continued. “We have runners from all over the US and many of them joined our team because they have connections to a Boys & Girls Club in their own area, so they were really excited to support our team.”