This coming Saturday, the 13th annual NOVAdance will be hosted in the Dixon Center. An important part of the event is tracking the total money raised on the Day Of, which will go to the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation.
The 2025-26 NOVAdance Finance Committee is composed of seniors Aadi Sharma, Emily Daiuto, Sophia Sheldon and junior Gianna Nardini. They are responsible for tracking money raised across events.
“In total, the finance team basically manages all of our budgets in terms of spending for all the subcommittees within [NOVAdance] committee,” Committee Chair Sharma said. “And with that, we also track how much we raise monthly through campaigns, hero parties and events throughout the year. So, starting from July all the way to March and the day of, we track all the campaigns to spreadsheets, website totals and the historicals we have, and we use all that data to make sure we hit our goals.”
While the marathon is the finance team’s most important day, it also tackles events such as UDance vs. NOVAdance, 1842 Day and World Cancer Day. It works with a variety of on-campus organizations that partner with NOVAdance to manage funds.
“There are over 30-plus on-campus organizations,” Nardini said, “So we kind of divide our work to conquer them because we do create personalized holes and budgets for them for each month, and we’re also in charge of ensuring that they meet with them and talk about better ways that they can enhance their fundraising.”
In previous years, Power Hour and Lip Sync Hour have raised the most money. This data allows the subcommittee to predict the 12 different hours.
“Each hour, we have at least in finance, the tracking in terms of merch tracking as well as data tracking from the website,” Sharma said. “And it goes hour by hour. We track how much we raised. Each hour has its own specific theme, which allows us to get an idea of what’s going on during the day.”
While the turnaround is quick for all four members, the impact they make is incalculable.
“It’s definitely a lot of moving parts and a lot of different moving numbers, Nardini said. “So very chaotic. But gotta love the grind.”
This year, NOVAdance hopes to raise $800,000.
“I think it’s definitely optimistic going for the eight this year, because last year going for the seven was not really on our radar until the Day Of,” Sharma said. “This year, going for the eight, we have a lot of momentum, and I think the momentum’s a lot stronger. We brought in a lot more dancers this year. In terms of people joining our campaign for NOVAdance, I think there’s about a 20% increase in dancers. And with that, honestly, we’re a lot more optimistic about hitting the eight and just kind of being able to fundraise money, get the word out, having more of a community show up.”
For Sharma, Daiuto and Sheldon, all of whom have been on this subcommittee for multiple years, NOVAdance has been a highlight of their time at Villanova.
“I was a Sidekick my freshman year [and] I loved the cause,” Daiuto said. “And I really knew that this was something I wanted to be a part of and at the highest level. I chose finance. I’ve been in finance the past three years, and I think it’s really great to be able to, as an accounting major, incorporate my career goals with this organization as well, using the skills that I have to help the greater NOVAdance community.”