Impact Report — Round One

We believe that being active changes lives. But we also know that for many people, discovering the joy of movement isn’t straightforward. The barriers can be numerous, and they aren’t always easy to overcome.

That’s why Find a Race teamed up with Run the World to launch the Go Far Fund.

The story so far

The Run the World Foundation was founded by Dan Thompson, a British businessman and non-executive director of Find a Race. Dan has spent most of the last fifteen years finding ways to get more people moving. He created the Gold Challenge, which attracted over 100,000 participants and was part of the official London 2012 mass participation legacy programme, and has since organised multi-national relays on behalf of various causes and supported running groups all over the world. He is also a trustee at Panathlon which, in 2025-26, gave over 74,000 young people with disabilities and special needs the opportunity to take part in competitive sport. At the heart of the Foundation is the belief that sport and physical activity have the power to uplift disadvantaged communities and improve lives.

Having supported grassroots initiatives before, Dan wanted to find a way to do it again. At Find a Race, we’d also been thinking about how we could make a difference for some time, so when Dan brought the idea for the Go Far Fund to us, we were immediately on board.

Across 2025, we awarded grants of up to £1,000 to multiple grassroots projects that help people get more active, with a particular focus on disadvantaged or underserved communities.

The case for action

According to data from Sport England, more than 30 million adults in England are now meeting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, an increase of 859,000 people compared to the year before. That’s a big step forward.

But the headline figure hides a more uneven picture showing just how much work is still to be done.

53.8% of the least affluent adults are active | 49.1% of disabled adults are active | 44.3% of adults aged 75+ are active

Source: Sport England Active Lives Adult Survey, Nov 2024-5

Women (62.2%) are still less likely to be active than men (67.3%). Black adults (57.2%) and Asian adults (56.3%) are less likely to be active than White adults. And, unfortunately, these inequalities compound, meaning people facing multiple barriers are considerably less likely to be active than those facing none.

The gap isn’t closing on its own; in fact, data shows that the divide between the most and least deprived areas has widened over time. While national organisations and funders have the money and reach to work at scale, grassroots projects are often run by people who know exactly what their communities need to thrive. The Go Far Fund exists to support these smaller initiatives.

Round One

Launching the Go Far Fund was like taking a step into the unknown. We believed in the idea, but we had no idea how it would be received, or if the projects we hoped to reach would find us.

After just a few days, we were blown away by the response. Applications came in from running clubs, disability sports charities, women’s groups, LGBTQIA+ communities, and inclusion projects focused on getting people moving from across the UK, each one making a compelling case for why their community needed support. Narrowing it down to six was a challenge because every application we read reminded us why we started this.

Here’s what the six projects did with the funding.

Free running for everyone, powered by volunteers

The Fit Like Joggers

The Fit Like Joggers have been getting people off the sofa and onto the road for over nine years. Their twice-yearly Couch to 5k programme attracts up to 60 beginners at a time, and many of those runners never leave, which explains how the club has grown to be one of the biggest in the country, all without ever charging a membership fee.

Unlike some beginner running programmes, which leave people wondering ‘what next?’, The Fit Like Joggers gives members the structure and motivation they need to turn running into a lifelong hobby, and that’s what we really loved about this project.

None of what the club has achieved would be possible without a group of 30+ volunteer leaders, who, between them, lead 13 running groups every single week. The Go Far Fund grant went towards hi-vis tops and winter arm lights to keep those leaders safe and visible on dark runs, with a little left over for personalised t-shirts so new members always know who to follow.

Since then, the club has barely stopped. Highlights from the past few months include a group trip to the Palma half-marathon, big numbers at RunBalmoral, and four members toeing the line at the 2026 London Marathon.

‘We are still organising 13 different running groups a week and seeing many, many new runners join the club all the time.’

David Scott, Founder of The Fit Like Joggers.

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A free, safe 5k/10k for the LGBTQIA+ community

Queer Running Club - TRANSCEND

When we first spoke to the Queer Running Club team, they opened our eyes to challenges we hadn’t really considered before. Running with other people can feel exposing at the best of times, but for many trans and queer runners, that vulnerability is heightened by the fear of judgement from people who don't share their experience. It quickly became clear to us just how vital it is to have dedicated spaces where members of the LGBTQIA+ community can run together in a safe environment.

Back in July 2024, Queer Running Club launched TRANSCEND, a free 5k and 10k running and walking event on Hackney Marshes, held the week before London Trans Pride. The route was planned with input from a trans wheelchair user to make sure it worked for everyone, and 220 people took part in the first year.

It was a great starting point, but Kole and the team realised that by focusing on the event itself, they had missed an opportunity to reach people who weren’t yet ready to race. That was how they came up with the idea for TRANSCENDERS, a free 16-week beginners running academy for the Trans+ community, with sessions on Monday evenings in East and South London. They just needed the funding to make it happen, and that’s where the Go Far Fund grant came in. Attendance fluctuated over winter, as it often does, but a regular group of five or six people now shows up week after week.

