Another big record was set at the Boston Marathon this spring, but this one had nothing to do with race times.
This past week, the Boston Athletic Association announced that the marathon raised $50.4 million for 176 different nonprofits, easily besting the record set last year of $45.7 million. While most of the 30,000 runners earned a spot by meeting a qualifying time for their age group, about 10 percent were in the race because they raised funds for a charity. The BAA sets a minimum donation of $5,000 per runner, but allows the charities to set an even higher amount.
This marks the second year that Bank of America took over lead sponsorship of the race, fulfilling the role once held by life insurer John Hancock. BAA president Jack Fleming said the bank’s approach to highlighting the everyday, back-of-the-pack runners and their charitable quests made a difference in the fundraising.
“Over the last two years, the ‘takeover’ that we’ve seen for Boston on the occasion of Marathon Weekend has elevated the profile [of charity runners] and made giving easier,” Fleming said in an email.
Miceal Chamberlain, the bank’s Northeast head of commercial banking, said the fund-raising legacy started by the BAA and John Hancock in 1989 was one of the big factors behind the bank’s interest in becoming a sponsor. The bank put its marketing muscle behind the effort, using everything from TV ads to its national network of ATMs to highlight charity runners, and created a web portal that allowed people to donate to runners, or to specific charities.
The BAA does a great job highlighting the elites, Chamberlain said, but bank executives wanted to turn the spotlight on the fund-raising runners and the nonprofits they’re supporting.
“We really saw it as a big opportunity to further shine a light on the charity partners,” Chamberlain said. “We’re just building on [what] the BAA and Hancock have already done. We put a different twist on it.”
Chamberlain said BofA employees look forward to Patriots Day to volunteer for the race, and in many cases, cheer on colleagues who are running and raising funds.
“There’s a tremendous sense of pride,” Chamberlain said. “This race means so much to the people who grew up in the region.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.