NOVAdance raised over $120,000 on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in their annual NOVAdance versus UDance fundraising event.
NOVAdance is Villanova’s chapter of the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, dedicated to raising money and support for families of children battling pediatric cancer. UDance is the University of Delaware’s chapter. Each spring since 2021, the two chapters have competed to raise the largest amounts of money for the organization. The winning university gains an additional $10,000 from the competitor. This year, the two universities combined raised $151,755.19 total.
“We decided on our $100,000 goal in January when we planned out the semester with our teams,” Annie O’Brien, NOVAdance co-executive director (CED), said. “It had only been done in one day once before, and we felt confident that the Villanova community would be able to do it again.”
NOVAdance hit their $100,000 goal around 8:15 p.m., and as of 10:00 p.m. had raised over $120,000 in less than 24 hours.
NOVAdance has successfully raised more money than UDance from 2021 to 2024, losing their title to Delaware for the first time in 2025. The $120,000 was the strong push needed to win back bragging rights and $10,000 from UDance in 2026, advancing Villanova’s success to 5-1 over the past six competitions.
This year, sending emails to friends, family members and acquaintances was the most successful fundraising tool, and nearly 500 students contributed to fundraising for Villanova during this competition.
“UDance Day is our biggest fundraising day aside from the day of [event] and to have this kind of performance, [we had] the best UDance Day in NOVAdance history,” Noah Kang, director of development, said. “Some many people have been putting in work behind the scenes since May and to see it come to fruition today was truly amazing. We have such an amazing team and I am confident in our ability to hit $800,000 this year.”
This year’s NOVAdance is set to take place at the Dixon Center on Cabrini’s campus on March 28, 2026. Last year, the organization raised $708,269.10, and this year CEDs Grant LeMay and O’Brien decided to make a public goal of raising at least $800,000 for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.
“NOVAdance is on the road to becoming a million dollar marathon, and we wanted to do our part with NOVAdance 2026,” LeMay said. “Part of that was hopefully rallying the Villanova community around this goal, so when our final number is raised, everyone can feel that they have done their part in making history possible.”
This goal was first made public to the NOVAdance committee in August, and soon after was announced to the rest of campus. With this goal in mind, NOVAdance decided to take this goal and turn it into new fundraising efforts.
“We launched our ‘$8 in a Day’ campaign in January, and it brought in nearly $6,000,” LeMay said. “We hope by March 28 everyone on this campus will know exactly what we are trying to do.”
NOVAdance’s large strides in fundraising efforts this year have clearly made an impact. Raising over $120,000 in one day is a strong step toward their final goal.
“We definitely want to keep up the steam and keep being super creative and hardworking as we continue our biggest fundraising months,” finance team member Emily Daiuto said.
With only 38 days until March 28, the Villanova community will need to sustain this momentum to reach $800,000, their most ambitious goal yet.
