Questions to Ask in a Fundraising Interview
For candidates interviewing for a fundraising or development job, whether development officer, major gifts, grants or director of development, who want to know what they would be walking into before they accept a number. The questions follow the order the conversation tends to take: the goal and how it was set, the donors and data you would inherit, how much the board and the executive director fundraise, the team and budget, what the first year is judged on, then pay and the close.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The goal
What is the fundraising goal for this role in its first year, and how was that number set?
Why ask it
A goal built from last year's results, known renewals and the names in the donor file is one you can plan against. A goal that is simply the hole left in the budget once expenses were added up is a hope, and the fundraiser tends to carry the blame when it is missed. Ask who was in the room when the number was agreed.
How much has the organization raised in each of the last three years, and from which sources?
Why ask it
Three years show a direction that a single total hides. Notice whether the interviewer can split the money between individuals, foundations, companies, events and government without looking it up. A new goal that sits well above a flat or falling line needs a reason other than your arrival.
How much of the goal is money you expect to renew, and how much has to come from new donors?
Why ask it
Renewing a gift and finding a new one are different jobs with different odds. A mostly renewing goal means careful stewardship and well-timed asks. One that leans on new donors means prospecting from a standing start, and the fair follow-up is how long a first gift from a stranger usually takes here.
What is the biggest obstacle to reaching this year's goal?
Why ask it
The answer tells you where the difficulty sits: a cause that is hard to explain in a sentence, a thin donor list, a board that does not ask, or records nobody trusts. Each one makes for a different first year. An interviewer who cannot name an obstacle has either not looked closely or would prefer not to say.
What happened the last time a fundraising goal was missed?
Why ask it
Plenty of organizations have missed one, so 'that has never happened' deserves a gentle second try. The reassuring version is a budget adjusted and a plan rewritten. The worrying version ends with the fundraiser gone a few months later.
Is the goal lower in the first year, while I am still meeting the donors?
Why ask it
A donor who has given for a decade still has to get to know a new staff member, and large gifts tend to follow the relationship. A full number from the first month was probably written around need, not around what a newcomer can do. What the last new hire was expected to bring in during their first two quarters is the concrete version of this question.
Which revenue streams would I own outright, and which would I only support?
Why ask it
Titles in this field are loose: a development manager runs the gala, the grants and the database at one place and a single appeal at another. Get the list, then a rough share of the week for each. Five streams for one person is a list that needs an order, so ask which is allowed to slip.
Would I carry an individual goal, a share of a team goal, or both?
Why ask it
This one is for larger offices, where several gift officers work the same donor list; skip it if you would be the only fundraiser. A personal number tells you what your review will turn on. A shared one works when colleagues trust each other, and it can leave nobody sure who is supposed to close a particular gift.
Is there a written fundraising plan for this year, and could I see it?
Why ask it
A plan with months, owners and amounts shows that somebody has thought past the total. If none exists, find out whether writing it is part of the job and how much say you would have over the number at the top of it.
Does the goal treat restricted and unrestricted money the same way?
Why ask it
Money that can pay the rent is usually harder to raise than money tied to a named program, and it is often what the organization needs most. If both count equally, you may be nudged toward restricted grants that hit the number and leave the operating budget short. Which kind the executive director loses sleep over is the kind you would really be chasing.
Is a capital campaign or another large campaign under way or being planned?
Why ask it
A campaign changes the job: targets rise, the board's attention is claimed, and annual giving can dip while donors are asked for larger one-time gifts. Two things to pin down if one is coming: whether anyone has tested that donors would support it, and whether this role works on the campaign or keeps the annual money coming in while others do.
Donors and data
Would I inherit a portfolio of donors, and how many people are in it?
Why ask it
The size tells you whether this is relationship work or list management. Nobody can know several hundred people well, so ask how many of them someone met face to face in the past year. With no portfolio at all, the first year is spent building one and the goal ought to reflect that.
When you ask donors why they give to you, what do they say?
Why ask it
It is the fundraiser's version of asking about the mission, and it shows whether anyone here listens to donors or only writes to them. Specific answers, such as a relative who used the service or a visit that stayed with someone, are the stories you would be retelling in your first month. A shrug suggests the giving runs on habit, and habit is hard to build a larger ask on.
How would the donors be introduced to me?
Why ask it
The handover that works is an introduction from someone the donor already trusts, usually the executive director or a board member. A plan that has you emailing strangers to explain who you are can be improved before you start. A handful of personal introductions in the first month is a small thing to request, and a telling one to be refused.
Which asks are already in progress, and how far along is each?
Why ask it
Open proposals and half-finished conversations are the nearest thing a new fundraiser gets to a head start. Ask to hear two or three by size and stage. An empty pipeline need not put you off, but then this year's money has to come from somewhere you can name.
