Maryland's Terp Thon Receives National Dance Marathon Alumni Engagement Award
Terp Thon at the University of Maryland was recently awarded the Alumni Engagement Award at the Miracle Network Dance Marathon Leadership Conference in July. The Alumni Engagement Award recognizes a dance marathon organization and/or a dance marathon alumni organization that has made a successful effort to engage Dance Marathon alumni.
Working closely with the University of Maryland Alumni Association, the Terp Thon Alumni Network (TTAN) sought to build on their work from previous years with hopes of increasing their fundraising efforts and getting more Terp Thon alumni involved in their organization. They also worked to support the undergraduate Terp Thon organization and the students involved by offering professional development opportunities and mentorship of the student leaders.
TTAN launched a new independent website this year in order to help increase awareness and accessibility for alumni to stay engaged with Terp Thon. The site provides fundraising tips and resources such as sample messages and information about employee sponsored matching to its members.
One of Terp Thon’s most significant goals with alumni this year was to foster a sense of community between their alumni and undergraduates by focusing on undergraduate professional development. They started by putting together a Professional Development Packet featuring sample resumes, cover letters, and interview tips that students could utilize when pursuing post-grad opportunities.
Terp Thon also held an inaugural TTAN Professional Development Day on campus that was open to all committee members and dancers currently involved with the organization. The event, featuring a speech from a former Terp Thon Executive Director, aimed to help undergraduates prepare for their future careers and teach them how to apply their Dance Marathon experience in the workforce. A panel of alumni further emphasized how they personally used the skills they developed through Terp Thon to benefit current careers.
Utilizing their alumni-specific social channels, Terp Thon and TTAN established independent fundraising pushes including incentives catered to alumni. In addition, they created a Month of Giveaways campaign that featured high-demand Terp Thon merchandise and patient artwork from their local children’s hospital only available to alumni who reached different fundraising levels.
Miracle Network Dance Marathon is an international movement, involving over 400 colleges, universities and K-12 schools across North America that fundraise for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Since its inception in 1991, Miracle Network Dance Marathon has raised more than $250 million–ensuring that no child or family fights pediatric illness or injury alone.
Learn more about Miracle Network Dance Marathon: