56 DEANS AND DEVELOPMENT a donor discloses a family tragedy, financial, or other thorny problem, do you really want to bring it up at the next meeting? Similarly, if you learn the individual loves yellow tulips or garden gnomes, these notes will help you provide a tailored gift in later stewardship. Should you or the development officer move to a new position, these notes allow conti- nuity of development of prospects, important for the long-term finan- cial health of the college. (JCH) I have always been much more at ease in face-to-face encounters than on the phone. In my early days in the dean’s office, speaking with donors with whom I had not yet devel- oped an extensive relationship, I prepared for donor calls by reviewing the contact history and sketching out copious talking points. At least the invisibility of the telephone allows one to be comfortable, surround oneself with notes, and kick off one’s shoes! Afterwards, a debrief with the development officer. Even once these relationships have deepened, the devel- opment officer should know, if not every detail of every call, at least their relative frequency and tenor, to include in the record. Lead Development Officer For colleges with a large number of alumni, you may have the fortune of already having two or more major gift officers. If you currently have only one officer, given the rapid expansion of goals for development programs and capital campaigns, do not be surprised if you are given— or need—to add at least a second officer. One should be designated as the lead development officer (or a similar title delineating a senior rank), who will be responsible for the performance, organization, and evalua- tion of all subordinate development officers. This ensures no increase of your development time. When you have decided on the college’s devel- opment priorities and the resources to be invested in each component activity (alumni engagement through major gift stewardship), the lead development officer will subdivide and allocate the college’s alumni. (Moen covers examples of such subdivisions in the previous chapter.) Be sure to provide “insider” information about the performance of the