Runners from 106 countries and all around Turkey participated in the 41 edition of the Istanbul Marathon, held under the banner "Istanbul is Yours, Don't Stop, Run". It is regarded as one of the best marathons in Europe, with a route connecting the Asian and European continents, crossing a bridge over the Bosphorus strait. Participants competed in three categories: the full 42 km marathon, a 15 km race and a public run, which was held on an 8 km route.
The marathon primarily aims to attract runners who compete for charities. Last year, charities collected a total of TRY 12.1 million (EUR 1.8 million) in donations and this year this amount reached TRY 17.3 million with 13,286 runners collecting donations from 153,938 donators, which will serve to help 21,697 living beings, (trees, animals, humans, etc.)
The “Adım Adım” (“Step by Step”) initiative is a volunteer-based social initiative in Turkey. Established in 2007 by six social entrepreneurs, it was founded in order to motivate Turkish citizens who did not have the inclination to raise money for a charitable organisation of their own choice, to help address urgent social problems. At that time, nearly 90% of charitable support for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) came from corporate or institutional donations, and NGOs struggled to engage grassroots support for their initiatives.
For the first 8 years, Adım Adım operated within a core group of 8 NGOs. In 2016, they decided to expand. At this point, Türkiye Alzheimer Derneği (the Turkish Alzheimer association) joined Adım Adım, in order to benefit from charitable donations given through the sponsorship of athletes in local sports events. All stakeholders - fundraisers (runners), donors, and NGOs - were connected via a comprehensive online platform.
There are stringent conditions to become a member of this platform: a transparency manifesto must be signed; the NGO’s balance sheets for the last three years must be published on the web; and finally it is necessary to present a project for the marathon, with all financial details.
This year, the Turkish Alzheimer association proudly announced its participation in its 5 consecutive marathon. 127 runners collected approximately EUR 56,000 from 2,192 donators. Over the five marathons, 787 runners have collected a total of EUR 154,000. The first two marathons raised funds for home care services and the last three have raised funds for the daycare centre in Istanbul.