Presenting our fantastic Associate Charities for the 2026 ASICS Manchester Half.
If you are a charity interested in becoming an Associate Charity Partner, please email charity@aso-uk.com
Alder Hey Children's Charity
Alder Hey Children’s Charity is an independent charity which supports Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to make a difference for the 450,000 children and young people who use the hospital’s services every year. Since 2013, over £82 million has been raised to support patients and their families through our pillars of Equipment, Research, Innovation and Education, Campus and Community, Magic and Advocacy. Together, we work to build brighter, happier, healthier and fairer futures for all children and young people.
Ben - Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund
Ben supports people to navigate life’s challenges, helping them make positive, lasting changes to their lives. We work with individuals & companies to improve people's health and wellbeing. Our life-changing support empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing so they live well. We can support through a crisis and help people with their mental health, physical health & their wellbeing.
Bowel Cancer UK
We're the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. Join #TeamBowelCancerUK today and help us achieve our vision of a future where nobody dies of the disease.
Brain Tumour Research
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease. We are the only national charity in the UK focused on finding a cure for all types of brain tumours through campaigning to increase the national investment in brain tumour research to £35 million per year, while fundraising to create a network of seven sustainable Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence across the UK.
British Heart Foundation
Our vision is a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases. A world where fewer hearts stop without warning and all of us get more time with the people we love. Far too many of us have felt the pain of losing someone we love to a heart or circulatory disease. That’s why the British Heart Foundation exists. With your support, we power ground-breaking research to save and improve lives, bring hope to families, and keep hearts beating across the UK.
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)
We’re the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and we’re taking a stand against suicide. That means standing against feeling hopeless, standing up to stereotypes and standing together to show life is always worth living. Our vision: A future in which nobody believes suicide is their only option. Our mission: To help people end their misery not their lives.
Europia
Founded in Manchester in 2008, Europia empowers vulnerable Central and Eastern European migrants, including Roma and Ukrainian communities across the North West. Our lived-experience team provides culturally sensitive advocacy, wellbeing, and immigration support, addressing language barriers, poverty, and social exclusion. As the region’s dedicated CEE charity, we champion rights and inclusion, help people navigate complex systems, access justice and services, and build confident, thriving communities.
Halton Haven Hospice
Halton Haven Hospice provides specialist end-of-life care to the people in our community who need us the most. We focus on providing unique person-centred care for our patients and support for their loved ones, giving the space they need to create treasured memories. We cannot add days to life, but we can add life to days.
Lancashire Cricket Foundation
The Lancashire Cricket Foundation works throughout the North West to positively impact lives through cricket. Come join us and help us inspire the next generation of boys and girls to pick up a bat and ball for the first time. Help us to build more places to play across the county so everyone can find their passion. Help us support cricket clubs continue to be the heart of your communities, from Altrincham to Accrington and from Blackpool to Burnley.
Manchester Foundation Trust Charity
Manchester Foundation Trust Charity raises funds to support Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust’s family of ten hospitals, including Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Saint Mary’s, Wythenshawe Hospital and Manchester Royal Infirmary. Our patients are at the heart of everything we do. We raise funds to make a difference for patients, young and old, cared for by our hospitals by making sure that they receive the very best treatment in the very best facilities.
Mencap
People with a learning disability have long been discriminated against and disproportionately affected by cuts to government funding. We operate over 580 services and provide personal support to almost 3,500 people each year. Our vision is for the UK to be the best place in the world for people with a learning disability to live happy and healthy lives. We do this by: Providing services, Campaigning, Empowering people to create change in their communities, Helping people to gain employment, Offering people information and advice, Researching into important issues.
Mental Health Foundation
The Mental Health Foundation is the UK’s leading charity focused on preventing mental health problems and promoting good mental wellbeing for all.
Mental Health Matters
We provide mental health support to help people to live a meaningful life. Mental Health Matters is a national charity with over 40 years of experience in delivering high-quality mental health services. We support 15,000 people every month to achieve their recovery goals, and we are always seeking to develop and expand our services to reach more people in need.
MND Association
The MND Association is the leading charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland focused on funding research, improving access to care and campaigning for people living with or affected by MND. We fund and promote research that leads to new understanding, treatments and brings us closer to a cure. We campaign and raise awareness so the needs of people with MND are recognised and addressed by wider society. People with MND, their families and carers are at the heart of everything we do.
