Our story

Dance Marathon at San Diego State University is a year-long philanthropic effort benefiting the patients and families at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, our local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Every spring, we celebrate a year’s worth of effort to raise both financial and emotional support for the patients treated at Rady Children’s Hospital. Since our first event in 2015, we’ve fundraised over $2.6 million to help provide critical care and services for children and their families.

Dance Marathon at SDSU was originally founded in 2014 by SDSU alumna, Emily Carper, who was inspired by the UCLA DM movement and wanted to bring the cause and its impact to the SDSU community. The event was planned in just three short months and raised over $40,000. Since then, DM has grown to become the largest philanthropic organization on campus, with numerous donors and supporters, as well as over 40 executive board members, 50 morale team members, and nearly 1,000 participants annually.

*DM at SDSU was initially founded as Aztec Dance Marathon, however, this name was changed in 2018-19 year to be more inclusive to our entire SDSU community.

YEAR 12

2026 will be SDSU’s Dance Marathon’s 12th year supporting Rady Children’s Hospital.