Recognizing the 2024 Dance Marathon Organization Management Award Finalists
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.
The Organization Management award recognizes Dance Marathon programs who demonstrate success in one or more of the following areas: structure, internal communication strategies, defined mission statement/organizational values, balanced organizational calendar, expectations for executive board/committee members and systems for member accountability, education/training opportunities for executive board/committee members, effective officer transition processes or organized budget and fundraising tracking processes. Read more about the finalists for the 2024 Organization Management Award below.
Knight-Thon at the University of Central Florida is the 2024 Organization Management Award winner, you can read more about their change management and onboarding practices here: Knight-Thon at the University of Central Florida Receives 2024 Organization Management Award.
Jagathon: IUI’s Dance Marathon
Jagathon is recognized as a finalist for the 2024 Organization Management Award due to their excellence in transition processes. Annually at the end of each year, the structure of the executive board is carefully evaluated and adjusted based on data and feedback from the previous year. Conducting a thorough debrief at the end of each Jagathon year, the divisions present their achievements, challenges, and suggestions for improvement. These suggestions often include advice on modifying executive positions, reallocating responsibilities, and ensuring a balanced workload. One of the key adjustments they made to their team in the past year came from feedback in this process – this change included restructuring their divisions to create a more balanced workload for all executive board members. Jagathon now has five divisions, each with specific areas of responsibility, and each division is supported by four to five director positions.
Congratulations on your recognition as a finalist, Jagathon!
Syracuse University, University of Nebraska, Lincoln and University of Maryland
The next three programs all incorporate a program for first-year student engagement and mentorship into their organizations!
- Syracuse University: OttoTHON has offered the OttoTHON Leadership Program for 7 years, which creates a collaborative and growth-driven structure for first-year students. Led by the first-year recruitment executive board members, the OLPs take part in weekly meetings. These consist of team-bonding, informational sessions, and philanthropic activities. Additionally, a member of the executive board attends each meeting to talk about their position, providing insight into the responsibilities of the executive board and allowing the OLPS to see inside of our program. Another aspect of the OLP structure is the mentorship program. Each member of the OttoTHON leadership program is paired with a member of the executive board as a “mentor”. Finally, At the end of the program, OLPs can express feedback during the final meeting and in a feedback form and much of this feedback has been incorporated into the current program.
- University of Nebraska, Lincoln: The University of Nebraska Lincoln Dance Marathon installed a program entitled “First Year Impact” in the fall of 2022. In the program, first year members of dance marathon, primarily freshman and sophomores who have demonstrated and elevated interest in the organization and would like to take on a larger role are lead through a 4-week series of courses. The “classes” run primarily one hour in duration and include bonding activities with the cohort, informational lessons on organization structure, cause-connection and guest speakers. Each class took a deep dive into one of our four cabinets; engagement, marketing, finance and programming. Once the first year completes their four-week course they receive a mentor, this mentor is a veteran in the organization and can serve as a helping hand or purely a friend to the first year. The first years then submit a preference of where on our staff they would like to join. Throughout the program first-years are invited to attend weekly staff meetings but are not required. They continue to have check-ins with the first-year impact director throughout the year and have shown great success. In the past two years nearly half of UNL’s Dance Marathon executive board has consisted of returning first-year impact members. This program has improved our reach to the underclassmen on campus and improved our retention greatly.
- University of Maryland: To introduce freshmen to their program, Terp Thon runs a Membership Development program which includes freshman recruitment, education, bonding, and committee placement. This program is vital to the success of the organization as it provides the knowledge and inspiration needed to turn our new members into the future leaders of Terp Thon. Two years ago, their Membership Development class had 30 members at the time of transition onto committees. This past year, Terp Thon nearly doubled the size of our Membership Development class, placing 57 new members of Terp Thon onto committees. The impact and success of last year’s new member development has already been displayed by the 12 new members who have applied to be on the Executive Board next year.
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.