Mustard Tree
Mustard Tree combats poverty and prevents homelessness across Greater Manchester by creating opportunities for people and communities to help themselves through practical, dignified support, life skills, and connections into work. We provide food, furniture, and clothing, education, training, and work placements, as well as 1-2-1 support, advice, and advocacy. This holistic, wrap-around approach gives people the dignity, confidence, and tools they need to build themselves back up. But only with your help.
NorthCare Charity
We help Northern Care Alliance (NCA) NHS Foundation Trust deliver outstanding care across their four hospitals and community services in Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and Salford, by funding innovative equipment, education, research and wellbeing activities. Through your generous fundraising and donations, we are able to go above and beyond the scope of the NHS, supporting NHS staff to deliver the best care possible for over a million patients and their families every year.
PAPYRUS
PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide is the UK charity dedicated to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people. Suicide is the biggest killer of people aged 35 and under in the UK. We believe that many suicides are preventable. PAPYRUS was founded in 1997 by a group of bereaved parents, who had each lost children to suicide. Our founding parents shared core beliefs that suicide is preventable, and that those of us with lived experience of suicide have a valuable and unique contribution to make to the wider conversation around suicide. Today, we are a leading youth suicide prevention charity in the UK. Our suicide prevention helpline, HOPELINE247, is staffed by trained suicide prevention advisers, who work with young people – and anybody concerned for a young person – to help keep them safe from suicide. HOPELINE247 is a free and confidential call, text and email service, which is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year
Parkinson's UK
Parkinson’s UK is the charity that’s here to support every Parkinson’s journey, every step of the way. Wherever you’re from, whatever you need. From searching for a cure and campaigning for better health and care, to funding research into ground breaking new treatments and running life-changing support services. It’s all driven by one mission: improving life with Parkinson’s. We’re almost 100% funded by our supporters, so every contribution, big or small, makes a real difference.
Pennine Care Charity
Pennine Care Charity is the official charity partner of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. Our vision is to create a happier and more hopeful life for people with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and autism, through the use of fundraising and grants for projects to help people's overall quality of life, wellbeing and independence. We’re here to be a helping hand to the community, providing that extra bit of support for projects that the NHS are not able to fund.
Run for Charity
Run for Charity work with thousands of charities all over the UK. If you have a particular cause you'd like to run for, there is a good chance they are here, and they would love your support!
Samaritans
Samaritans is the charity that prevents suicide through the power of human connection. Every 10 seconds, we answer a call for help. We're here to show others there is always hope and to raise vital funds so we can continue to be here, day and night, for anyone who’s struggling to cope. Every step you take and pound you raise could help train more volunteers, answer more calls for help and, ultimately, save lives.
Sense
Sense is a disability charity supporting disabled people with complex needs to connect, communicate and be included in the world. We work with people of all ages, and with families, to remove the barriers that stop people living full lives. Through personalised, creative support, information and campaigning, we help people build skills, confidence and relationships. We also challenge systems that exclude disabled people, so everyone has the chance to belong, no matter what, now and for the future, across society.
St Mary's Hospice
St Mary’s Hospice provides vital, compassionate care for people with life-limiting illnesses across the Furness and South Lakes area. We support patients and their families through every stage of their journey, offering specialist palliative care, emotional support, and practical guidance both in our hospice and in the community. Our mission is to help people live well until the end of life, with dignity, comfort, and choice.
Tommy's, the pregnancy and baby charity
Tommy's is the leading baby charity in the UK, where 1 in 2 have experienced baby loss or know someone who has. But it doesn’t need to be this way. With your help, our research is here to change the story.
Wellbeing of Women
Wellbeing of Women is the UK’s leading charity dedicated to saving and changing the lives of women, girls and babies through research, education and advocacy. Led by women’s voices and committed to diverse, inclusive representation, we are the only UK charity funding all areas of reproductive and gynaecological health. We invest in pioneering medical research, develop better treatments and diagnostics, and campaign for improved access to care across conditions including menstrual health, endometriosis, fertility, pregnancy and menopause. By supporting future women’s health researchers, we’re breaking taboos, closing the gender health gap, and ensuring no one is limited by their reproductive or gynaecological health.