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How to plan a dance marathon


How to Host a Danceathon Fundraiser (That People Love)

Danceathon fundraisers are a fun, simple way to help organizations raise the money they need while ensuring that every volunteer and participant has an excellent time. Read on to find out more about what danceathons are, the benefits of choosing to host a dance marathon for your next fundraiser, and the exact steps you’ll need to follow as you plan your next super fun, super engaging, super money-raising danceathon.  

What is a Danceathon Fundraiser? 

A danceathon is a fundraiser in which donors pledge a certain amount of money to participants for completing a set amount of time dancing. For example, donors might pledge $1 for every minute danced or $5 for every song the dancer boogies to.  

What are the benefits of hosting a danceathon? 

There are many benefits of hosting a danceathon fundraiser. 

  • Danceathons are memorable and fun. When you want to engage your biggest supporters, it’s important to plan fundraising activities that will be enjoyable.  Danceathons create opportunities for people to come together (if you choose to host an in-person danceathon) or to boogie at home to their favorite tunes.  
  • Dance marathons are great for kids and teens. If your organization works with kids or teenagers, a danceathon allows them to get involved without having to sell anything door-to-door or attend a boring (to them) gala.  
  • Danceathons are flexible. When you choose to host a danceathon, you can choose to host it in person, host it totally virtually or host it as a hybrid event. When you host a danceathon in person, you’ll have all your donors come together to move and groove at a designated time. When you host a virtual danceathon, your donors will pick their tunes and count their dancing minutes all on their own. If you choose to host a hybrid danceathon, you’ll ensure your donors have the option to participate in-person or virtually.  
  • Danceathons are cost-effective.  Unlike other large fundraising events like galas or concerts, there’s relatively little you’ll need to pay upfront to ensure a high-quality event. When you choose to host a virtual danceathon, your costs will be even lower. Danceathons tend to have a very high return on investment and make for a cost-effective and fun way to raise money.  

How do you host a danceathon? 

 Danceathons are generally simple to run, but you’ll need to make a plan and stay organized! Check off the steps below as you plan, and you’re sure to have a fantastic danceathon! 

1. Choose a danceathon fundraising website 

Before you start publicizing your event or recruiting participants, you’ll need to identify a danceathon fundraising website that meets your needs. The platform you choose matters because that’s where you’ll create both your fundraiser’s landing page and where participants will direct the people sponsoring them to give. When looking for a platform to host your danceathon, consider the following questions: 

2.

Secure your danceathon day-of details 

Your day-of details will look different depending on whether you’re hosting an in-person danceathon, a virtual danceathon, or a hybrid danceathon but, for each, you’ll want to consider the following questions and make sure you have answers before you begin to recruit participants or publicize your event.  

For an in-person danceathon fundraiser, you’ll want to consider: 

  • Where will the danceathon be held? 
  • Who will be DJing the event, and what sort of music should they play? 
  • How will we manage event parking and logistics? 
  • Are we able to provide snacks, drinks, or other refreshments to participants and observers? 
  • How can we meaningfully engage sponsors throughout the event? 
  • Where will we recruit volunteers to assist with event logistics? 
  • What sort of swag do we want to offer danceathon participants? 
  • Are we offering incentives or prizes? If so, what are we offering incentives and prizes for? 

For a virtual danceathon fundraiser, you’ll want to consider: 

  • How will we foster a sense of togetherness despite being physically apart from the event? 
  • Will you provide the music and a live link so people can dance ‘together,’ or will people be completing the event individually on their own time? 
  • How will we provide day-of support and encouragement to our participants? 
  • Will we provide swag to our participants? If so, how will we ensure it’s in their hands prior to the event day? 
  • How can we meaningfully engage sponsors throughout the event? 
  • Are we offering incentives or prizes? If so, what are we offering incentives and prizes for? 

For a hybrid danceathon fundraiser, you’ll want to consider all of the questions listed for both the in-person danceathon and virtual danceathon.  You’ll also want to determine how you can foster a sense of connectedness between virtual and in-person participants to ensure that individuals in both groups have an experience they’ll enjoy.   

3. Recruit participants 

After you choose your fundraising platform, customize your danceathon page, and secure your day-of details, you’ll need to recruit your participants. Your participants, the people that will be dancing their way to dollars on your behalf, are a vital component of your danceathon. If you’re working with kids (say, at a school), recruiting your participants will be easier since you can host the event during your regular program hours and simply send home a flyer with information. If you’re working with a community organization, you’ll have to be more intentional as you recruit participants.  

