QTHON at Quinnipiac University Receives 2024 Most Improved Dance Marathon Award

Miracle Network Dance Marathon recognized top performing Dance Marathon programs at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ Ignite: Peer-to-Peer Leadership Conference held in Kansas City, MO from July 18-21.  

Congratulations to QTHON at Quinnipiac University for their recognition as the 2024 Most Improved Dance Marathon!  

At the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, QTHON set out to achieve two primary goals: achieve a 15% year-over-year increase and increase the total number of participants registered for QTHON 2024.  

To achieve these goals, they first restructured specific positions on the management team, to ensure they would be set up for success. The biggest change they made was adding an additional peer-to-peer fundraising chair to the team – tasking this role to focus more on individual participant outreach, guidance, and utilizing this position as a resource for QTHON participants to help empower them to reach their personal fundraising goals. In addition, QTHON utilized the Sprint Model outline to design their programming throughout the entire fall and spring semesters leading up to the main event.  

When it came to event programming, they implemented a motto of quality over quantity; recognizing that they needed to tailor their programming to their audiences. They made another big change here shortening their event from 10 hours to 6 hours.  

These efforts proved to be successful as they recruited 1,346 participants, with over 800 of them attending on the day of the marathon, their highest recruitment numbers since the start of the pandemic! QTHON 2024 also saw a 33% increase in overall fundraising compared to QTHON 2023. QTHON is already seeing the effects of focusing on the participant experience through their event programming as they had over 30 applicants for their 2025 management, far surpassing the 16 applicants they received in 2023.  

Congratulations on your fundraising success in 2024, QTHON!  

Miracle Network Dance Marathon is a national movement, involving over 400 colleges, universities and K-12 schools across the United States that fundraise for their local member hospital of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Students involved in a campus’s dance marathon organization spend a year gaining leadership, teamwork, and nonprofit business experience while raising funds and awareness for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. The year culminates with a final dance marathon event on each campus, where students get to meet patient families treated at their local hospital, participate in games and dancing, enjoy entertainment, and reveal their annual fundraising total. Miracle Network Dance Marathon programs have collectively raised more than $350 million since 1991.