I know I have written about THON before, but with only 3 weeks until the event, I just can’t help myself!
If you want to hear about my experiences in THON this past year, you can read my December 5th blog post here. But today, I want to talk about a different aspect of Penn State’s dance marathon: the execution of the event as a whole.
In 2017, THON raised an astonishing $10,045,478.44! This amount is not as much as was raised in previous years, but 10 million dollars is still INSANE. It is no wonder that Penn State’s THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.
(https://www.roarlionsroar.com/pennsylvania-state-university/2017/02/1842/penn-state-thon-total-amount-2017-four-diamonds)
But, have you ever wondered why this event is considered to be the largest student-run philanthropy in the world?
On the THON website, it is explained that “More than 16,500 student volunteers dedicate an average of 15 hours per week to THON related events and activities throughout the year.” Here, they list 4 major ways in which students can become involved in THON year-round (all of which are organized and run by students!). These are as follows:
Join or start an org
On campus, there are more than 400 student organizations (“orgs”) which have the main focus of fundraising money for THON. Orgs are also responsible for electing representatives to dance throughout the entire 46-hour event in February. If a student doesn’t want to be on a preexisting org, there is also the option of starting a new org.
Join a committee
There are 16 different committees that students can join that are organized and led by captains. The 16 committee types are each broken down into groups of about 35 students. Committees can range from 50-750 members, depending on the number of people needed for each committee’s specific jobs before THON and during THON weekend. (I am on OPPerations, or “OPP,” and their responsibilities are also explained in my earlier blog post!)
Apply to become a captain
Captains are responsible for a committee of their own in the hierarchy of the committee system and, depending on which committee type their group falls under, they are also responsible for a variety of activities throughout the year. This job is very labor- and time-intensive, which is why applications are taken and students are hand-picked to have this honor.
Dance independently
If a student is not in an org but wants to dance nonstop for 46 hours at THON, they also have the opportunity to elect themselves as a dancer. This activity is done in pairs and these pairs are selected through a lottery system based on how much money the pairs raise for THON. (The more money you raise, the more entries you get into the lottery)
(http://askmissa.com/2015/03/02/penn-state-students-raise-millions-for-pediatric-cancer-research/)
Obviously, with all of these thousands of purely student volunteers, THON is a big deal in the philanthropy world. Being such a humongous event, hours upon hours are needed to plan, organize, set up, run, and tear down THON, and the fact that this is all done by Penn State students just about blows my mind.
Thon is a great philanthropy to blog a bout since it is coming up so soon. I am not part of a committee or Org so i enjoyed reading your descriptions of what the different groups contribute to this event.
I think THON is especially amazing when you think about how there is a transfer of management each year. Most successfully run philanthropies and companies spend years training executives before they are given the responsibilities such as THONs executives. But we transfer power each year and it still runs as smoothly as efficiently as ever. Pretty amazing!
THON is an amazing philanthropy and I’m so excited for it this year. I’m part of an org and see how much work goes into just that, let alone the committees, captains, and dancers. It is a huge part of Penn State and I’m happy to be a part of it.