MUSICIANS ON CALL INC
Delivering the healing power of music
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Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Each year, over 33 million people are hospitalized, facing a difficult road of uncertainty and stress in an environment that feels unfamiliar. A study from Duke University Medical Center notes how stress can become a major factor for adults undergoing surgery. “Post-surgical pain was the most prominent pre-surgical patient concern, and nearly half reported they had high/very high anxiety levels about pain before surgery.” Similarly, a report from Anesthesia and Analgesia indicates that between 50% and 75% of children undergoing surgery experience high levels of stress. During those moments, Musicians On Call volunteers physically and virtually step into the hospital rooms of patients across the US. These programs deliver transformational experiences that connect with patients and help them manage their daily challenges while supporting a comprehensive recovery during their stay at the hospital.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
MOC Bedside
Our MOC Bedside program brings Volunteer Musicians escorted by Volunteer Guides to hospitals to perform live music at the bedsides of patients. Volunteer Guides ask patients if they feel like hearing a song and introduce the musicians prior to their performances inside individual hospital rooms. This simple process can bring about miraculous changes for patients. We’ve seen Veterans move their injured limbs to the music—and children smile for the first time since they’ve been in the hospital to receive treatment for cancer. These one-on-one interactions between volunteers and patients are an integral part of the powerful effect of restoring the happiness that often fades away in healthcare facilities.
MOC Streaming
Musicians On Call Streaming provides hospitals with tablets equipped with custom playlists designed to promote healing and positivity in the hospital environment and top-of-the-line noise-canceling headphones. Each kit is provided to hospitals completely set up and ready for patient use. There are hospitals in all 50 states that share this program with their patients.
MOC Virtual
Musicians On Call Virtual interactively brings live performances to those in need of remote, live music through one-on-one intimate performances and hospital-wide concerts. By utilizing video conferencing technology, Volunteer Guides host a 30-60 minute live session with performances from a Volunteer Musician. Guides and musicians interact, tell stories and can even answer patient questions passed to them from hospital staff. Because of this unique setup and our nationwide hospital partnerships, volunteers and those dialing in can be located all over the country and multiple hospitals can join at once, enabling the music to reach hundreds of patients at once.
Where we work
Awards
Best Nonprofits To Work For (#6) 2019
The Nonprofit Times
Best in Business Awards 2019
Nashville Business Journal
Best in Business Awards 2020
Nashville Business Journal
Healthcare Awards 2020
Nashville Business Journal
Best Nonprofits to Work For 2020
The NonProfit Times
Zoomtopia Innovation Awards 2020
Zoom
50 Philanthropic Organizations with Showbiz Chops 2020
Variety Magazine
Classy Awards, Finalist 2021
Classy
Best Nonprofits to Work For (#9) 2021
The NonProfit Times
N.B.T (Next Big Thing) Music Industry Directory 2021
Music Row Magazine
Best In Business Awards, Nonprofit Winner 2021
Nashville Business Journal
World Changing Ideas, Enduring Impact: 15+ Years 2021
Fast Company
Zoomtopia Innovation Awards, 2nd overall 2021
Zoom
Salute to Excellence Awards, People’s Choice Leadership Award 2021
Center for Nonprofit Management
Silver winner, Health Innovation (Not-for-profit) 2022
Anthem Awards
Bronze winner, Nonprofit Leader of the Year 2023
Anthem Awards
Classy Awards, Finalist 2022
Classy
Branded Content, Finalist 2023
Shorty Awards
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
MOC Bedside
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Volunteers participated in MOC Bedside and Virtual programs.
% of hospital staff surveyed believe MOC’s programs have a positive impact on patient experience
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of hospital staff surveyed agree MOC programs created a morale boost amongst staff, led to an increase in patient positivity, and/or led to better patient-caregiver relationships.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of patients, family members, and caregivers surveyed who said they would like another visit if they or a family member needed hospital treatment again.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The primary goal of Musicians On Call is to use live music to address the adverse side-effects of hospitalization for patients of all ages and medical diagnoses. Through the delivery of ongoing bedside and virtual programs, MOC provides the benefits of live music in the recovery process and improves the hospital experience for thousands of patients, family members, and caregivers each year.
MOC Bedside deploys a network of talented musicians to hospital facilities in markets across the country to deliver patient-requested songs right at their bedside. These consistent bedside music performances provide the familiar and well-documented benefits of live music, including stress relief, mood improvement, and pain distraction; helping support a full recovery process. As one young patient summarized, “Often times when hospitalized, my physical state gets triaged over my mental. Being in the hospital and having people and programs come with the goal of cheering patients up, having experiences that are not about sickness and illness, but about joy and happiness, give our souls and spirits the energy to keep fighting with our bodies for our health.” For over two decades, Musicians On Call has brought these transformative programs and the uplifting benefits of music to more than one million people in hospitals across the country.
MOC Virtual utilizes video conferencing technology to interactively bring live performances to those in need of remote, live music through one-on-one intimate performances and hospital-wide concerts. Because of this unique setup and MOC’s nationwide hospital partnerships, volunteers and those dialing in can be located all over the country and multiple hospitals can join at once, enabling the music to reach hundreds of patients at the same time.
