Hope College Dance Marathon Receives 2023 Special Event Award

Miracle Network Dance Marathon recognized top performing Dance Marathon programs at the Dance Marathon Leadership Conference (DMLC) held in St. Louis, MO from August 3-6.

Hope College Dance Marathon leveraged several different special events throughout the past year to strategically address different areas of need for the program, making them this year’s winner of the Special Event Award!  

Hope College Dance Marathon’s first special event, a Donut Run 5k, takes place in the fall, shortly after returning to campus. The annual event is an opportunity for the local community to engage with Dance Marathon and is the biggest source of operational funds for the program each year. This past year through effective marketing of the event and engagement with the surrounding community they registered over 600 people and raised over $20k to support event expenses and space rentals.  

New to this year, the program introduced two additional special events with strategic purposes. The first new event was a “County Fair” which was a themed awareness and recruitment event held on campus. Students were able to play carnival games, eat fair foods and learn more about opportunities to get involved with Dance Marathon. This event also serves as a fun way to bring their Miracle Families to campus and provide students with a cause connection opportunity.  

The second new event was a Dance Marathon Thrift Store. At the thrift store, students brought in clothing items and any revenue generated from sales was donated back to the Dance Marathon fundraising page of the individual who brought in the items. If any items were not sold, and individuals wished to donate the items they were donated to Plato’s closet to raise additional funds that went towards fundraising totals. This event took place close to the marathon to engage registered participants in a fundraising opportunity prior to the main event.  

Altogether, these events and more contributed to an intentional collection of activities that each performed a function leading up the most successful main event in the program’s history, which raised over $380,000. Congratulations, Hope College! 

Miracle Network Dance Marathon is an international movement, involving over 400 colleges, universities and K-12 schools across the United States and Canada that fundraise for their local member hospital of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. These students work tirelessly throughout the year to raise funds one dollar at a time by making the ask to family and friends. Their hard work culminates in a celebration on campus or virtually, where participants can rally together as a community for their local member hospital of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Students involved in Dance Marathon gain valuable skills in fundraising, peer management, delegation, and philanthropy. Miracle Network Dance Marathon programs have collectively raised more than $350 million since 1991.