Nonprofit FundraisingExpert-built kit

Chief Development Officer / VP of Development

Develops revenue roadmaps, cultivates major donors and foundations, manages digital campaigns, and oversees data governance and impact measurement.

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Interview content for Chief Development Officer

30
What to ask. Competency and attitude questions, assigned to the right round.
182
What to listen for. Positive and negative indicators, per question.
10
What the hire must do. Capabilities with expected proficiency at each level.

Look inside: one question, as it appears in the kit

Pick the level you’re hiring. The sample changes with the level you select.

Round 2 · Hiring Manager Technical19 competency questions

Development Operations and Data Analytics

CRM Data Architecture & Analytics

Designs enterprise data governance and analytics architecture, enabling predictive donor modeling and cross-channel insights.

Expected at Chief Development Officer

Sample competency question

Recount a time you redesigned your organization's donor data architecture to improve predictive modeling and executive decision-making.

Ask once, as written, then allow silence. A helpful rephrase may hand the candidate the answer.

Positive indicators

  • Articulates a clear data governance and compliance framework
  • Integrates predictive modeling for pipeline and revenue forecasting
  • Designs cross-channel dashboards tailored to executive decision-making

Negative indicators

  • Focuses only on technical migration without governance policies
  • Fails to connect data architecture to predictive or strategic outcomes
  • Ignores change management and team adoption challenges

Enterprise data strategy requires advanced proficiency to integrate disparate systems, ensure governance, and drive predictive insights for decision-making.

Ryan Mahoney

Why this role is hard · Ryan Mahoney

Finding the right chief development officer is tough because the job requires equal parts relationship management and strict budget control. You need a leader who can turn broad mission goals into reliable income without letting trustees treat the department like an open wallet. In interviews, candidates usually impress with polished donor stories but struggle when you ask how they actually tie fundraising campaigns to day-to-day program work. The real test shows up when you watch them handle a divided board chasing quick cash while a cautious CEO refuses to back untested outreach methods. You want a steady operator who builds processes that keep running even when leadership changes.

Everything in the download, in the order you’ll use it

Level guides for VP of Development, Chief Development Officer and Chief Revenue Officer.

Before you post

  • 1Ready-to-use job description
  • 3Video screening prompts
  • 8Resume screening criteria

In the room

  • 19Competency interview questions
  • 11Attitude interview questions
  • 1Hands-on work simulations
  • 1Presentation prompts

At the debrief

  • Progression framework
  • Exceeds / Meets / Below anchors for every exercise
  • 3Interview plan with time per round

Core Evaluation

Critical questions for this role

The competency and attitude questions below are where the hiring decision is made. They run in the live interview rounds and are calibrated to the level selected above.

19 Competency Questions

1 of 19

  1. Discipline

    Development Operations and Data Analytics

  2. Job requirement

    CRM Data Architecture & Analytics

    Designs enterprise data governance and analytics architecture, enabling predictive donor modeling and cross-channel insights.

  3. Expected at Chief Development Officer

    Enterprise data strategy requires advanced proficiency to integrate disparate systems, ensure governance, and drive predictive insights for decision-making.

Interview round: Hiring Manager Technical

Recount a time you redesigned your organization's donor data architecture to improve predictive modeling and executive decision-making.

Positive indicators

  • Articulates a clear data governance and compliance framework
  • Integrates predictive modeling for pipeline and revenue forecasting
  • Designs cross-channel dashboards tailored to executive decision-making

Negative indicators

  • Focuses only on technical migration without governance policies
  • Fails to connect data architecture to predictive or strategic outcomes
  • Ignores change management and team adoption challenges

11 Attitude Questions

1 of 11

Active Listening

Active listening is the deliberate, cognitively engaged practice of fully receiving, processing, and reflecting upon verbal and nonverbal communication before formulating a response. In senior development leadership, it entails suspending ego and preconceived strategies to accurately decode stakeholder motivations, validate emotional and operational realities, and synthesize fragmented input into cohesive, evidence-based decision-making frameworks.

Interview round: Recruiter Screen

During a high-stakes negotiation for a complex gift, a prospective donor and an internal program lead present seemingly contradictory priorities. How do you proceed?

