The Client
Founded in 1946, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit biomedical research institutes. Located in Oklahoma City, OMRF fosters a worldwide reputation for excellence by following an innovative cross-disciplinary approach to medical research. OMRF scientists are dedicated to understanding and developing more effective treatments for human disease, focusing on such critical research areas as heart disease, cancer, lupus and Alzheimer’s disease. OMRF is home to Oklahoma’s only Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and with more than 600 U.S. and international patents, OMRF ranks among the nation’s leaders in patents per scientist.

The Problem
OMRF wanted to spread the word about their nonprofit to garner further community support for the organization’s life-saving medical research.  

How We Solved It
OMRF knows its core audience – fans of scientific research, and also medical professionals, patients, and the families who rely on them. With this audience in mind, OMRF decided to move forward with the theme “geek…it’s the new chic.” With the help of their Convio Go! program consultants, OMRF envisioned an online multi-part giveaway campaign with a chance to win a “Geek Pack.” Current subscribers were invited to enter for the chance to win by simply forwarding funny content (in this case ϋber-cool eCards which OMRF designed based on a Convio template) to friends and family. Each eCard sent counted as an extra entry in the drawing.

The Outcome
With a response rate of 9%, OMRF found that many of its supporters willingly forwarded information about OMRF. Their combined efforts helped to build community awareness and got the foundation’s “research is cool. pass it on.” message into more than 300 new inboxes. In addition to an overall 5% increase in their list, OMRF now knows which of its constituents are proud to expose their “inner nerd” and talk to friends and family about the importance of research. Identifying a core group of outgoing supporters will be especially valuable to OMRF as they ramp up their online fundraising efforts. With consistent, high quality stewardship over time, the foundation has increased the probability of converting these supporters into volunteer fundraisers.

Convio products used: eCards, Email Marketing, FormBuilder