November is National Philanthropy Month. It’s a time when the University of Kentucky can show its gratitude to those generous donors who are important contributors to the institution. One of those individuals is an alum from Paducah, Kentucky, dentist Craig Adams.

The University of Kentucky Campus News recently published an article, “UK Dentistry Alumnus Craig Adams Gives Back to Alma Mater,” about a dentist who made charitable giving a part of his estate plan.

When Craig Adams was in high school, his father said he should think about dentistry as a profession. Adams took his dad’s advice seriously. After graduating from dental school, Adams went on to build a very successful dental practice.

Along with his dental practice, Adams serves as a member of the adjunct clinical faculty at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry and the community faculty of the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry.

With gratitude for his UK education and a desire to help students follow his same career path, Adams made the largest gift commitment in the history of the College of Dentistry.

“Dental school is expensive,” he said. “Nationwide, today’s students are graduating with an average debt of $250,000. I know I can’t help all of the students pursuing dentistry at UK.  However, by endowing a scholarship, I can help one or two students per year, every year, for many years to come.”

Adams contacted UK’s senior director of Gift and Estate Planning to help him map out the parameters of the scholarship endowment he wanted to create and to fund it in a tax-wise manner. Adams made a “hybrid gift,” establishing an endowed scholarship to be funded with both outright gifts during his lifetime and deferred gifts through his estate plan.

This allows Adams to consider the details of how he wants the scholarship to work and gives him the opportunity to see his philanthropy at work as scholarship grants are made.

In total, Adams’ gift commitment is more than $3 million, which makes it the largest in the UK’s College of Dentistry’s 54-year history.

Reference: University of Kentucky Campus News (November 21, 2016) “UK Dentistry Alumnus Craig Adams Gives Back to Alma Mater”