What donor database do you use, and how clean is the data in it?
Why ask it
Most candidates stop at the name of the software. The state of the records is what you would live with: duplicates, missing meeting notes and gifts logged in a side spreadsheet slow down every task. An honest 'it is a mess' is a good sign, provided cleanup is counted as part of your work and not added on top.
Who enters gifts, sends thank-you letters and runs the reports?
Why ask it
Where a database or operations person does this, your hours go to donors. Where nobody does, a real slice of each week goes to data entry and acknowledgments, whatever the job title says. How fast a thank-you goes out is a fair follow-up, because donors notice.
What share of last year's donors gave again this year?
Why ask it
An interviewer who knows the retention figure, or can find it in a minute, is running fundraising on evidence. Resist comparing it with a benchmark you read somewhere; ask instead whether it is rising or falling and what they think is behind that. If no one tracks it, tracking it is likely your first project.
How much of last year's total came from the five largest gifts?
Why ask it
Heavy concentration makes the goal fragile and makes those few relationships the heart of the job. Find out who holds each one today. Where it is the founder or the executive director, what matters next is whether you would be brought into those conversations or kept outside them.
Which grants come up for renewal in the next twelve months, and is there a grants calendar?
Why ask it
A calendar with deadlines, amounts and report dates lets you start work in the first week. For a grants role, ask how many applications went out last year and how many were funded, then whether any funder has hinted it is winding down. No calendar means your first task is rebuilding one from old award letters.
How much do the events net after costs and staff time?
Why ask it
Events can swallow a small development office for months. A team that knows the net figure is managing its events, and a team that quotes only the gross may be keeping one alive out of habit. Whether you would be free to change an event or retire it says a lot about how much authority comes with the title.
Is there a current case for support, and where do the stories and results in it come from?
Why ask it
You cannot ask well without something true and specific to say. If the document is stale or missing, the second half of the question matters more, because it tells you who you would be chasing for outcomes and stories. Writing one from scratch is reasonable work as long as the calendar allows for it.
Which kinds of giving have never been tried here, such as monthly gifts, bequests or a major gifts program?
Why ask it
The gaps show where growth could come from, and also what you would be building with no history to lean on. A new program seldom pays for itself in its first year, so check that this year's goal does not depend on one. If something was tried and dropped, the reason it was dropped is the useful part.
Board and leaders
How much of the executive director's time goes to fundraising, and which donors do they handle personally?
Why ask it
Large donors generally want time with the person in charge. A director who likes donor meetings and protects hours for them is the best asset a fundraiser can have. One who created this job in order to stop fundraising will be hard to get into the room, so ask about last month specifically.
Does every board member give, and is the expectation written down?
Why ask it
Some funders ask about board giving on their applications, and 'not all of them' is an awkward thing to write. Listen for whether the board chair holds members to the expectation or staff are left to chase. The size of the gifts matters less here than whether everyone takes part.
What do board members actually do for fundraising: open doors, host gatherings, join asks, thank donors?
Why ask it
Verbs are the good sign. 'The board is very supportive' with no example usually means they approve the budget and wait for results. A sharper version, if the first answer is vague: which two members help most, and what did each of them do this year?
Is there a development committee, and who staffs it?
Why ask it
A working committee gives you allies and a route into the rest of the board. Staffing one is real work, with agendas, minutes and reminders, so if it falls to this role, weigh how often it meets against what came out of it last year. Some committees produce more reports than gifts.
How does the board hear about fundraising results, and would I present them myself?
Why ask it
Reporting in your own voice lets you explain a slow quarter before it becomes a story about you. Results that reach the board secondhand, as a single figure, arrive without the pipeline behind them. For a director's job, presenting is part of the role and worth confirming; for a junior one, a seat in the room once or twice a year is a reasonable hope.
Has the person I would report to raised money themselves?
Why ask it
A boss who has made asks knows why a large gift can take more than a year and what a quiet month usually means. One who has not may read patience as idleness. In that case, ask how they would tell the work was on track before any money arrived.
How do program staff and fundraising staff work together here?
Why ask it
Fundraisers need site visits, outcomes and stories, and program staff can experience those requests as interruptions or fear that money is steering the mission. Ask for a recent proposal that was built with a program lead. Friction described frankly is more believable than 'we are all one family'.
Is there a gift acceptance policy, and has the organization ever turned a gift down?
Why ask it
A written policy means you are not alone when money arrives with awkward strings or from an awkward source. A story about a declined gift shows where leadership draws its lines. With neither a policy nor a story, the decision gets made on the day by whoever happens to be there, and that may be you.
How does leadership respond when a fundraiser says a goal or a timeline is unrealistic?