Patient-preferred live music models, like MOC’s bedside and virtual programs, have been recognized through research for their enhanced impact and consistency in improving the hospital experience for patients. A 2016 study in the Western Journal of Nursing Research noted, “Patients listening to the preferred music reported a significantly greater reduction in agitation compared with the effect seen during the classical ‘relaxation’ music intervention.” These results reinforce the same data and perspectives that MOC collected from a survey of patients served at its hospital partners in 2019. Through this survey, 95% of patients reported a favorable impact from the performance, with 99% reporting they are likely to recommend MOC’s programs to other patients. Also, 100% of caregivers reported that the programs led to better patient-caregiver relationships.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
For its healthcare partners, Musicians On Call offers a way to inject the hospital environment with the transformative power of live music. MOC Bedside and Virtual enlist local Volunteer Musicians, with the assistance of Volunteer Guides, to give live in-room performances for patients undergoing treatment or who are unable to leave their hospital beds. The centerpiece of the program is the diverse and talented pool of volunteer musicians who not only deliver music programs, but convey the deep-rooted musical influences and genres of the local communities they serve, which greatly impact those patients who are also largely made up of local and regional community members.
In addition, Musicians On Call offers its streaming program, which leverages leading digital music technologies to offer whole music libraries to patients.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Musicians On Call has leveraged over two decades worth of experience and growth to build bedside and virtual models that can quickly and economically scale to new cities and markets across the country. The organization deploys a volunteer base that features hundreds of talented musicians from major markets across the country, including America's most iconic music cities such as Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, and Chicago. Patients encounter a variety of musical styles including country, classic rock, R&B, children’s songs, and folk music. Ultimately, MOC programs are leveraging the strength of the local music community to directly serve fellow community members receiving life-altering treatment in healthcare facilities. Additionally, no other organization has the expertise and resumé featuring award winning artists in the hospital, with previous artist partnerships including Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, Kelly Clarkson, Darius Rucker, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Olivia Rodrigo, Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini and many others.
MOC has been recognized for this innovative approach and significant impact by national industry and media leaders like Salesforce, CBS Sunday Morning, Billboard, Amazon Music and The Wall Street Journal. Thus far MOC has successfully established music programs that serve thousands of patients across major US markets annually.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Musicians On Call is distinguished as both the only national organization providing live bedside music to hospital patients and the largest single provider of music programs, in general, to hospitals across the country; serving over one million individuals throughout two decades of operation, including nearly 100,000 Veterans.
In addition to its service to patients and hospital facilities, Musicians On Call has been honored for its exceptional operational and employment practices, being recognized by The NonProfit Times on the Best Nonprofits to Work For list for 5 consecutive years
Musicians On Call has been piloting a groundbreaking, proprietary online platform that will revolutionize access to music in healthcare. This platform will transform MOC’s program delivery model to help the organization meet the growing demand for its programs from both hospitals and volunteers, making live music in a healthcare facility truly “on call.” The benefits and impact of this new innovative approach are ranging, including increasing programming for underserved populations and rural areas, increasing the frequency of hospital visits in existing partner cities, increasing the diversity of musicians that visit each facility, and removing language and geographic barriers by onboarding more local musicians in each community.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, Due to the sensitive nature of the population served, it’s challenging to collect detailed data
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
MUSICIANS ON CALL INC
Board of directorsas of 01/05/2024
Alissa Pollack
iHeartMedia
Term: 2022 -
Michael Solomon
Founder, Musicians On Call; Chairperson Emeritus & Partner, Brick Wall Management
Vivek J. Tiwary
Founder, Musicians On Call; Founder/CEO, StarPolish, TEG
Rome Thomas
Partner, FreeSolo Entertainment; Co-Founder, UG STRATEGIES
Mitch Glazier
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Stephen Mack
Mack Real Estate Group
Alissa Pollack
EVP Global Music Marketing, iHeartMedia
Tom Poleman
President of National Programming Platforms, iHeartMedia
Alex Merchan
Executive Vice President- Marketing, Live Nation / HOB Entertainment
Steve Savoca
East Coast Head of Music, Apple Music
Rick Whetsel
Vice President, G7 Entertainment Marketing, MOC Board Vice Chair
Charles Esten
Actor and singer/songwriter
Catherine Sullivan
Managing Partner, Baker Sullivan Hoover PLC, MOC Board Treasurer
Lee Perlman
Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer, Greater New York Hospital Association
Michelle Klinger
Philanthropist, MOC Board Secretary
Todd Rubin
Hand, Upper Extremity, and Microvascular Surgeon, Hughston Clinic Orthopaedics
Sara Crown Star
President, SCS Innovations, LLC
Allison Davenport
CEO, Riveredge Hospital, affiliated with Universal Health Services
Josh Joseph
Founder & CEO, Big Plan Holdings
Jeff Jowdy
President, Lighthouse Counsel
Alicia Mitchell
Senior Vice President, Communications, American Hospital Association
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
No data
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/28/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.