If you’re attending THON this year, you’ll hear and see Four Diamonds referenced throughout the dance marathon. Dancers and attendees like to throw up their diamond signs, the stage is set up to reflect the Four Diamonds logo, and speakers will inevitably mention the fund.

FTK Penn Staters have even been known to don Four Diamonds tattoos.

Four Diamonds is a Pennsylvania-based fund that provides financial support to eligible families with a child battling cancer — paying for 100 percent of medical costs not covered by insurance for these families — as well as research funding. The nonprofit is the sole beneficiary of THON.

Four Diamonds publishes an annual financial report, and they are publicly available online. Let’s take a look at where the funding for this organization comes from, and how this money is ultimately spent.

Where Four Diamonds Receives Its Funds

THON — The most significant revenue source for the Four Diamonds Foundation is, not surprisingly, THON. In terms of revenue, the Penn State Dance Marathon brought in $10,385,695.97 in their 2017-2018 fiscal year, which stretches from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018 (read: The period that included THON 2018).

Mini-THON — Mini-THONs have played an increasingly important role in raising money for pediatric cancer research and financial support. These events, which are based on THON, take place in elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as some colleges, throughout the country. In this most recent fiscal year, they raised $7,033,738.55. That total is up from $6,456,745.51 the previous year.

Other Gifts — Four Diamonds reports gifts in the categories “Other,” “Memorial Gifts,” and “Honor Gifts” as totaling $914,407.97. The financial report doesn’t detail what, exactly, these categories mean. Still, that’s a lot of helpful money.

How These Funds Are Spent

Four Diamonds breaks its spending into four categories: Patient Care and Family Support, Research, Investment in Research Endowments, and Administrative Expenses.

Patient Care and Family Support — Four Diamonds provided $2,949,993.10 in patient care support, and $951,267.26 in family support. The financial report doesn’t go into detail about how these two categories are defined.

Research — Four Diamonds poured $5,810,478.88 into research in their 2017-2018 fiscal year. $1,471,121.22 went to research grants, while the rest was spent in support of researchers.

Investment in Research Endowments — The fund invested $9 million in epigenetic research. Epigenetics refers to the study of altering gene expression and has important implications in treating cancer.

Administrative Expenses — This is something of a confounding area of the financial report. Four Diamonds reported spending $2,391,247.81 on administrative expenses, which aren’t described in the report. That total represents just over 13 percent of all of the funds raised in the year.

It’s easy to see the sort of financial impact that Four Diamonds has in a number of areas. You can rest easy knowing that most of your money is working hard.