Why ask it
Sooner or later you will have to say it, so hear how it has gone before. The answer you want is a time the number or the plan changed after that conversation. Talk about fundraisers needing to 'stay positive' suggests bad news is unwelcome.
Team and budget
How long did the last two people in this job stay, and what did each leave for?
Why ask it
Anyone hiring a fundraiser hears this often enough that a calm, factual reply is the normal one. Two quick exits for the same reason, such as targets nobody met or a leader who avoided asks, are a pattern and not bad luck. If the job is new, ask instead who has raised the money until now and what they are handing over.
How long has the seat been empty, and who has kept in touch with donors since?
Why ask it
Each vacant month is a month donors heard less from the organization. If the executive director covered, the relationships probably held. If nobody did, your first calls are reintroductions and some renewals may already have lapsed quietly, so the early months will look slower than the donor file suggests.
Who else works in development, and what does each person own?
Why ask it
You are mapping what would land on you by default, which is whatever nobody else is named for. In a larger office, listen for whether the work is divided by kind of donor or by task, since that decides whose agreement you need before calling someone. If the answer is 'just you', find out who covers donor calls and deadlines when you are on vacation or out sick.
What is the development budget apart from salaries?
Why ask it
Database fees, mailings, event deposits, prospect research and travel to see donors all cost money. With nothing to spend, a fundraiser ends up going back for permission to buy every stamp. Who approves a purchase, and how long that takes, is the practical half of the answer.
Who handles communications such as appeals, the newsletter, social media and the website?
Why ask it
At many small organizations development and communications share one desk, which is workable when it is said up front. Where a separate communications person exists, the thing to learn is who decides the calendar when an appeal and a program announcement want the same week.
Is there money and time for training, a fundraising credential or a peer network?
Why ask it
This matters most to a sole fundraiser, who has no colleague down the hall to learn from. A named amount and a recent example of someone using it count for more than 'we are open to it'.
How many events, donor dinners and board meetings fall outside office hours in a typical season?
Why ask it
Donors and boards meet when they are free, so some evening work comes with the field. What you need is the count and the custom around it: whether people take the time back without having to ask. Rules on hours and overtime differ by place and by employer, so ask how it works there.
First year
Beyond dollars raised, what would my first year be judged on?
Why ask it
First-year money often reflects work done before you arrived, for better or worse. Fair measures include things within your control, such as donor meetings held, proposals submitted and lapsed donors brought back. If dollars are the only measure, ask how a gift that closes in month fourteen would be counted.
What should be finished by the end of my first three months?
Why ask it
Meeting the top donors, auditing the database, reading the files and drafting a plan are all sensible answers. Closing a major gift from someone you have just met is not. Watch for an event or a grant deadline that falls inside those months, and for how much of it is already done.
How many donor meetings, asks or proposals would you expect from me in a typical month?
Why ask it
An activity number is easier to control than a dollar figure, and it shows how the organization pictures the work. A count that leaves no room for preparation or follow-up produces visits that go nowhere. With no number at all you would be setting your own, which is fine once you have seen the donor file.
When a gift involves the executive director, a board member and me, who gets credit for it?
Why ask it
Most large gifts are group efforts. Offices that share credit get cooperation, and offices that count only the name on the letter get fundraisers guarding donors from one another. Ask how the most recent big gift was recorded.
How often would we review progress, and what would we look at?
Why ask it
A regular look at activity and pipeline catches a problem while there is still time to fix it. A single look at the total near year end delivers a verdict and nothing else. A recent dashboard or monthly report, if they will show you one, answers this better than a description.
A year from now, what would make you say this hire was the right one?
Why ask it
This draws out the hope behind the posting, which is often something like the director no longer worrying about payroll or the board finally taking part. Set it beside the official goal. Where the two do not match, say so now and ask which one you would really be working toward.
Pay and close
What is the pay range, and where in it would an offer be likely to land?
Why ask it
Whether a range has to be posted depends on where the job is, so ask if you have not seen one. The recruiter or a late round is the place for it. Then weigh the figure against the scope you heard: five revenue streams on a coordinator's salary says something about how fundraising is valued.
Is any part of the pay tied to the amount raised?
Why ask it
Professional codes of ethics in fundraising generally oppose pay as a percentage of gifts, on the reasoning that it puts the fundraiser's interest ahead of the donor's. An offer built on commission therefore deserves a careful conversation. A bonus for meeting agreed goals is a different arrangement, and one to get in writing.
Is there a path to a more senior role here, or do people move on to grow?
Why ask it
A small shop may have nowhere to go but the director's chair, and that is fine when it is admitted and matched with real investment in your skills. A promotion promised 'as we grow' is worth one follow-up: what would have to happen, and by when.
Is there a kind of fundraising this job needs that you have not seen in my background?