Positive indicators

  • Outlines structured discovery process for both parties
  • Demonstrates patience in unpacking complex motivations
  • Proposes creative alignment rather than forced trade-offs

Negative indicators

  • Forces immediate choice between donor and internal priorities
  • Ignores program lead's operational constraints
  • Assumes donor priorities automatically override internal needs

Supporting Evaluation

How candidates earn the selection conversation

The goal is to reduce effort for everyone by collecting more useful signals before adding more interviews. Lightweight application prompts and structured screens help your team focus interview time on the candidates most likely to succeed.

Stage 1 · Application

Filter at the door

Runs the moment a candidate hits Submit. Disqualifying answers end the application; everything else is captured for review.

Video-Response Questions

1 of 3

Application Screen: Video Response

A legacy foundation representative requests guidance on personal estate planning outside the scope of our standard stewardship process while simultaneously pushing for a restricted naming right that conflicts with our mission values. What specific steps would you take in this conversation to maintain professional boundaries while preserving the partnership?

Candidate experience

REC
0:42 / 2:00
1Record
2Review
3Submit

Response time

2 min

Format

Recorded video

Stage 2 · Resume Screening

Read the resume against fixed criteria

Reviewers score every application that clears the door against the same criteria. Stronger reviews advance to live interviews; weaker ones are archived without further screening.

Resume Review Criteria

8 criteria
Sets organization-wide fundraising strategy, leads feasibility assessments, and manages capital campaign quiet and public phases.
Leads executive board fundraising committees, aligns trustee cultivation, and presents progress reports to secure governance buy-in.
Designs and implements endowment growth, drawdown policies, and sustainable investment guidelines aligned with organizational resilience.
Develops programmatic impact evaluation frameworks for donor proposals and establishes data privacy, compliance, and crisis communication protocols.

Does the resume show relevant prior work experience?

Is the resume complete, well-organized, and free from formatting, spelling, and grammar mistakes?

Does the resume indicate required academic credentials, relevant certifications, or necessary training?

Does the cover letter or personal statement convey clear relevance and familiarity with the job?

Stage 3 · During Interviews

Where the hire is decided

Interview rounds use the competency and attitude questions outlined above, then add tests, work simulations, and presentations that reveal deeper evidence about how the candidate thinks and works.

Presentation Prompt

Discuss your approach to navigating complex power dynamics between an executive team, a board development committee, and legacy foundations to secure transformative unrestricted gifts. Walk us through how you would negotiate naming rights and restricted funding preferences while maintaining cultural humility, ensuring programmatic integrity, and aligning donor intentions with community-led priorities.

Format

strategic-brief · 60 min · ~8 hr prep

Audience

Executive hiring panel, Board Chair, and external advisory representatives

What to prepare

  • A strategic framing document or short deck outlining your methodology for stakeholder mapping and negotiation guardrails
  • Talking points detailing mission-alignment checkpoints and ethical fundraising boundaries
  • Anonymized case examples demonstrating successful navigation of restricted vs unrestricted funding tensions

Deliverables

  • A 45-minute strategic presentation and defense of your governance and negotiation approach
  • Optional supporting slides or stakeholder mapping frameworks
  • A 15-minute Q&A exploring tradeoffs, board dynamics, and community alignment

Ground rules

  • Focus on strategic reasoning, governance frameworks, and relational stewardship
  • Do not draft actual partnership agreements, naming rights contracts, or net-new fundraising collateral
  • Anonymize all proprietary donor, board, or organizational data; use only work you are permitted to share

Scoring anchors

Exceeds
Articulates a highly sophisticated, ethically grounded strategy that seamlessly balances institutional financial needs, board governance, and community-led impact. Demonstrates exceptional diplomatic skill, clear boundary-setting, and proven success in transforming complex donor relationships into unrestricted, mission-aligned capital.
Meets
Provides a structured approach to stakeholder navigation and gift negotiation. Identifies key tension points between restricted funding and programmatic needs, proposes reasonable governance checkpoints, and maintains a focus on mission alignment, though some relational or operational nuances remain underdeveloped.
Below
Struggles to reconcile donor demands with organizational mission, relies on rigid or purely transactional negotiation tactics, and lacks a clear framework for managing board dynamics or ensuring community accountability.