Reaching out to all your active donors and volunteers is a good first step towards recruiting danceathon participants. An email appeal that lets them know about the event and calls them to participate can be effective. In your email, let your donors know that you appreciate all that they’ve done for your organization in the past and share the “why” of your danceathon (do you have a new project you’re hoping to fund? Do you need to serve more individuals than in years past? Have you formed new partnerships that demand more resources to make a change in your community?)? You’ll also want to share the basic details of your event, including the different ways they can participate. You’ll also want to share the ways you’re going to make it simple for them to raise money on your behalf.  

After you reach out to your existing donors, you’ll want to spread the word more widely. Many organizations have success spreading the word and recruiting danceathon participants via the following channels: 

  • Social media. 
  • Local newsletters. 
  • Local event round-ups through the newspaper, news stations, or websites. 
  • Sororities, fraternities, and alumni groups. 
  • Aligned professional organizations.   
  • Other nonprofits that work in the same area or with the same population. 
  • Businesses and corporations with aligned strategic giving initiatives.  
  • Former volunteers and donors. 
  • Individuals currently or formerly served by the organization.  

4. Help your participants secure donors. 

In order to raise money, your participants will have to recruit donors who will pledge their financial support. As an organization, it’s your job to make sure that your participants have everything they need to make securing donors easy. Ensure that they each have access to instructions about how to set up and share their individual fundraising page, provide sample social media posts that they can copy and paste and send out frequent reminders to them to be sure they’re reaching out to their friends, family members and other connections for donation and support.  

5. Host an awesome danceathon 

With all the prep work behind you, it’s time to host the danceathon everyone has been looking forward to for months! Be sure to fully staff your danceathon with volunteers who know what they’re doing and create lots of opportunities for participants to have fun and document the experience. Some “extras” that can make participants feel extra special (and make your danceathon feel extra memorable) include: 

  • Costumes or themes. 
  • A photo booth or station with silly props. 
  • Playing any special songs or doing any dances that are special to your group.  
  • Leveled prizes that offer everyone the chance to bring something home.  
  • Snacks, drinks, and other refreshments. 
  • Raffles or drawings for prizes between songs.  
  • Water elements (if you’ll be doing your danceathon outside in warm weather) like a water balloon toss or hydration station.  
  • Special guests to lead dances. 
  • Performances by professional-level dance groups.  

6. Say thank you (to everyone)! 

Your danceathon won’t be complete until everyone who danced, gave, or volunteered receives a sincere thank you from the organization. Before you even invite participants to dance with you, you can automate thank-you emails to donors through your fundraising platform. Send a sincere email or letter letting them know how much their participation meant and the difference their contributions will make in the community. Be sure to thank your volunteers too, without them , there’s no way most nonprofits could pull of large-scale events like danceathons with success!  

Danceathons are highly effective fundraisers that help supporters join in the fun and have the power to raise a lot of money. With the right planning and passion, your next danceathon can be your best fundraiser yet! 

Start fundraising today the perfect way.
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How To Run A Virtual Dance Marathon Fundraiser

2020 was a year without enough dancing. This pandemic has taken a lot of things away from us, but one of the saddest is hitting the dancefloor with your friends.

Of course pandemics aren’t about to stop us from getting our groove on. Whether you’re ready to be back in person or you’re hosting a virtual event, a dance marathon fundraiser is the best way to give folks an opportunity to shake their booties for a cause.

It’s a great way to get your supporters up and moving, excite the community, and inspire people to donate. And people donating to my nonprofit makes me do my happy dance.

Want to know how it works? We’ll show you…along with a few dancing GIFs.

Running An In-Person Dance Marathon Fundraiser

Every year Cardinal O’Hara High School hosts the Danny Hammond Dance Marathon, and it’s incredibly successful. Last year they raised over $85k of a $50k goal. How do they do it? Let’s take a look at the formula.

