Katherine Cooney ran out of time.
She wanted to participate in Northwestern University Dance Marathon, as she had last year as part of Shepard Residential College’s team, but she did not raise enough funds by the half-money deadline, Jan. 21.
“I don’t think I put in the proper effort,” the Medill sophomore said. “This year went by so quickly. I wasn’t prepared for how many commitments I have sophomore year compared to last year.”
Since she did not meet the deadline, Cooney will not be able to participate.
Weinberg senior Hanna McKeen, the public relations co-chair for DM, said having deadlines, like the half- and full-money deadline Feb. 22, are important for the overall success of the event.
“Raising $800 as a dancer pair is a lot of work, so it’s to keep people on track and remind them it’s coming up, so they can do Dance Marathon and make an impact,” McKeen said.
More than 1,200 students and 300 committee members registered for the event this year, a rise of at least 100 from fall 2009 registration. The jump in registrants may have been due to a change in the registration process allowing participants to sign up completely online for the first time in the organization’s 37-year history.
Last year, 30 percent of dancers who originally signed up were unable to raise the money or otherwise did not participate. McKeen said the organization does not keep track of how many participants will not participate; nor did she know how many might not dance this year.
McKeen said she is not sure how many potential dancers end up having to drop out of DM, partly by the executive board’s design.
The total number of dancers is never officially released, and the final amount raised is not announced until the last three hour-block of the event itself.
“Part of the tradition of Dance Marathon is that we don’t know numbers, like final dancer numbers, or the final total until the actual weekend,” McKeen said.
When the total is announced, it is the first time either the executive board members or the participants see the amount.
“A lot of the best part, especially for me, of DM is that it’s a surprise,” McKeen said. “We know we’re working hard and doing all these events and getting to know the beneficiary, but you don’t know how much you’ve actually made. It’s a celebration for everyone.”
On NUDM’s official website, the board suggests canning, where students solicit coins from passersby on designated days, and letter-writing as methods for raising the $800.
To raise money this year, Cooney said she sent e-mails to family members and friends to ask for support. However, she did not have time to do the more “active part” of fundraising, like canning in Evanston.
SESP sophomore Kelyse McKeon is currently a DM co-chair for last year’s “large group” category winning team, a combination of dancers from Greek organizations Delta Gamma and Zeta Beta Tau.
She said DG currently has 61 participants signed up to dance, and in the past, they haven’t had issues with meeting either deadline.
“This is my first year being in charge of it, but at least to my knowledge we haven’t had a problem with people dropping out,” she said. “Everyone wants to raise the money. It hasn’t really been a problem.”
McKeon said her team has reached the totals in the past through letter-writing campaigns to friends and family members and by canning in Evanston and Skokie.
Weinberg freshman Joseph Deng said he was unable to meet the half-money deadline and won’t be able to participate in DM.
He said he attempted to raise the money by writing letters to businesses in his hometown, but was discouraged when he didn’t hear back from a single one.
After that, he and his partner decided to form a new strategy.
“We thought about maybe a bake sale or even trying to catch up with canning, but neither of those ideas seemed like they would be possible to raise $800,” he said.
After the half-money deadline came and went, he said, he’s not sure he’ll be able to participate next year. He said he thinks DM gave good suggestions, and sent reminders to teams about the deadlines, but he wishes his outcome had been different.
“Obviously not everyone can be writing to the same businesses or canning at the same place at the same time,” he said. “I suppose it’s also up to the individuals to come up with ideas to fundraise, but I feel like the DM people could have helped out a little more with some more ideas or even mass opportunities.”
Cooney said although she will not be able to participate this year, she will still donate her money to Shepard’s DM team to contribute.
“It’s about prioritizing,” she said. “Last quarter I was over-committed.”
McKeen said DM does not set its goal on a total amount of money, nor on a total number of dancers.
“Our biggest focus is to make sure the beneficiary is getting as much recognition as possible for what they’re doing and who they are,” she said. “It’s to get people to care about their cause mostly.”
