The foundation maintains a database of past and present awardees in the Raiser’s Edge (Blackbaud, Inc.), which contained records for all current, and 2,074 former, Damon Runyon fellows. Entries contain basic information about award recipients, such as gender, degrees held, and where and when award was distributed, although some records from the earliest recipients were missing data (referred to as “Unknown” in the Results section). To obtain additional information, a Web-based questionnaire was constructed and launched using Zoomerang software (Market Tools, Inc.). The survey contained 30 basic questions and nine additional questions that were presented if specific responses preceded them. Most questions were multiple-choice, but five required write-in answers. An invitation to participate in the survey was sent to all former fellows for whom the foundation had an e-mail address (1,301 individuals out of a total of 2,002 former fellows who were still living). The survey was open for data collection for 86 days, during which time three reminders were sent to those who had not completed the survey.

Over 2,000 Fellowships were awarded between January 1, 1948, and December 31, 2003, as shown in Table 1. The number of fellowships has