‘It really makes a huge difference to be able to create these safe spaces for our community, where they can show up and run without any fear of judgement or ostracisation.’

Kole Fulmine, Head Coach and Founder of Queer Running Club.

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Sports and social opportunities for blind or partially sighted people across Greater London

Metro Blind Sport

If you lost your sight tomorrow, would you know how to stay active? It’s not something most of us think about, and before we came across Metro Blind Sport, it wasn’t something we’d considered either. The assumption is often that visual impairment and sport don’t mix, but why should that be the case? Metro Blind Sport has been challenging that assumption since 1973, making sport accessible for people with visual impairments across Greater London.

The numbers behind the need are stark: 76% of blind or partially-sighted people experience loneliness, and 80% say that sport would help. It’s not hard to see why, and that’s what drew us to this project.

Metro’s Primary Sports Programme offers regular, accessible cricket, bowls, football, tennis, and goalball sessions across London, alongside walks and social events aimed at the most isolated members of the community. A ‘meet and greet’ service where volunteers and staff meet members at agreed locations and travel with them ensures no one is put off by the journey.

The Go Far Fund grant of £500 helped Metro reach the minimum threshold for Big Give’s Christmas Challenge, a matched-funding campaign where donations made during a set window are doubled. The single contribution helped generate over £5,000 in total.

‘We are now supporting almost 700 members. That means more blind and visually impaired people are benefitting from improved physical activity, increased confidence, and stronger social connections.’

Naomi Blanchard, Senior Fundraiser at Metro Blind Sport.

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Weekly exercise sessions for older people in Westminster

The Active Ageing Project

This project was a particularly personal one for Dan. Having lost his mother to cancer, he’d seen first hand how important both physical activity and social contact are for older people. When he read about Age UK Westminster's Active Ageing Project, which provides weekly exercise classes for people aged 50+ at the Beethoven Centre in Queen's Park, it resonated with him immediately.

The sessions are designed to work for all mobility levels, from seated to standing, and are led by instructor Sharon, whose participants clearly think the world of her. After each class, there's time for refreshments and a chat, which matters as much to many attendees as the exercise.

Age UK is a name most people know, but the local branches aren't bankrolled by the national charity. Each one has to find its own funding and keep its own doors open. So while £1,000 might not go far for a national organisation, it made a real difference for a local project like this one.

The Go Far Fund grant helped cover the cost of the fitness instructor, venue hire, and post-class refreshments, enabling 51 people to participate in 183 sessions between September 2025 and March 2026.

‘The Active Age Project has successfully supported older people to remain active, connected, and informed. It has proven highly effective in improving overall well-being and quality of life.’

Carly Connolly, Head of Fundraising, Marketing & Development at Age UK.

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Free track sessions and race training for women of all abilities

sheRUNS Community

Running is often held up as the most accessible sport there is. But for a lot of women, it's not that simple. There are safety concerns to navigate, spaces that don't always feel welcoming, and for many girls, sport drops off the radar entirely during their teenage years and sadly never comes back.

sheRUNS is working hard to change that, providing a safe, welcoming space where women of all abilities can run, build confidence, and work towards their first race. When we came across their application, it was an easy decision. They were doing brilliant work, but they were running out of funding, and those Friday track sessions felt too important to let them disappear.

The grant provided funding for 10 additional sessions and supported a training programme to elevate walkers to runners and help runners to advance.

The numbers show just how big of an impact sheRUNS has had, reaching just under 500 female runners since April 2024. 92% came from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and 82% were inactive or had never previously run before. That’s a huge achievement.

‘We maintained strong attendance through our delivery, promoting a positive behavioural change in the running space and a safe, inclusive entry point into running and physical activity. The boom in seeing underrepresented young women running started with a seed at a private women's track space that has been blossoming ever since.’

Nazrin Khanom, Founder of sheRUNS

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Trained volunteer buddies for children with additional needs

Me2 Club

For children with additional needs, missing out on mainstream activities doesn’t just mean missing out on sport. It also means missing the friendship and confidence that comes with it.

Me2 Club is one of those projects that felt like everything the Go Far Fund is about. Rather than creating a separate provision for kids with additional needs, the club recruits and trains volunteers in the Wokingham and Reading boroughs to buddy up one-on-one with them so that they can join the same swimming, football, basketball, and dance sessions as everyone else.

What we love about this idea is that the benefits flow both ways. The children with additional needs are treated the same as everyone else, taking part alongside their peers, and the children without additional needs get to interact with others who experience the world differently, learning empathy and patience in the process.

The Go Far Fund grant funded induction training and DBS checks for 15 new volunteers, enabling 15 more children to take part in activities they otherwise would never have been able to.

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What’s next?

The Go Far Fund is still evolving, and we’re excited to see where we can take it next. With everything we learned from the first round of funding, we’re making some important changes to how we support people. This includes increasing the level of grants available and working with projects for longer to ensure they have the resources needed to make a lasting impact on the communities they serve. Keep an eye out for more details coming soon.

Applications for the second round of funding are now open. If you’re running a project that gets people moving - especially in underserved communities - we’d love to hear how we could support you.