Terp Thon fundraiser more than doubles last year’s funds

After months of amping up outreach efforts, students planning this year's Terp Thon got their wish Saturday when the all day dance marathon raised nearly $40,000 more than they had originally hoped.

This year's Terp Thon — a 12-hour event held by students to raise money for Children's National Medical Center in Washington — brought in nearly $139,630 from 1,200 participants who donated $50 each to dance for the day. Although the university raised a record $56,000 last year, students spent the last semester advertising and reaching out to local businesses to make the second annual event even more successful.

And many students said it was — a reported 775 dancers took over Ritchie Coliseum, and several patients from Children's National Medical Center told the crowd their own miracle stories and how the fundraiser money would be put to good use.

Members of Terp Thon's executive board said although it was the most successful first collegiate dance marathon of its kind, they wanted to raise even more awareness this year to more than double last year's funds.

"We had so many great ideas last year, and I think it's great that we get to put into place this year a lot of the things that we had conceptualized last year," said Amy Butler, a senior sociology major and Terp Thon executive director.

Last year, students started advertising for the event just a few months before it began. But they began early this year, hosting a kick-off event in September to educate interested students about Terp Thon and introduce them to several families they would be directly helping through fundraising.

Student organizers also launched an Ask Ryan campaign last semester, where they chalked the phrase all over campus sidewalks, leaving students to wonder who Ryan was. A few days later, those working with Terp Thon wore shirts that read, "I'm Ryan," to get curious students to ask about the event.

"I think we just really tried to reach out to students more," said Maddy Roth, a sophomore journalism major who ran the event's media relations. "Last year was our first time, and we didn't really know how to plan fundraisers."

The dance marathon was made possible by companies that sponsored the event, paying for food, rental costs and the 12-hour DJ. Christine Hylind, a sophomore economics major and event finance director, said organizers reached out directly to local businesses, such as Bagel Place, to sponsor the marathon.

Because the organization is completely non-profit, finding sponsors to donate was essential for its success, organizers said. This year, board members devised new ways to encourage more community interest from businesses.

"We made letters and came up with sponsorship levels with different benefits in order to have an established system for getting companies and businesses to sponsor us," Hylind said.

Board members also took a more hands-on approach when helping the dancers come up with ideas to fundraise for the $50 fee. Butler said most dancers took to the streets with empty cans, asking pedestrians for spare change and informing them of the event.

But students said knowing their money was directly helping sick children was reason enough to keep this year's momentum going.

"It's all for the kids," Roth said. "That's our motto — FTK."

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