Top Interview Questions for Nonprofit Development Roles

The High Stakes of Hiring in Fundraising

Hiring for development is different. Development staff directly impact donor trust, fundraising pipelines, and revenue. A strong hire can deepen relationships and sustain momentum, while a poor hire can damage connections that took years to build and create costly turnover. Interviews are the best chance to see beyond a polished resume to how a candidate thinks and builds lasting donor relationships.

The Talbott Talent Approach

• Respectful and engaging: Treat interviews as two-way conversations. Candidates should leave with a clear sense of your mission, expectations, and culture.

• WIIFM mindset: Top candidates are asking, “What’s in it for me?” Be ready to share the real opportunity, including what that role looks like in terms of growth, impact, and support.

• Tight timelines, clear communication: Keep the process focused and moving so you don’t lose great people to procedure fatigue.

Retention Starts in the Interview

A common misconception is that retention begins after onboarding. In reality, it starts in the interview. When candidates hear clear expectations, realistic goals, and honest assessments of resources, they can decide if the role is truly sustainable for them. This honesty builds trust before day one and sets the stage for long-term commitment.

Talbott Talent CEO Leah York highlights a recurring challenge: “Organizations often struggle to find good development managers, but they may struggle even more to keep them by expecting too much too quickly. Retention starts with realism and the understanding that fundraising isn’t the job of one person alone. Clear expectations, shared responsibility, and solid infrastructure make success possible.” 

Strong retention starts with realistic expectations and the right support. Talbott Talent can guide you in building a hiring process that attracts, equips, and keeps top fundraising talent. 

Turning Interview Questions Into Powerful Insights

What strong interviewers know: it’s not just the question, it’s what you hear and where you take the answer next to uncover real fundraising potential.

Motivation & Fit

• Question: Based on what you know so far about this organization and this position, what excites you most about the role?

• Listen for: Specifics tied to mission and goals, evidence they did their homework, fit between their strengths and your needs.

• Follow-up: Which part of the role do you expect will stretch you, and how do you plan to grow into it?

Fundraising Experience

• Question: Share a successful experience where you raised funds for a cause or project. What strategies did you use?

• Listen for: Clear objectives, multi-channel strategy, measurable outcomes, ability to connect tactics to results.

• Follow-up: If you had to replicate this with half the budget, what would you change first?

• Question: Share a situation where you had to overcome a fundraising challenge. What steps did you take?

• Listen for: Problem framing, persistence, stakeholder engagement, lessons learned.

• Follow-up: What early indicators now alert you before that kind of issue escalates?

Building Donor Relationships

• Question: Describe a time when you had to build or repair donor relationships. How did you approach it?

• Listen for: Empathy, disciplined follow-through, long-term stewardship (not just transactional asks).

• Follow-up: Walk us through your touchpoint cadence for a first-time major donor.

• Question: How do you prioritize and engage different donor segments such as individuals, corporations, or foundations?

• Listen for: Segmentation logic, tailored value propositions, understanding of different donor cycles.

• Follow-up: Which segment would you grow first here based on what you know, and why?

Organization & Strategy

• Question: How do you stay organized and manage multiple fundraising initiatives simultaneously?

• Listen for: Use of systems, pipeline reviews, time blocking.

• Follow-up: What gets scheduled on your calendar every week without fail?

• Question: Give an example of a creative fundraising idea you implemented. What was the outcome?

• Listen for: Insight-driven creativity, testing and iteration, clarity on results.

• Follow-up: How did you decide whether to scale or retire the idea?

Collaboration & Systems

• Question: Describe your approach to creating and maintaining a donor database. How do you ensure accurate and up-to-date information?

• Listen for: Data hygiene practices, reporting cadence, linking data to action.

• Follow-up: Which three dashboard metrics do you monitor most closely?

• Question: Tell me about a time when you successfully collaborated with other departments to achieve fundraising goals.

• Listen for: Cross-functional communication, aligning competing priorities, building shared ownership.

• Follow-up: What did you do when priorities conflicted or timelines slipped?

Better Interviews Create Better Alignment

Strong development hires don’t just raise money - they build trust, stabilize donor pipelines, and extend your organization’s mission impact. That’s why interviews should never be treated as a routine HR task. Done well, they are the first step in retention and in the culture you’re building with your fundraising team.

Talbott Talent partners with nonprofits to design interview processes that respect candidates, reveal true fit, and lead to stronger, longer-lasting hires. If your organization is preparing for a development search, we’d love to help you get started. Reach out to the Talbott Talent team to start a conversation.

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