Nonprofit FundraisingExpert-built kit

Director of Major Gifts

Coaches major gift officers on qualification rigor and ask readiness, cultivates upper-tier donors, and manages active prospect pipelines.

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Interview content for Director of Major Gifts

29
What to ask. Competency and attitude questions, assigned to the right round.
246
What to listen for. Positive and negative indicators, per question.
9
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: Major Gifts Strategy & Pipeline18 competency questions

Data Systems & Operational Governance

CRM Architecture & Data Hygiene

Configures CRM workflows, establishes data governance protocols, and optimizes system usability for fundraising teams.

Expected at Director of Major Gifts

Sample competency question

Recall a project where you modified CRM workflows or data tracking standards to better support your fundraising team’s daily operations.

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

Positive indicators

  • Starts with staff feedback or usage analysis
  • Designs workflows around officer needs
  • Establishes clear data entry rules
  • Provides training and support during rollout
  • Tracks adoption and time saved

Negative indicators

  • Imposes changes without team consultation
  • Adds complexity instead of reducing friction
  • Lacks data governance or consistency rules
  • No training or change management plan
  • Fails to measure impact of changes

Configures CRM workflows and establishes data governance protocols, requiring advanced proficiency to optimize system usability for fundraising teams.

Ryan Mahoney

Why this role is hard · Ryan Mahoney

Hiring a Director of Major Gifts is tough because the job pulls you in two directions at once. You need a leader who can sit across from a major donor and listen deeply to find a genuine commitment, then turn around and push three development officers to clean up a messy pipeline and back up every ask with hard data. Too many candidates lean heavily toward one side and rely on polished war stories about landing seven-figure gifts. I have seen leaders stumble when they cannot turn personal donor relationships into steady team routines, which usually means we hire the most charming speaker rather than the careful builder who creates processes that actually last.

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

Level guides for Major Gifts Manager, Director of Major Gifts, Senior Director of Major Gifts and VP of Major Gifts.

Before you post

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

In the room

  • 18Competency 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.

18 Competency Questions

1 of 18

  1. Discipline

    Data Systems & Operational Governance

  2. Job requirement

    CRM Architecture & Data Hygiene

    Configures CRM workflows, establishes data governance protocols, and optimizes system usability for fundraising teams.

  3. Expected at Director of Major Gifts

    Configures CRM workflows and establishes data governance protocols, requiring advanced proficiency to optimize system usability for fundraising teams.

Interview round: Hiring Manager: Major Gifts Strategy & Pipeline

Recall a project where you modified CRM workflows or data tracking standards to better support your fundraising team’s daily operations.

Positive indicators

  • Starts with staff feedback or usage analysis
  • Designs workflows around officer needs
  • Establishes clear data entry rules
  • Provides training and support during rollout
  • Tracks adoption and time saved

Negative indicators

  • Imposes changes without team consultation
  • Adds complexity instead of reducing friction
  • Lacks data governance or consistency rules
  • No training or change management plan
  • Fails to measure impact of changes

11 Attitude Questions

1 of 11

Active Listening

The disciplined practice of fully concentrating on, understanding, and responding to both explicit and implicit communication in a manner that validates the speaker’s perspective, extracts underlying motivations, and informs strategic action. In major gifts leadership, it entails suspending internal agendas to absorb nuanced donor intent, organizational constraints, and cross-functional dynamics, thereby fostering psychological safety, aligning stakeholder expectations, and shaping authentic, evidence-based cultivation strategies.

Interview round: Recruiter Screen & Baseline Fit

A board member and a program director each present different visions for a high-value donor's potential impact. You need to align them before the next cultivation meeting. How would you approach facilitating that alignment?

Positive indicators

  • Extracts common threads from divergent viewpoints
  • Proposes a unified message for the donor
  • Schedules dedicated alignment time without rushing

Negative indicators

  • Splits the difference without strategic rationale
  • Defers entirely to board authority
  • Ignores program director's operational reality

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

You are preparing for a critical meeting with a prospective family office that wants to redirect their giving focus away from our current campaigns. Walk us through how you would persuade them to align with our strategic priorities. What specific arguments would you lead with, how would you address their objections, and how would you close the conversation?

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
Leads and develops major gift officers through structured coaching cadences, focusing on pipeline qualification rigor and solicitation readiness.
Rebalances officer prospect assignments based on bandwidth analytics, wealth screening data, and realistic cultivation pacing rather than theoretical limits.
Architects or directs the alignment of major gift CRM workflows with program delivery metrics to enable real-time pipeline visibility and impact tracking.
Establishes and monitors tracking protocols for restricted donations to ensure donor intent compliance, mitigate financial risk, and safeguard institutional reputation.

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 architecting a scalable coaching infrastructure that aligns officer bandwidth with donor lifecycle stages. Walk us through how you would diagnose portfolio misalignment, recalibrate capacity based on actual bandwidth rather than theoretical metrics, and embed moves management discipline that prioritizes visit quality over activity counts. Frame the strategic tradeoffs between short-term ask targets and long-term team sustainability.

