Customer Snapshot
- Years Running: 23
- Venue: Helix Park in the Texas Medical Center
- Total Raised: Approximately $8.5 million to date; currently $450,000 annually
Run for the Rose Background
The foundation was founded in the early 2000s by the family of Dr. Marnie Rose, a pediatric resident who became a public figure after sharing her brain cancer diagnosis on the television show Houston Medical before passing away in 2002. Her legacy lives on through the foundation’s dual mission: eradicating brain cancer through research, advocacy, and awareness, and supporting children’s initiatives.
Run for the Rose, the foundation’s flagship 5K and family fun run, is now in its 23rd year, raising funds for MD Anderson, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, and the Dr. Marnie Rose Professorship in Pediatric Neurosurgery at UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School. The event has found a permanent home at Helix Park in the Texas Medical Center, giving the team the stability to focus on incremental improvements each year rather than rebuilding event logistics from scratch. Beyond fundraising, the event is a community touchpoint — the Foundation maintains a dedicated VIP area for survivors and their families, with founder Lanie Rose and the team personally involved in supporting and celebrating survivors.
How they use RunSignup
Bibs and Volunteers
Centralized bib assignment and volunteer management, replacing a manual, paper-based process that previously consumed significant volunteer time.
Email Marketing
Segmented, direct group emailing to reach specific participant and donor groups.
Built-In Payment
Electronic financial transaction processing built into the same platform as registration
Returning Teams
Year-over-year data retention, letting returning team captains manage their teams without starting over
Dashboard and Donation Tracking
Hourly monitoring of registrant numbers via the dashboard, plus donation tracking to identify and reach out to major donors promptly
Results
- Exceeded a $400,000 fundraising goal by nearly $50,000 in the most recent event
- Met long-term pledge commitments to hospital partners (MD Anderson, Children’s Memorial Hermann, UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School
- Achieved enough operational stability at their permanent venue to shift focus from logistics to program growth
Ongoing use
The Foundation is already preparing for its next event on February 28, with registration set to launch by mid-October. To avoid disruption from the sunsetting of the older cover-page format, the team is prioritizing a Website V2 rebuild before launch, and has scheduled a workshop with the RunSignup team to finalize page layout and graphics. Looking ahead, leadership — including co-executive director Deborah — plans to expand outreach to patient groups by working through doctors and medical organizations to inform current patients of the resources and community support offered by the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation.
Closing
A permanent venue, a platform that took the manual work off the team’s plate, and a leadership team focused on community rather than logistics — together, these let Run for the Rose blow past its fundraising goals while staying true to the survivor-centered mission that’s defined it for 23 years. With RunSignup handling the operational backbone, the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation is free to keep its focus where it’s always been: the survivors and families it serves.
