Saundra and Alan Kaplan’s commitment to education is so great that they made a gift to UNLV without ever setting foot on campus.

The couple, who live in Swannanoa, N.C., came to own a house in Las Vegas, but didn’t have a need for it. So the two University of Miami graduates went to UNLV with the idea that the house could be used to create full-tuition scholarships.
The Kaplans’ reasoning was simple. They don’t have children, and “have always found that education makes a difference,” says Saundra, 67.

Saundra is an accountant and has been for 46 years. Alan, 70, retired in 1994, but prior to that his business was “making sick companies well,” he says.

She went to college on a full-tuition scholarship, and Alan jokes that the University of Miami was just nice enough to let him in. The Kaplans have richly rewarded their alma mater, but didn’t see why their giving should stop there.

They live half a mile from Warren Wilson College and are the biggest single donors, plus Saundra is on the board of trustees. They’ve also given gifts to Florida Gulf Coast University. “We are very used to giving money to colleges,” Saundra said.

A Wall Street Journal article helped lead the Kaplans to how they could give the house away and give money to a college like they had been doing in the past—and like they plan to continue to do throughout their lifetime and even after.

The Kaplans’ gift is part of UNLV’s $500 million Invent the Future campaign and is an example of just one of the many estate planning vehicles UNLV uses that provide tax benefits for donors.