What happens when the world’s largest student philanthropy, THON (Penn State IFC/PanHellenic Dance Marathon) sets out to raise a record breaking $100 million and turn a local campus event into a global phenomenon? Dance With Us (DWU), the first-ever global line dance to support pediatric cancer.

THON, a 46-hour, no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon has raised over $89 million since its inception in 1972. In 2013, a $100 million donation milestone within reach, THON set a record fund raising goal of $11 million. To accomplish this, they knew they would have to do something BIG that would take THON to the next level. Something even bigger than dancing for two days straight. THON would have to go global.

The students created a virtual dance floor inviting everyone to dance for the kids across the globe. They developed a :30 second line dance, “Dance With Us,” and posted tutorial videos. They flooded THON’s social and traditional media channels with their message and invited the world to dance. And it worked. People across the globe learned the line dance and submitted videos -- from Indiana to Ireland, even celebrities like the Kardashians and the Baldwins got in on the fun.

Finally, on Saturday, February 16 at 6:45 p.m. the official “Dance With Us” line dance was broadcast from THON. Over 180 countries tuned in via live stream to participate. In total, over 20,000 people united in dance to battle pediatric cancer. Already the world’s largest student run philanthropy, THON was now global.

-Live Event: “Dance With Us,” a synchronized :30 second line dance, was executed at Penn State’s Dance Marathon on 2/16/2013.

-Live Stream: “Dance With Us” was broadcast live via UStream to viewers across the globe.

-Earned Social Media: Curated content was distributed across social channels to engage audiences via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, UStream and YouTube.

-Paid Social Media: Sponsored and promoted posts advertised DWU videos, photos and messages on Facebook.

-Twitter Parties: A branded Twitter Party with Resourceful Mommy engaged passionate advocates and bloggers.

-User Generated Content: THON supporters recorded themselves dancing and posted videos to THON’s social media channels.

-Video: Three DWU videos were produced to promote the program and were posted to a YouTube playlist along with user-generated videos.

-Celebrity Endorsements: Celebrities like the Kardashians, Baldwins and bands Walk the Moon and Boyce Avenue spread the message to their fans via Facebook and Twitter.

-THON raised an all-time high $12.4 million in 2013 and blew past the $100 million donation mark.

-Nearly 200,000 viewers from over 180 countries tuned in to THON via live stream.

-Over 20,000 people joined the virtual line dance – more than current world record of 17,200 set in China in 2009.

-The New York Times, USA Today and a record 284 traditional media stories generated 132,552,541 impressions.

-Over 8 million Facebook impressions and 6.3 million Twitter party impressions.

For forty-one years, the students of Penn State have made changing the world part of their curriculum – bringing care and comfort to children suffering from cancer. Now they can proudly say that the world has joined their fight. For the care. For the cure. For the kids.