SickKids Foundation tells the hospital's 150th year not as a corporate anniversary celebration, but through children's struggle to reach their next birthday.
Created by FCB Canada and TBWA\Canada, “The Count” sits at the heart of the “Fight For Every Birthday” campaign for Toronto’s The Hospital for Sick Children’s 150th year. Instead of recounting the hospital's long history, the film merges the daily fight of children treated at SickKids with the idea of a birthday.
The campaign's starting point is quite simple: Everyone knows what a birthday is. Cake, candles, countdown, getting older, and the idea of celebration are familiar to all. But for SickKids patients, reaching the next birthday is never guaranteed. “The Count” places this feeling directly at the center, linking the hospital's anniversary to the children's personal timeline.
Bringing the Birthday Idea into the Hospital Story
With its 150-year history, SickKids has a strong institutional story in research, treatment, and child health. Such anniversaries are usually told through archival footage, historical achievements, and corporate memory. “The Count” chooses a different path.
The film reinterprets the 150th year idea through the concept of a birthday. The hospital's age remains the campaign's starting point, but the main story is built around children reaching their next age. Thus, the anniversary transforms from an institution-centered celebration into a more human narrative touching the lives of sick children.
The campaign blends birthday imagery with the world of sports training. Children are shown not just as patients, but as characters who work, prepare, endure, and fight. A visual and emotional parallel is drawn between athletes' pre-game preparation and children's treatment process.
This approach gives the campaign both movement and a sense of hope. The warmth of birthday celebrations is handled alongside the difficulty of the treatment process. At the intersection of these two worlds, the film makes visible the children's struggle for their next birthday.
23 Real SickKids Patients Appear in the Film
“The Count” features 23 real SickKids patients. Most of the filming took place inside the hospital. This choice brings the campaign's emotion to a more direct and authentic ground.
The scenes in the film unfold through sequences where children participate in a metaphorical training process. Birthday decorations, a sports field atmosphere, moments of preparation, and hospital reality meet within the same narrative. Thus, the campaign tells the children's journey not just as a medical struggle, but as a personal effort renewed every day.
In this respect, “The Count” departs from the direct appeal for help found in classic donation campaigns. It brings the viewer closer not just to a need, but to a concrete and understandable goal: for a child to see their next birthday.
Connecting the Donation Appeal to a Universal Emotion
Behind the SickKids campaign lies a decline in donation behavior and general fatigue among people. Economic uncertainties, global stress, and desensitization to donation topics are identified as key challenges the campaign must address.
Therefore, “The Count” ties the donation appeal not to an abstract institutional need, but to an emotion everyone can relate to. In this narrative, a birthday is not just a day of celebration; it is positioned as a goal children are striving to reach.
While the campaign calls on donors to be part of a larger system, it presents this within a clear and emotionally close framework. The hospital's 150th year gains a more personal meaning when linked to children's future birthdays.
Best of Non-Profit Award at The One Show
“The Count” won the Best of Non-Profit category at the 2026 One Show. The announced results of the campaign are also striking in terms of donation goals.
According to information shared in the One Show archive, the campaign raised $776,000 in donations and reached 97% of its revenue target. It gained 5,394 one-time donors. Annual revenue increased by 44%. One-time donations rose by 28%, donation intent by 49%, and the average donation amount by 181%. The campaign also reached 307 million impressions through 657 news and content pieces.
These results show that “The Count” works not only as a powerful film but also as a campaign that drives donation behavior.
Instead of celebrating its 150th year by looking back at its own past, SickKids chose to focus on children's futures. The impact of “The Count” largely comes from this choice: it tells not the institution's age, but the next age children are striving to reach.
