The mission of the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation is to advance the orthodontic specialty by supporting education and research. Since 1996, the AAOF has funded $6.9 million primarily in support of Junior Faculty. This funding includes 123 fellowship awards, 144 research awards and over 1,000 gifts in support of orthodontic residencies.

The AAOF’s Endowment Campaign has realized $32 million in pledges from Constituent and Component Societies, AAOF Corporate Partners, Friends of the Specialty (including AAO and constituent society staff), but the vast majority of all funds pledged have come from AAO members.

The focus of the Endowment Campaign is three-fold: Participation, Regents, and Planned Giving.

• Participation – one-third of all AAO members have pledged A CASE FOR THE FUTURE, (i.e., the amount of a full treatment case, usually redeemed over three to five years). This includes 1,023 members of the Foundation’s Vanguard Society – those individuals who pledge while still in their orthodontic residency.


• Regents – AAOF Regents are those persons who pledge a minimum of $25,000 over as much as ten years (i.e. the equivalent of a case every two years). While representing only eight percent of all pledges, the 501 AAOF Regents account for some 40 percent of all dollars pledged. (Ziegler Practice Transitions, Ltd. is a Corporate Regent Partner of the AAOF)


• Planned Giving – AAO members are asked to consider including orthodontics in general and the AAO Foundation in particular in their estate plans. Those individuals who inform the Foundation that they have made this commitment to the Foundation are considered members of the AAOF Keystone Society. Currently, 221 individuals have made this commitment.

For more information, please call Robert Hazel, AAOF EVP, at (800) 424-2841 - Ext. 546.