14 DEANS AND DEVELOPMENT prospects are identified, their interests known and giving capacity estimated. From a variety of sources information is gathered to create a profile of the targeted individual. Contact reports stemming from interaction with the prospect provide updated information that can be used for the “ask.” The first step is to ensure that all the relevant information about the prospect is available—relationship to the University, property ownership, board memberships, known gifts to other charities, media mentions, key civic or religious activities, and so forth. Development officers often start with the assumption that the prospect is interested in either an area in which he or she was involved while at college or that corresponds to their current career or charitable activities. Thus, a biology major who became a doctor and supports the arts might give to the biology depart- ment or the pre-med program, or the public health program, or the arts. The hope is that the research process will help to shape a proposal attrac- tive to the donor. I recall a prospect that had graduated as a science major, been an athlete, and become a successful business person, who, initially unbeknownst to us, had become passionate about helping chil- dren in a developing part of the world. She ended up making a major gift to help college students do service learning projects during their study abroad in the part of the world she cared about. Only lengthy, thoughtful conversations on the part of the development officer and me elicited this interest and found a way to link her passion with our college’s mission. MGO’s develop moves management strategies to move a prospect towards making a gift. A move or step might be having the prospect come to campus, having the department chair from the prospect’s major visit the prospect, mailing the prospect a signed copy of a noteworthy book published by a faculty member, arranging for the prospect to meet an established donor who supports the college, or having the dean visit. Every contact with a prospect should be tracked by a contact report that a development officer files as soon as possible after a visit, phone call, or substantive email. Typically, monthly or quarterly meetings of the Development staff should be held to review the current situation with prospects, mark where they are along a timeline leading to a gift, and recommend a new step—or “move.”