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FUNDRAISING
Concert against Cancer
A success story
by CAROLINE RODGERS
the Concert contre le Cancer (Concert Against Cancer), the primary
source of funding for the Institut du cancer de Montréal,
celebrates its fifth anniversary this February. In five years, the
dedication of its volunteers and its director-general, Maral
Tersakian, as well as its shock advertising campaign showing
composers with bald heads, has made it a success.
The last two editions have raised between
$550,000 and $570,000 each.
“We found a winning formula,” says
Maral Tersakian. “It draws as many business
heads and classical music lovers as
it does members of the general public
who have never gone to a symphonic concert,
and may never otherwise have, but
are motivated by the fight against cancer.”
This is one charity event that is accessible
to all budgets; ticket prices run from
$35 . . . up to $2,500!
“We didn’t want to make it an elitist
soirée,” says Mrs. Tersakian. “To thank
our diamond and silver partners for their
more generous donations, we organize a
VIP cocktail before the concert.”
This annual event has also helped
bring the Institute to the greater public.
“I often speak to people who call to purchase
tickets, and many of them have been intimately affected by the
disease,” explains the director. “ Four sisters and their spouses bought
tickets because their sister had died of cancer the year before. This was
their way of commemorating a tragic anniversary.”
How it all got started
Walks, balls, bike rallies – there is already a host of activities and
events dedicated to raising funds to fight cancer. Those at the Institute
asked themselves what they could do to raise money that would
stand out. Why not a classical music concert? It was also an excellent
way to celebrate the organization’s 60 th anniversary
“Looking at a profile of our donors, we found that they are educated,
well established, and of a certain age,” says Mrs. Tersakian. “We
thought a symphony concert corresponded well to this profile.”
Ambitious from the start, the first concert was held in Salle Wilfrid-
Pelletier. “We had the chance to pair Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Louis
Lortie, who played together for the first time. It was a success,” she recalls.
It wasn’t until the second year that the event took its current name
of “Concert contre le cancer”. Marketing firm kbs+p had the ingenious
idea of putting Mozart with a bald head on the ads. “It had an extraordinary
media impact,” adds the director. Since then, Verdi and
Strauss (and for the next campaign, Bizet) have had their heads shaved
to support the cause.
The Institut du cancer de Montréal was founded in 1947, making it
the first francophone cancer research institute in North America. But
with the creation of the CHUM (the University of Montreal Hospital
Centre), its mission changed and the foundation’s aim changed to supporting
the CHUM research centre.
“It’s a relatively small foundation,” says Maral Tersakian. “We addressed
the need to target our efforts, and we decided to create the program
Rapatriement de cerveaux (Repatriating Brains). As a society, we
lose a lot of scientists trained in our universities. They go elsewhere to do
postdoctoral studies
and never come back
to Quebec because
there isn’t as much
funding and start-up
capital for research
here as in other countries.”
The program has
made good on its
promise; in the last
four years, five toplevel
researchers
have come back to
settle here.
The concept of
bringing scientists
back into the fold has
been very well received
in the business
community. The
Institute easily recruited prestigious members of the business community
to be part of the campaign’s office and donate, sign letters, and
open doors.
“The businesspeople who get involved with or donate money to a
cause want to know what is done with the money to ensure that it’s
used effectively,” explains Mrs. Tersakian. “A researcher who settles
here becomes like an SME over time. He or she receives funding and
hires staff. This means in addition to advancing scientific research,
we’re stimulating economic activity as well. By adding a classical music
concert to finance the program, we find ourselves with many ingredients
that contribute to success. When you have an interesting and wellorganized
project, people want to participate.”
Furthermore, the organization reduced its operating costs to a minimum
by soliciting sponsorships for the material necessary to the ad
campaign. “Everything that we’ve gotten for free from the media and
from suppliers is a key to success,” she adds. “I spend six months of the
year negotiating all that.”
“It draws as many business
heads and classical
music lovers as it
does members of the
general public who
have never gone to a
symphonic concert,
but are motivated by
the fight against
cancer.”
- MARAL TERSAKIAN,
director-general of the Institut
du cancer de Montréal.
PHOTO Luc Lauzière - Multimédia CHUM
The upcoming Concert Against Cancer will take place February 3, 2012, at 8 p.m.
and will be held for the first time at Montreal’s Maison Symphonique. The audience
will hear the Metropolitan Orchestra, under the baton of Stéphane Laforest, soprano
Marie-Josée Lord, and violinist Marie-Ève Poupart playing a program of works by
Bizet, Puccini, Gershwin, Gilles Vigneault, and Starmania’s Le monde est stone.
TRANSLATION: REBECCA ANNE CLARK
LSM
DECEMBER 2011 / JANUARY 2012 37