8 DEANS AND DEVELOPMENT contribution thank-you notes, placing plaques on facilities and on donor walls, sending donors’ cards on their birthdays, and so forth. A typical name for this operation is Donor Relations. The most likely predictor that a prospect will say “yes” to your request is a prior gift, so nurturing these relations is essential—a theme that will be repeated throughout the remainder of this book. All donors should have a positive, even uplifting, experience through their giving. The Major Fundraising Operations The typical development operation will have at its core four offices that do direct fund-raising: 1) Corporate and Foundation Relations, 2) the Annual Fund, 3) Major Gifts, and 4) Planned Giving. Each is responsible for different aspects of fund-raising, differentiated by whom they solicit or the form that the gift takes. Corporate and Foundations Relations (CFR) solicits from compa- nies and private foundations, i.e., not government entities such as the National Science Foundation. Grouping companies and foundations together may seem odd. Many corporations, in the now long ago and lamented days of liberal capitalism, saw philanthropy as a part of their corporate strategy. They often created corporate foundations to make grants or gifts to charity, including higher education. Being good neigh- bors created good will with governments, local communities, employees, customers, and vendors. Now, corporate philanthropy has declined dramatically; gifts to higher education connect directly to their busi- ness and marketing interests. Despite the change in corporate philanthropy, CFR is still a typical office. An Arts and Sciences Development Office needs to work closely with CFR, or with its private foundation specialist. While the large private foundations such as Ford, Freeman, Gates, Hewlett, Lilly, Luce, Mellon, and Pew can make transformative gifts, some have shifted away from supporting Colleges and Universities, and there is intense competi- tion for what remains of their previous largess to higher education. Your greatest success may come from foundations that you’ve never heard of, and which people in other parts of the country will never know exist. Every region in the country has regional and local foundations, often