Response time

60 min

Positive indicators

  • Establishes a clear, repeatable framework for aligning donor intent with community-led programmatic priorities
  • Surfaces board-executive-foundation power dynamics explicitly and proposes structured governance checkpoints for naming rights
  • Demonstrates professional courage by defining non-negotiable mission boundaries while preserving long-term stakeholder relationships
  • Integrates continuous feedback loops with program and community leaders to ensure authenticity in stewardship and reporting

Negative indicators

  • Prioritizes donor preferences over community impact without proposing mitigation, alignment, or transparency strategies
  • Avoids addressing board-executive friction or delegates complex negotiation dynamics entirely to legal/compliance teams
  • Relies on transactional negotiation tactics rather than relational, long-term stewardship and trust-building
  • Fails to articulate how unrestricted vs restricted funding tradeoffs will be communicated to and managed by internal program teams

Work Simulation Scenario

Scenario. You are presenting the capital campaign feasibility study results and negotiating the quiet phase launch strategy with the Board Development Committee Chair and the CEO. The board is pushing for an aggressive $50M public launch timeline, but your data shows only 40% is realistically secured, with significant donor hesitation around unrestricted funding for operational resilience.

Problem to solve. Negotiate a phased quiet phase strategy, align on naming rights parameters, and secure board and executive commitment to disciplined donor cultivation without compromising campaign integrity or overpromising timelines.

Format

negotiation · 75 min · ~5 hr prep

Success criteria

  • Grounds the negotiation in feasibility data while acknowledging board legacy motivations
  • Secures agreement on a phased quiet phase with clear milestone triggers
  • Establishes ethical and operational boundaries around naming rights and unrestricted funding
  • Aligns board and executive on donor cultivation responsibilities without overextending staff

What to review beforehand

  • Capital campaign feasibility study summary and donor sentiment data
  • Current board governance charter and committee decision rights
  • Historical campaign performance and naming rights precedents

Ground rules

  • Drive the negotiation with data-backed framing and strategic tradeoffs
  • Focus on verbal alignment and decision sequencing; do not draft written plans
  • Ask clarifying questions before conceding on timelines or naming parameters

Roles in scenario

Board Development Committee Chair (skeptical_stakeholder, played by leadership)

Motivation. Seeks a high-visibility public launch to cement institutional legacy and demonstrate board effectiveness to peers.

Constraints

  • Board political capital is low; needs visible wins within 12 months
  • Resists prolonged quiet phases that delay public recognition opportunities

Tensions to introduce

  • Challenge the 40% feasibility figure as overly conservative
  • Push for immediate naming rights announcements to accelerate momentum
  • Question staff capacity and demand board bypass of committee process for faster decisions

In-character guidance

  • Frame aggressive timelines as necessary for donor confidence and public credibility
  • Express skepticism about prolonged cultivation without visible milestones
  • Acknowledge data but prioritize institutional optics and legacy building

Do not

  • Do not concede to phased timelines without extracting naming rights concessions
  • Do not escalate to full board vote or threaten leadership changes
  • Do not volunteer internal board dynamics unless explicitly asked

CEO (executive_sponsor, played by hiring_manager)

Motivation. Prioritizes institutional stability, program expansion, and predictable cash flow to sustain scaling operations.

Constraints

  • Needs near-term cash flow to fund critical programmatic initiatives
  • Wary of board overreach into operational fundraising execution

Tensions to introduce

  • Supports data-driven pacing but pressures for compromise to maintain board relations
  • Highlights staff burnout risks if quiet phase cultivation demands spike
  • Seeks clear boundaries on board involvement in daily donor outreach

In-character guidance

  • Balance fiduciary responsibility with board relationship management
  • Advocate for sustainable pacing that protects program delivery
  • Request explicit escalation protocols for board-staff boundary conflicts

Do not

  • Do not override the candidate's feasibility analysis with optimistic projections
  • Do not resolve board-staff tensions unilaterally
  • Do not coach the candidate on preferred negotiation tactics

Scoring anchors

Exceeds
Masterfully balances data-driven pacing with board legacy and executive stability needs; secures phased alignment, establishes ironclad governance boundaries, and sequences decisions to protect campaign integrity.
Meets
Negotiates a realistic phased timeline and clarifies board vs. staff roles; maintains professional boundaries and aligns stakeholders, though some naming rights or cash flow tradeoffs remain loosely defined.
Below
Yields to aggressive timelines without data justification; uses ambiguous directives that blur governance lines; dismisses stakeholder motivations, triggering defensive resistance or silent non-compliance.

