This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WM chapter.
Name: Dane Kunkel
Year: 2017
Hometown: Yardley, Pennsylvania
Major: I’m applying to Mason School of Business and hope to be a business major.
What are you involved in on campus:
I’m a member of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). I play intramural soccer for my fraternity. I’m hired to deejay parties and events on campus. Last year, as a freshman, I joined Net Impact and the Student Marketing Association, which I want to get back to at some point, but my time is scarce this year. My class workload has increased, I’m producing music, and my business (BeachGlow: Concerts for Charity, Inc.) — which is my passion — is virtually a full-time job.
Tell us how you got started as a DJ, your most memorable gigs, what’s your style of music, etc.
I became a DJ freshman year of high school. I was training hard for varsity soccer when I spontaneously broke my first rib and contracted a nerve disease called Brachial Neuritis. This disease basically made it very painful for me to do any physical activity for about nine months. I was devastated about giving up soccer but in all my new-found free time I came across deejaying online. I love music so I sold most of my belongings on eBay to finance my new hobby, which quickly became much more than that. Deejaying started to define who I was both to myself and to my peers.
My first gig was a small Halloween party, which led to a charity gig hosted by my prep school for HomeFront, a local organization that benefits underprivileged families. This gig was not my biggest by any stretch, but by far my most memorable gig because it was during this gig that I “discovered” the power of music. All the social and economic barriers between prep school faculty, students, inner-city underprivileged children, and their families were torn down, as a few hundred people from all different walks of life danced together to the music I was playing. This is the gig that was my inspiration for BeachGlow, my non-profit concert producing company. My most memorable gig in terms of magnitude was BeachGlow Music Festival 2014, a 14-act EDM festival at the Jersey Shore, where I performed this past summer for more than 7,000 people.
My style of music is house and progressive house, but I am really branching out to all different sub-genres of electronic music so I am not stuck in one.
Can you also explain what BeachGlow:Concerts for Charity is? When did you found it? What’s the story behind it? Which causes does BeachGlow raise money for?
BeachGlow was born as a spin-off to GetKunked Productions, a for-profit DJ business I started soon after my nerve injury. Although I was making a lot of money on paying jobs, working most weekends, I couldn’t get that experience of deejaying the HomeFront charity gig out of my mind. I realized I had power as a DJ to get people moving, and that’s when I had the idea to merge this power with my passion. My thinking was, if I can move young people to dance, maybe I can move them to help others, as well. This became my mission, and this was the inception of BeachGlow.
I am the founder and CEO of BeachGlow: Concerts for Charity, Inc. It’s a non-profit, all-volunteer EDM festival production company dedicated to raising awareness of — and funds for — worthy charities that I “adopt”. I founded BeachGlow in 2011, incorporated in 2012, trademarked in 2013, and achieved 501(c)(3) status in 2014. At 16, when I founded BG, I worked virtually alone, but today I have a Board of Directors, a growing staff, and many festival volunteers.
BeachGlow has produced festivals to benefit Harmony Ministries in Haiti, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and most recently the American Red Cross. This past summer I was thrilled and proud to hand over a $40,000 check to the Red Cross, the recipient of funds raised through ticket sales from a sold-out crowd at BeachGlow Music Festival 2014.
We’re currently planning – and have just begun our charity selection process for — BeachGlow Music Festival 2015, at the Jersey Shore on July 4. We’re hoping for a crowd of 10,000 – 14,000. It’s a huge undertaking that includes landing corporate sponsorships, developing a budget, soliciting vendors, working with the town government, developing a site plan, building a stage, sound, and lighting, hiring security and medical, securing talent, handling advertising, PR, and social marketing – and the list goes on.
What advice do you have for students in starting a non-profit?
First and foremost, make sure it’s your passion. It’s an enormous amount of work, and if you’re not in love with what you’re doing, you won’t succeed. Have a solid goal in mind and a mission statement to support it. Learn about the legal structure of a non-profit in your state, and find a pro bono lawyer or apply for legal aid. Read and re-read every contract. Understand the tax structure, and find an accountant to help you through the paperwork. Research and build strong budgets, pad them, then cut costs wherever you can. Don’t try to do it all yourself. Delegate. Get the word out to family and friends and tap into their resources. Find people who feel strongly about your cause, and get quality people behind you. Don’t cut corners and keep good records. Prepare for the unexpected, extreme highs, and extreme lows. Last, follow your dreams – but be sure to look critically at your work, and recognize where you’re strong, and where you’re weak. That will help keep you honest with yourself, and keep you on a course of constant self-improvement.