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Boosting Hospital Fundraising Through Song

 |  By Marianne@example.com  
   September 12, 2012

Each day thousands of YouTube users with an affinity for singing upload recordings of their performances—the good, the bad, and the dreadfully awful—to the Google-owned video site.

Most of those videos, aside from the rare viral hit, remain on the site forgotten, collecting cyber dust, and—let's face it—serving no real purpose.

But one Chicago hospital has created a website with the hopes of harnessing the power of online video in order to promote awareness of the organization and increase donations while it's at it.

Mount Sinai Hospital of Chicago launched Sounds of Sinai last week, pre-loaded with song video recordings from celebrities such as Earvin Magic Johnson and Tony Lucca. Anyone can upload a video of themselves performing and anyone can donate to support a video, patient, or Sinai clinician.

If you're still unclear, there's a cute performance of an original song called "Suddenly Sinai" explaining the concept on the About Us page.

So why music videos? The website states that music and medicine are more tied than ever as musical therapy is gaining mainstream acceptance in healthcare. But more than that, hospital marketers recognized an untapped opportunity in the online musical performance space.

"Sinai was seeking to develop a breakthrough communications concept leveraging social media to enhance our fundraising efforts," says David Frankel, vice president of planning, marketing, and communication for the hospital.

"SoundsofSinai.org is a unique and inspiring way for Sinai to raise money that is so needed to help purchase anything from new hospital beds to lifesaving medical equipment that will help us provide the best possible care for patients in our underserved communities."

Frankel and the hospital's executive leadership team worked with a small team of outside marketing and Web professionals to create and implement the Sounds of Sinai concept. The initiative is being rolled out externally and internally over the next several months.

In addition to increasing awareness of Sinai Health System's services, Sounds of Sinai is expected to raise $250,000 or more during the next 12–18 months, Frankel says. Funds raised will be earmarked for the hospitals greatest needs, according to the website.

Since the site launched just one week ago, Frankel says it is too early to really gauge results. But a quick look at the homepage shows that the top performing song, The Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" seemingly performed by hospital staff at a function, has raised $942.

The next highest performing, "You Better Shape Up" from the Grease movie soundtrack has raised $427 to date.  And in third place is Tony Lucca's "Love Light," which has pulled in $275 already.

Some videos make you glad the cameras weren't rolling the last time you were at a karaoke bar, but a few actually show sparks of talent, and all are entertaining.  But the site is meant to showcase more than the singing voices of Sinai's staff, patients, and patient advocates.  Magic Johnson's rendition of "My Girl" is holding steady at $156.

"The Sounds of Sinai concept is meant to celebrate the emotional power of music as part of the healing process, but it also provides a platform that we can use in the future to highlight all of the wonderful sounds coming from Mount Sinai Hospital Chicago—the cry of a healthy new baby, the rhythm of heart monitors, and the sounds of patients, doctors, nurses, and other caregivers talking about how best to improve health," Frankel says.

It's too early to say if the concept will be successful, but it certainly has made waves in the community and has been a hit, often literally, with staff and patients, Frankel says.

And after adding up the amounts raised on each video on the homepage the campaign appears to have brought in more than $2,000 in its first week. If it can keep up that momentum, a new era of social musical performance fundraising may have been born.

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Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.

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