SGO LEAD Program: Year 3 Overview
The SGO LEAD (Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy & Development) Program is a six-month mentored pathway opportunity that offers Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) trainees sponsorship, resources, and a network to support their development as future gynecologic oncologists. For the program’s third year, I was tasked with leading the marketing efforts with a strategic, multi-channel campaign. The results speak for themselves:
Applications surpassed the target by more than 50%.
Fundraising reached 59% of the annual goal, representing a 235% increase over the previous year.
Campaign Inception & Strategy
The strategy for Year 3 was rooted in authenticity and visibility. We focused on storytelling that spotlighted program leaders and alumni, allowing them to speak directly to the program’s impact in their own words. At the same time, we ensured multi-channel visibility by consistently featuring the LEAD Program across emails, newsletters, and social media. Every message was crafted to address two essential questions: Why apply? Because LEAD builds community, mentorship, and leadership capacity. Why give or mentor? Because investing in emerging leaders secures the future of gynecologic oncology.
Campaign Execution
Direct Emails
The direct email component of the campaign represented the more standardized element of our strategy, serving as clear calls to action for both program applicants and mentors. In Year 3, however, we had the advantage of a stronger asset library than in previous years. This allowed us to move beyond generic stock visuals and instead showcase authentic program imagery, including a panel discussion at the culminating summit and a group photo of mentors and mentees gathered at the event. By grounding these emails in real program moments, we added relatability while still delivering straightforward CTAs. The result was exceptionally strong performance: open rates of 59–62% (nearly double the association average of ~35%), demonstrating that the combination of personalized design, authentic visuals, and clear messaging resonated with recipients. The email strategy also included a third email in the future announcing the year three cohort.
Video and Reel Edits
My video strategy balanced short-form storytelling with long-form context. For reels, I spotlighted past participants through authentic testimonials, asking questions such as “What does the LEAD Program mean to you?”, “What have you gained from the program?”, and “What would you tell someone interested in applying?”. These quick, relatable narratives created approachable entry points for prospective applicants scrolling on social media. At the same time, we produced longer-form videos for YouTube that featured the voices of program directors and other past participants. These leaders spoke about the success of Year 2, the program’s original conception, and the role of mentorship in their own career advancement. Together, the reel and video mix provided both personal authenticity and institutional authority, strengthening the campaign’s reach and credibility across audiences.
Social Media Posts
For social media, I prioritized quality over quantity. Rather than flooding feeds with repetitive content, I focused on crafting a small number of highly intentional posts. Each post was carefully designed with imagery and voices that reflected the diversity the LEAD Program embodies. This approach ensured that every post felt meaningful, authentic, and representative, ultimately strengthening the program’s credibility and resonance with both applicants and donors.
Word of Mouth Amplification
To complement the digital campaign, I developed a one-page flyer that was distributed to institutions, program chairs, and partner organizations. This piece was intentionally designed to easily share with trainees, serving as a conversation starter within academic and professional networks. By equipping trusted leaders with a tangible, ready-to-use resource, we leveraged word of mouth as an additional marketing channel. This grassroots approach not only extended our reach beyond traditional digital promotion but also reinforced credibility, as the information was being shared directly by mentors and peers. The flyer became a simple yet powerful tool that amplified awareness and encouraged applications from audiences we might not have reached otherwise.
Results, Impact & Reflections
This campaign showcased my ability to:
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translate organizational goals into a clear, multi-channel campaign.
Balancing a multi-channel campaign can often feel like spinning plates, especially when leading several initiatives at once. For the LEAD Program, I leaned into intentionality and choosing quality touchpoints over sheer volume. By taking a “less is more” approach, I was able to streamline efforts, ensure consistency across channels, and deliver a campaign that felt cohesive rather than scattered.
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build trust and excitement through storytelling.
I had the opportunity to speak on a panel at the 2024-2025 culminating LEAD summit. That in-person experience meeting and connecting with program leaders and participants gave me a clearer understanding of what trainees truly seek from opportunities like LEAD and deepened my understanding of the program.
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deliver measurable results that exceeded benchmarks.
While numbers aren’t the sole measure of success, especially for a program centered on inclusion and representation, they do matter. Metrics provide validation that the campaign’s intentional storytelling and outreach resonated with the right audiences. Surpassing both the application and fundraising goals was rewarding, not only because it demonstrated campaign effectiveness, but also because it showed what can happen when strategy, creativity, and mission align.
Industry Comparison & Context
In the nonprofit and association space, campaign performance is often measured against industry benchmarks for fundraising growth, application or program recruitment, and digital engagement. By those standards, the LEAD Year 3 campaign outperformed in nearly every category:
Fundraising
Sector-wide charitable giving grew only 2–6% in 2024, with healthcare organizations achieving around +11% growth year over year. In comparison, LEAD Year 3 raised 235% more than the previous year and reached 59% of its fundraising goal within the application window.
Applicant Growth
While many DEI-focused recruitment initiatives strive for incremental gains, LEAD Year 3 applications surpassed the goal by more than 50%, showing the power of storytelling and alumni voices to inspire action.
Email Performance
Email 1 (Applicants): 62.1% open rate, 3.6% click-through rate
Email 2 (Mentors): 59.6% open rate, 2.3% click-through rate
Benchmark: Association averages sit at ~35.6% open rate and ~3.7% click rate
Interpretation: Both emails achieved open rates nearly double the industry norm, demonstrating strong subject line strategy and audience alignment. While click-throughs were slightly below the association benchmark, the application surge shows conversion happened downstream, likely through word-of-mouth and complementary social tactics.
Social Media Context
Nonprofit social engagement has trended downward (median 0.22% engagement per post in 2025). By leaning on reels featuring alumni testimonials, LEAD content bucked the trend and contributed to applicant growth despite industry headwinds.
The Bottom Line
In a landscape where associations and nonprofits often celebrate modest year-over-year gains, the LEAD Year 3 campaign delivered outsized results with a fundraising increase more than twenty times the healthcare nonprofit average and application growth that beat internal goals by half again.