The ideal way to host a dance marathon is in person: there’s just something about a room full of people who simply will not stop dancing that is inspiring. Here’s how it usually works:

  1. Find a space. You’re looking for a big area that can hold a lot of dancers moving and grooving, and that has the ability to play music. School gyms work wonderfully. Be careful to consider costs in putting on the event and ensure you have above a 70% ROI to ensure the dance marathon is worthwhile for your nonprofit.
  2. Set your overall fundraising and participant goals. Think about how much you’re looking to raise and the overall impact that will be made from the event. Consider also setting a goal for how many participants you want to activate. A great way to ensure you meet your goals is to consider how much you can expect each participant to bring in. If you have a $30,000 goal, and aim to activate 30 participants, you need each participant to raise $1000.
  3. Set up an online fundraising site to host all the event details and help streamline donations and registration all in one place.
  4. Invite your dancers! Your dancers will also be your fundraisers. Dancers (either as individuals or teams) set up peer-to-peer fundraising pages to raise money. You’ll want to start getting participants signed up to fundraise about 4-6 weeks ahead of your event so they have time to reach their fundraising goals. If you want to collect a registration fee, CauseVox’s registration tiers make it easy for folks to sign up and create their fundraising page all in one.
  5. Set a time frame. For college students or adults you could run a 12 or 24-hour marathon. For younger students or families maybe it only lasts 4 hours. This is how long your dancers need to keep dancing.
  6. Offer incentives. As a best practice, offer incentives for individuals and teams. The more they raise, the more prizes or special privileges they receive.
  7. Start the music and let the dancing begin! The idea is that anyone who enters has to keep dancing for the full length of the marathon. If you’re working with teams, different members of the team can tag off throughout the marathon. This is where the prizes come into play: maybe your dancers can earn one song of rest, or the power to change the song.
  8. Celebrate victory! Celebrate your winners and thank all your participants + report back on the funds raised by quantifying the impact. Ensure your community feels like they’ve participated in doing something good!

CauseVox allows your fundraisers to create individual or team pages, making it easy for participants to register for your dance marathon fundraiser and start fundraising online with an < 60 second registration process.

Personal fundraising page on CauseVox

The Danny Hammond Dance Marathon did a fun twist on teams: they had each department of the school create a team, and added teams for each year of graduating classes. 

If you’re not sure what kind of incentives to offer, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered:

  • Choose a song
  • Get one song of rest
  • Win prizes
  • Exclusive experiences (special dance lessons, featured guests, etc.)
  • Donate a dollar to get a minute of rest time

You can also have some in the moment donation incentives. Maybe you let people donate a couple dollars in order to get a shout out from the DJ or change a song they don’t like. 

Don’t be afraid to add additional creative elements to the dance marathon formula. The more entertainment you provide, the more excited your dancers will be.

Maybe you offer exciting snacks throughout the marathon provided by local businesses. Maybe you have a costume contest. Maybe you have themed hours with music that inspires different kinds of dancing (who wouldn’t want a 20s themed hour?). You can even add in prizes for people with the best dance moves or the biggest spirit. Truly the sky is the limit.

Planning A Virtual Or Hybrid Dance Marathon Fundraiser

Now that we’re all safely socially distanced, planning a dance marathon looks a bit different. The concept is the same: set the time frame, invite dancers, and see who can dance the longest.

But instead of doing it all together in one place, you can host it virtually through a live stream. You can also use these techniques to do a hybrid model with some people dancing in person and others distanced.

Pick a streaming service like Zoom or Google Meet and invite your participants to join from their own homes. They can safely dance in their own space while you provide the music, an emcee, a timeclock, and all the other accouterments.

One thing you’ll want to keep in mind is how many people you can see on your screen at once. You do need someone keeping an eye on the dancers to make sure they’re always moving. If you have too many dancers, you can break them up into different groups with each group meeting in a different Zoom room. That way your monitors can see everyone and note when someone drops out.

Now you can start to get creative. Here are some fun ways that you can spice up the dance at home:

  • Have family members act as a team: one has to be dancing at all times.
  • You can do themed hours. Maybe one hour is all 90s music, another is all “songs white people love”, and another is line dances.
  • Offer a Zoom breakout room that streams dance movies throughout the night to get people inspired.
  • Have participants come in costumes.
  • Invite dance instructors or Zumba teachers to come and teach mini-classes for people to dance along to.

Once you have the basics of participants joining a video chat and dancing the night away, you can add your own twists to your heart’s content.

Grace Center held a virtual move-a-thon that used these virtual dance marathon ideas. They invited participants to make a small donation, and on the day of the event held dance classes to get people moving together.

Thinking of other virtual fundraising event opportunities? Check out our 23 Top Virtual Fundraising Ideas for more inspiration.

If you’re ready to get started grab some friends you want to dance with:

You don’t have to be a good dancer.

All you have to do is have fun.

Run Your Dance Marathon on CauseVox

When you’re ready to go, let CauseVox power your virtual fundraising with our software that’s easy to use, hassle free, and helps you bring in more donations.

Get started today with our hassle-free software designed to raise more. 

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