Here’s how the AAO Foundation has aided your orthodontic education to date:

• $6.9 million in orthodontic education and research funding since 1994, primarily in support of junior faculty, including:

            ▫   123 Fellowship Awards

            ▫   144 Research Awards

            ▫   Over 1,000 Gifts in Support of orthodontic education

• At the 67 graduate orthodontic residency programs in the US and Canada, currently there are 18 department chairs and/or program directors who have been directly supported by the AAOF early in their academic careers.
• 80% of junior faculty supported by the AAOF remain in full-time academics after five years.
• On the AAOF Website there are Final Reports from more than 200 pre-reviewed, funded proposals

The Vanguard Society

Resident support of the AAOF and membership in the Vanguard Society continues to amaze even the most optimistic supporters of the Foundation.

As of November 1, 2008, 1025 individuals have become Vanguard Society Members, 36 at the Regent ($25,000) level (8 pledged while a Resident and 28 upgraded to Regent after graduation). This level of generosity by orthodontic residents is nothing short of amazing.

Your pledge to the AAO Foundation as a resident inducts you into the Vanguard Society.   This lifetime distinction can only be realized by supporters who made their initial pledges
as a resident and communicates the special commitment that you have for insuring the future of our specialty.

Your Vanguard Pledge may be fulfilled over a five-year period, with the initial payment postponed until five years after graduation.  Essentially you will have ten years to meet your pledge.  If you pledge at the Regent level, you will have 15 years!

A CASE FOR THE FUTURE

Many AAO members find that they can redeem their pledges by means of a Grateful Patient, or Professional Courtesy Donation made in their honor perhaps by someone to whom they have extended professional courtesy, e.g. a referring dentist or a family friend.  In this scenario, orthodontic treatment is offered in the usual fashion, and the check, which is made payable to the AAO Foundation, is sent to the AAOF.  (The orthodontist and the contributor will need to discuss the tax advantages of such a gift so that both understand who might be allowed to take the tax deduction.)

Current Support

As of August 31, 2008, the AAO Foundation Endowment Campaign, A CASE FOR THE FUTURE, has realized $31.6 million in pledges, of which $22.2 million has been redeemed.  These pledges have come from Constituent and Component Societies, AAOF Corporate Partners, and Friends of the Specialty (including AAO staff and constituent society staff), but by far the vast majority of pledges (~80%) have come from AAO members.