Community impact is a key pillar of Bank of America’s brand purpose of making financial lives better through the power of every connection.

For the nation’s second-largest bank, sports sponsorships are a meaningful way to create successful outcomes for local communities and maximize the financial good we can deliver through shared passions and positive emotions.

So, when BofA had the opportunity to sign on as the new presenting partner of the Boston Marathon® in 2024, it felt like a huge opportunity for community impact. The world’s oldest and most prestigious marathon draws 30,000+ runners, 1,000,000 spectators and millions more remotely who witness the effects of athleticism, tradition and community that the race brings.

We set the bold ambition of using our new Boston Marathon® sponsorship as a way to maximize financial impact for marathon communities and beyond.

A sponsorship is typically focused squarely on the brand itself. In our inaugural year as presenting sponsor of the Boston Marathon®, Bank of America aimed to use sponsorship for good.

We created The Human Sponsorship, a charity fundraising platform powered by 30 individual athletes and the reasons why they are running for charity. We used the iconic Boston Marathon® bib to write each individual reason. To Cure Childhood Cancer. Improve Maternal Health. To Remember My Mother. Each reason was personal and a powerful reminder of the importance of these charitable organizations.

Each story and piece of content included QR codes and direct links to the fundraising platform, making it as easy for people to donate to charity as possible.

For The Human Sponsorship, we leveraged our global brand to activate our network of 69 million customers to enable runners to boost their giving networks through digital tools, emotional storytelling, and our media reach and scale.

We heroed charity runners in all of our assets, and told their individual charity stories about why they run and who they run for. We also made it easier for people to donate to charity runners with our partners at the giving platform GivenGain.com.

Our actions sparked donations to the 168 Boston Marathon® official charities and have reached an all time of $42.5MM and counting.

To illuminate The Human Sponsorship and drive donations, we blanketed Boston in the month leading up to the race. We shared the inspiring stories of 30 runners across local TV, radio, out of home and print. Our presence extended to BofA’s financial centers and owned channels, to feature our runners on exterior windows, digital screens, ATMs and bofa.com. We outfitted employee runners with race gear and supporters with cheer gear, amplifying the support network. To give each runner and their charity the largest platform possible, we extended our reach nationally to ESPN, the OSCARS and the NCAA Final Four broadcasts, streaming audio, radio and custom partnerships. Across social media, we created custom content for Bank’s 200,000 employees to share and we captured race-day action for real-time social posts. Before and during race day weekend, we delivered ten race-themed, on-the-ground experiences to connect runners, employees, and the marathon community.

The community impact delivered by The Human Sponsorship will reach well beyond race day.

Charitable Giving: Donations to the 168 Boston Marathon® official charities have reached an all time of $42.5MM and counting.