Wright State University Raiderthon Receives 2023 Community Engagement 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.

The Community Engagement Award recognizes a Dance Marathon organization that executed a successful initiative, event, or campaign to reach a new demographic in the campus or local community. The 2023 winner, Wright State University, hosted two events targeted at expanding the reach of their organization in the community: a Memorial Golf Tournament and Miracle Night at a men’s basketball game.  

The Memorial Golf Tournament honored Will Krueger, a member of their community who suddenly passed away in 2022. With a goal of keeping his legacy going, his friends and family wanted to develop an event that combined his two main passions; golf and Raiderthon.  

The Will Krueger Memorial Golf Scramble raised $7,103 through sponsorships, player fees, and donations. The event brought together new community members that knew and loved Will as they raised funds for Dayton Children’s, and it also created an opportunity to bring together Raiderthon Alumni in a new and memorable way. Thus, this event reached an entirely new demographic while re-engaging a hard-to-reach demographic. As they begin planning for the second year of the golf tournament, they are exploring new ways to bring together Alumni and community members who may have an interest in supporting the organization but may not enjoy golfing in the tournament.  

The Miracle Night at the men’s basketball game is a partnership with their Athletic Department to kick off the spring semester and introduce a few of their miracle families to the student body and surrounding community. During the evening, a few miracle kids are invited to share a brief snippet of their story during halftime followed by a sneak peek performance by the morale team. While morale is performing, the miracle kids and members of the organization race through the stands to collect donations while a text-to-donate code projected on the screens. This year, the event raised $1,000 and exposed their program to community members who attended the game.  

Both initiatives helped Wright State University raise over $50,000 this year – a 57% increase in their fundraising from the previous year. Congratulations, Raiderthon!  

Wright State University presented a session on Community Engagement at DMLC 2023. You can view a recording of that presentation here: https://youtu.be/sAn-vLrrAWM  

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.