2016 DM Summary

Dance Marathon February 26 - February 28, 2016 Overview Dance Marathon at Florida State University strives to engage the student and local communities to promote children’s health and happiness while fostering the leadership and involvement of participants. Our organization raises funds for our equal beneficiaries, Shands Children’ and FSU College of Medicine Pediatric Outreach Program. One hundred percent of our efforts go to providing treatment, research, medical care, family education and hope.

Dance Marathon at FSU is the largest student run philanthropy on campus; it’s a year-long fundraiser.

Throughout the year we hold events for FSU students, Tallahassee community, and the families impacted by the funds and medical attention received. The fundraising efforts will culminate during the actual marathon.

The marathon is a 40-hour event to continue raising money and awareness, but also celebrates the hard work of all the fundraisers. At the event up to 1,800 students will stand for 20 hours straight. While standing, the student will learn a line dance performed every hour on the hour, play games, bond with other FSU students, and meet and hear stories from the miracle families that benefit from the funds raised the past year.

This year Dance Marathon took place on February 26-Februrary 28, 2016 in the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center and raised $1,435,120.32 with a 30 percent increase from last year. Dance Marathon programming consists of family stories, entertainment acts, a line dance, interactive games, and more.

Survey Results Sic online surveys were distributed for Dance Marathon 2016. Surveys were distributed to Alumni, Captains, CORE, Dancers, Delegates, and Executive Board via an automated Qualtrics email. Below you will find an overview of responses from all surveys. The complete survey data can be requested the Office of Education, Assessment, & Research at 850-645-1559.

Online Survey: Alumni A majority (77%) of respondents lived more than 3 hours away and drove that distance to attend the event.

When asked about participation in Dance Marathon for 2017, they would continue involvement whether as an Alumni dancer (85%), alumni board member (62%), or alumni fundraiser (54%).

Online Survey: Captains Respondents strongly agreed (55%) and agreed (41%) that they felt informed throughout the preparation process for Dance Marathon 2016, they also reported strongly agree (63%) and agree (27%) to being given reasonable responsibilities for their position, and many indicated that they strongly agree (55%) and agree (41%) that the executive board effectively communicated expectations of their role Online Survey: CORE When asked about participation in Dance Marathon for 2017, the vast majority stated they would continue involvement whether through executive board (50%), CORE (22%), and alumni participation (22%).

Online Survey: Dancers When asked about participation in Dance Marathon for 2016, many stated (74%) it was their first year participating in the event, the additional respondents had 2-4 years’ experience. Respondents were also

asked if their participation would continue onto the next year, and how they would like to be involved, a majority wanted to be a part of the (41%) Leadership Team and continue as (37%) dancers.

Respondents were asked ways in which they were able to fundraise for Dance Marathon at FSU, 91% indicated through social media, 79% personal ask, and 53% through e-mails.

Online Survey: Delegates All of respondents strongly agreed (100%) that Dance Marathon 2016 became a yearlong event and a vast majority of respondents had a level of agreement either strongly agreed (33%) or agreed (53%) that Dance Marathon at FSU built a foundation for inclusivity.

Online Survey: Executive Board Respondents were asked how strongly they agreed with the statement that Dance Marathon at FSU strengthened the “why� within our community, all respondents had a level of agreeance, strongly agreed (63%) and (37%) agreed.

Conclusion Dance Marathon 2016 was the highest financial and student participation year of this organizations history. Innovative events like FTKolor and the Delegate retreat were able to unite the member of the organization throughout the year. The impacts of risks like Florida Statement created a legacy of this leadership team. There are still continual improvements to be made to make the organization more inclusive and to best reach the entire student population. With 5 high school programs, as opposed to 1 the previous year, the students were able to target a brand new market. This sets the organization up for enormous potential growth.