Why ask it
Fundraisers specialize, so a strong grant writer may never have asked for a gift face to face and an events lead may never have written a government application. Hearing the gap named gives you the chance to answer it with an example or an honest plan to learn. Save it for the end, just before next steps.
What are the next steps, and do they include a writing sample or a practice ask?
Why ask it
Hiring for these roles often includes a task: a writing sample, a mock solicitation or a plan for the first three months. Knowing early gives you time to prepare. If you are asked for a full plan or a grant draft built on the organization's real details, it is reasonable to ask how the work will be put to use.
How to interview the organization that wants you to raise its money
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Read the public numbers first
Start with the annual report, the donor list if one is printed, and the event pages on the website. In many places charities also file accounts that anyone can read; look up what is public where the organization is registered. Arrive knowing roughly what was raised and from whom, so that your questions can start from 'I saw that foundation grants fell last year' and not from zero.
Know which fundraising job this is
A grants role, a major gifts role, an events role and a director's role share a department and little else. For grants, lean on the calendar, the renewal list and who supplies program results. For major gifts, the portfolio, the introductions and the executive director's time matter most. For a director's job, everything under Board and leaders and Team and budget is yours to ask, because those will be your problems to solve.
Match the question to the person
The executive director can answer for the goal, the board and their own calendar. A development director knows the database, the pipeline and why the last person left. A board member on the panel is the one to ask what the board does for fundraising, and their answer is worth comparing with the staff's. Pay and process belong with whoever runs the hiring.
Pick five and rank them
You will rarely get through more than a handful. Take the first question under The goal, one about the donors you would inherit, one about the executive director or the board, the one about how long the last two people stayed, and one about how the first year is judged. Put first the one whose answer could change your mind about the job.
In the room
Ask for numbers the way you would ask a donor
Fundraisers are hired for their ability to raise a delicate subject without making it awkward, and the interview is a demonstration. Give a reason and ask plainly: 'So I can picture the first year, could you tell me how the goal breaks down?' A candidate who asks nothing about the numbers can look less serious than one who asks about all of them.
Ask about the last time, not the policy
'Is the board involved?' gets a yes. 'What did a board member last do that led to a gift?' gets a story with a name and a date in it, or a pause that tells you as much. The same turn improves the questions about missed goals, donor contact and how leadership takes bad news.
Put one question to two people
If you meet both the executive director and a development colleague, ask each how the goal was set and how much the board helps. Agreement means the picture is real. Where the two accounts differ, give more weight to whoever does the daily work, and raise the difference before you accept anything.
Keep a running tally of what you would own
As answers come, write down every task that turns out to belong to this role: the gala, the database, the newsletter, the committee. Near the end, read the list back and ask whether the goal was set with all of it in mind. It is a fair question and it often starts the most honest part of the conversation.
Reading the answers
A goal with a source and a goal with a gap
Listen for where the number came from. One that is explained by naming donors, renewals and past results was built upward from what exists. One that is explained by naming the budget, the new program or the deficit was built downward from what is needed, and its odds are unknown to everyone, including the people who set it.
Who says 'we' about fundraising
In organizations where raising money is shared, leaders describe their own donor meetings and board members' calls without being prompted. Where it is one person's burden, the talk is all about what the new hire will do. Count how often the interviewer appears in their own answers.
An admitted mess is workable
Untidy data, a lapsed donor list and a board that needs coaching are ordinary conditions, and an interviewer who lays them out is offering you the real job. Be more careful when everything is described as fine and the seat has still been filled several times in a few years.
Weigh the whole picture
No organization gets every answer right. A steep goal with an engaged director, a clean pipeline and time to build may be a better job than a modest goal with no donors, no budget and no introductions. Decide which two or three conditions you cannot work without and judge the rest against them.
Mistakes to avoid
Auditing a small shop
A two-person nonprofit may not know its retention rate or have a written plan, and a string of questions it cannot answer feels like a failed inspection. If the first few draw blanks, switch to asking what they would want built and whether you would have the time and backing to build it.
Asking only about money
A fundraiser who shows no curiosity about the programs worries an interviewer, since donors will expect you to speak about the work with conviction. The question about why donors give does both jobs at once. Leave room for one more about what the organization does, in the interviewer's own words.
Agreeing to the goal on the spot
It is tempting to say 'that sounds achievable' to seem confident. You have not seen the donor file yet. Say that the number sounds like something you would want to understand in detail, and ask to see the plan or the giving history before any offer is settled.
Skipping the question about the last person
It can feel impolite to ask why a predecessor left, yet few answers say more about what your own first year would be like. Ask it once, calmly, and let the interviewer take their time. If the conversation has gone well, it is fair to ask whether that person would be willing to talk to you.