American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research & International Association for Dental Research

Overview

The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) is a membership organization with over 3,100 dental individual members, universities, and industry partners, and is the largest division of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR). In its history AADOCR had not engaged in fundraising outside of industry sponsorships around annual meetings. In 2013, Association leadership made the decision to implement individual giving options for members, and retained Trek Advancement to assist in the process.

Results

Trek consultants worked with AADOCR leadership to put all policies and procedures in place and build internal infrastructure for cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding members. There was extensive education that went into the process helping members see and understand that AADR is an organization worthy of philanthropic support over and above annual membership dues.

The success has been tremendous—AADOCR has activated hundreds of new donors and is building an endowment that will benefit the Association into the future. As the success of individual giving has increased, Trek consultants worked with staff to implement a basic planned giving program that has secured multiple five and six-figure gifts.

Based on the success of the AADOCR effort, IADR leadership engaged Trek Advancement in early 2020 to complete a feasibility study of its international membership to determine if IADR could have similar success. The study was completed in November 2020 with promising results. IADR has engaged Trek Advancement to begin implementation.