Estate-Plan Giving: Dori Kramer’s Beneficiary Designation Gift to Fund Smile Train’s Work Into the Future

Dori Kramer was first inspired to become a Smile Train donor by her mother’s philanthropy. When her mom had dementia and Dori was managing her affairs, she wrote the checks for everything — including the nonprofit organizations her mom supported.

“Probably similar to me, she felt it was the most social good you could do for your money,” Dori says, adding that she appreciates how Smile Train’s narrow focus on clefts means she knows her money is serving a concrete, specific purpose. To ensure that her support for our lifesaving work continues for generations to come, Dori has included Smile Train in her estate plan as a beneficiary of her financial account.

“That way, I know that what I want to have done will be done,” says Dori, who knows one benefit of this arrangement is not having to rely on a trustee to follow her instructions. “A financial institution will do that for me. My trustee will have enough to deal with when I die, but this will already be taken care of.”

Dori believes that there will always be a need for cleft surgery. “The beauty of this gift is that it is not dependent on ever-changing political events,” she says. “This is a cause that everyone can get behind. It can unite us all, regardless of your political philosophy.”

Making her estate gift to support Smile Train gives Dori “the satisfaction of knowing that individual lives are being improved for the rest of their lives,” she says. “The children have something that cannot be taken away from them — their smile — that lasts their lifetime.”

Dori hopes her gift will inspire generosity in others and encourages them to consider the legacies they could leave “to bring self-esteem and empowerment to as many individual children as possible,” she concludes. “I appreciate very much the work that is done on the ground — the medical staff, the surgeons, the nurses, and all the healthcare providers that are part of the team that makes Smile Train possible.”