Response time

75 min

Positive indicators

  • Anchors negotiation in feasibility data while validating board legacy motivations and executive cash flow needs
  • Proposes phased quiet phase milestones with explicit go/no-go triggers tied to donor readiness
  • Establishes firm boundaries on naming rights and unrestricted funding without damaging relationships
  • Clarifies governance vs. operational roles, preventing board overreach into daily cultivation
  • Sequences decisions strategically, securing alignment on pacing before addressing recognition parameters

Negative indicators

  • Concedes to unrealistic launch timelines to avoid board conflict, compromising campaign integrity
  • Uses vague language about naming rights or board involvement, creating ambiguity in decision rights
  • Dismisses board legacy concerns or executive cash flow needs as secondary to data
  • Fails to establish clear escalation protocols for governance boundary violations
  • Dominates the negotiation without creating space for executive or board input on tradeoffs

Progression Framework

This table shows how competencies evolve across experience levels. Each cell shows competency at that level.

Development Operations and Data Analytics

6 competencies

CompetencyVP of DevelopmentChief Development OfficerChief Revenue Officer
CRM Data Architecture & Analytics

Oversees CRM hygiene, data entry standards, and basic segmentation for targeted outreach campaigns.

Designs enterprise data governance and analytics architecture, enabling predictive donor modeling and cross-channel insights.

Integrates donor data with enterprise BI ecosystems, creating unified data pipelines for holistic forecasting and ROI analysis.

Development Team Leadership & Capacity

Manages daily staff performance, conducts training, and coordinates cross-functional project execution for fundraising teams.

Builds scalable development cultures and succession pipelines, aligning talent strategy with long-term revenue objectives.

Aligns development talent strategy with cross-functional growth initiatives, optimizing team structures for enterprise scalability.

Digital Campaign & Fundraising Execution

Executes omnichannel digital campaigns, managing creative assets, audience targeting, and real-time performance monitoring.

Optimizes campaign ROI through data-driven iteration, scaling high-performing channels and aligning tactics with donor behavior.

Synchronizes digital fundraising with enterprise marketing and sales technology, creating unified customer journeys and conversion funnels.

Grant Administration & Compliance

Manages grant tracking and reporting workflows, ensuring timely submissions and accurate financial reconciliation.

Standardizes compliance frameworks across funding streams, implementing audit-ready processes and risk mitigation protocols.

Aligns grant operations with enterprise financial controls, optimizing compliance automation and cross-departmental reporting.

Impact Measurement & Evaluation

Coordinates outcome tracking for specific programs, compiling data for donor reports and grant deliverables.

Establishes organization-wide impact metrics and evaluation standards, linking outcomes to strategic funding priorities.

Translates impact data into investor and donor value propositions, leveraging evidence-based storytelling for enterprise growth.

Revenue Forecasting & Financial Operations

Maintains budget tracking and gift processing workflows, ensuring accurate monthly revenue reporting against targets.

Directs financial modeling and revenue diversification strategies, aligning development pipelines with enterprise fiscal planning.

Integrates development forecasting into enterprise P&L management, optimizing capital allocation across philanthropic and commercial streams.

Strategic Philanthropy and Stakeholder Engagement

4 competencies

CompetencyVP of DevelopmentChief Development OfficerChief Revenue Officer
Board Governance & Executive Alignment

Prepares board reporting packages and coordinates committee oversight for fundraising initiatives.

Advises on governance frameworks, ensuring fiduciary alignment and board accountability for revenue targets.

Bridges board strategy with enterprise risk/reward models, embedding development metrics into corporate governance structures.

Corporate & Foundation Partnerships

Manages B2B and institutional sponsor pipelines, overseeing proposal development and partnership execution.

Negotiates multi-year strategic alliances, embedding corporate social responsibility goals with organizational funding needs.

Integrates corporate and foundation giving into cross-sector value chains, leveraging partnerships for market expansion and brand equity.

Major Donor Strategy & Stewardship

Manages major donor portfolios, directing outreach cadences and stewardship workflows to secure mid-to-large gifts.

Architects enterprise-wide major gift strategy, aligning long-term donor cultivation with organizational mission and growth targets.

Integrates donor lifecycle with broader enterprise revenue ecosystems, optimizing cross-channel philanthropic yield and lifetime value.

Strategic Philanthropy & Mission Integration

Translates strategic vision into annual fundraising targets and aligns team execution with program priorities.

Architects multi-year philanthropic roadmaps, synchronizing capital campaigns and endowment growth with mission expansion.

Embeds social impact and philanthropic value into enterprise revenue models, driving sustainable mission-aligned growth.