Charity Navigator gives top ranking to OMRF

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 13, 2005 — The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has once again earned four stars from Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity evaluator. This is the fourth consecutive year in which OMRF has received the prestigious four-star rating, Charity Navigator’s top possible score.

“In earning our highest four-star rating, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has demonstrated exceptional financial health, outperforming most of its peers in its efforts to manage and grow its finances in the most responsible way possible,” said Trent Stamp, executive director of Charity Navigator. “A four-star rating from Charity Navigator means your supporters can be assured that Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is worthy of their trust and commitment.”

Charity Navigator evaluated over 80 medical research organizations nationwide. Less than one-third of those institutions received a four-star rating. OMRF was the only research institution—medical or otherwise—in Oklahoma to earn a four-star ranking.

“When one of the nation’s leading charity evaluators gives you its seal of approval, it’s both humbling and gratifying.” said Steve Blair, OMRF’s Vice President for Institutional Advancement. “The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation makes every effort to ensure that we are good stewards of our supporters’ donations, and this ranking tells us we are succeeding.”

Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org) promotes intelligent giving by providing report cards for over 4,000 charities nationwide. Using publicly available financial information, this web-based non-profit service measures charities’ performance in seven categories: fund-raising efficiency, fund-raising expenses, program expenses, primary revenue growth, administrative expenses, program expenses growth and working capital ratio.

Charity Navigator assigns every charity a score from zero to four stars. It has given OMRF its coveted four-star rating each year since the ranking organization was founded in 2001. “This consistency in rating is a remarkable feat,” said Charity Navigator’s Stamp.

OMRF’s Blair believes ranking services like Charity Navigator provide donors with important data to guide their giving decisions. “We want people to use every available tool to inform their giving decisions and to ensure their charitable dollars are well-spent,” said OMRF’s Blair. “With this four-star rating, anyone who gives to OMRF—or is thinking about giving to OMRF—will know exactly where their money goes: to fund research on Alzheimer’s, cancer and other diseases that touch all of our lives.”

Chartered in 1946, OMRF (www.omrf.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. OMRF is home to Oklahoma's only member of the National Academy of Sciences.

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