Format

strategic-brief · 60 min · ~8 hr prep

Audience

Executive leadership, board members, and cross-functional program directors.

What to prepare

  • A structured outline or 4-6 slide deck mapping your diagnostic framework, intervention strategy, and success metrics.
  • Examples of how you have previously balanced portfolio loads and coached officers through qualification shifts.

Deliverables

  • A comprehensive verbal walkthrough of your strategic approach.
  • Q&A defending your tradeoff decisions and implementation sequencing.

Ground rules

  • Do not produce a fully realized operational plan or new strategic documents; this is a discussion of your approach and reasoning.
  • You may use anonymized past examples to ground your framework.
  • Slides are optional; focus on how you would frame the problem, allocate resources, and measure success.

Scoring anchors

Exceeds
Presents a highly nuanced, systems-aware approach that balances data-driven capacity calibration with empathetic coaching, clearly articulating how quality-focused moves management drives sustainable revenue without burning out the team.
Meets
Outlines a logical framework for diagnosing portfolio misalignment and adjusting bandwidth, with reasonable coaching interventions and measurable success criteria, though may lack depth in addressing systemic tradeoffs.
Below
Relies on simplistic quota adjustments or activity tracking, fails to address officer bandwidth or qualification rigor, and presents a rigid, top-down approach that ignores team sustainability or donor lifecycle realities.

Response time

60 min

Positive indicators

  • Frames portfolio misalignment as a systemic bandwidth and qualification issue rather than an individual performance problem.
  • Proposes diagnostic methods that blend quantitative pipeline data with qualitative officer feedback.
  • Articulates clear tradeoffs between immediate revenue pressure and sustainable coaching cadence.
  • Demonstrates how moves management standards will be enforced without creating bureaucratic overhead.

Negative indicators

  • Proposes rigid, top-down quota reallocation without addressing underlying qualification or capacity constraints.
  • Ignores the psychological safety and burnout risks of overloading portfolios.
  • Focuses on activity metrics rather than visit quality or donor lifecycle progression.
  • Fails to connect coaching interventions to broader campaign or program integration goals.

Work Simulation Scenario

Scenario. You are negotiating a potential $5M, five-year restricted gift from a prominent family office. The donor's foundation board demands heavy oversight, monthly custom impact reports, and direct programmatic influence that conflict with your organization's compliance standards and operational capacity.

Problem to solve. Negotiate gift terms that honor the donor's legacy goals while protecting institutional autonomy, ensuring compliance, and establishing a sustainable stewardship framework.

Format

negotiation · 75 min · ~5 hr prep

Success criteria

  • Agreement on standardized reporting aligned with donor interests
  • Clear boundaries on programmatic oversight and compliance
  • Preservation of long-term relational trust and institutional integrity

What to review beforehand

  • Organization's gift acceptance and compliance policies
  • Standard impact reporting frameworks
  • Historical precedents for restricted fund management

Ground rules

  • Focus on negotiating terms and trade-offs, not drafting the final agreement
  • Probe for underlying donor motivations and non-negotiables
  • Maintain a collaborative tone while firmly protecting institutional boundaries

Roles in scenario

Family Office Principal (Elena Rostova) (external_partner, played by cross_functional)

Motivation. Wants to secure a lasting legacy through deep involvement in program outcomes and transparent, frequent reporting.

Constraints

  • Foundation board requires strict fiduciary control and monthly updates
  • Timeline for commitment is 30 days
  • Expects direct access to program staff without standard clearance

Tensions to introduce

  • Pushes for unrestricted, real-time access to program directors
  • Threatens to withdraw if reporting isn't fully customized to their metrics
  • Questions the organization's capacity to deliver on long-term promises

In-character guidance

  • Emphasize legacy, transparency, and hands-on partnership
  • Remain respectful but firm on control and reporting expectations
  • Test the candidate's ability to align institutional limits with donor aspirations

Do not

  • Do not unconditionally accept restrictive terms
  • Do not volunteer legal or compliance details unless specifically asked
  • Do not escalate to hostility or make the negotiation purely transactional

Scoring anchors

Exceeds
Successfully aligns donor legacy goals with institutional capacity through creative, compliant structuring, securing commitment while preserving autonomy and trust.
Meets
Negotiates clear boundaries on oversight, proposes acceptable reporting standards, and maintains positive donor relations throughout the discussion.
Below
Either capitulates to restrictive terms that compromise operations or adopts a rigid stance that fractures the relationship and stalls the gift.

Response time

75 min

Positive indicators

  • Asks high-information questions to separate legacy motivations from operational demands
  • Clearly articulates institutional compliance boundaries while offering viable alternatives
  • Proposes structured reporting frameworks that satisfy donor transparency needs without overburdening staff
  • Maintains relational warmth while firmly negotiating scope and oversight limits

Negative indicators

  • Concedes to unsustainable oversight or custom reporting demands
  • Uses vague or defensive language when addressing compliance and capacity constraints
  • Fails to probe the underlying driver behind the donor's control requests
  • Allows the negotiation to become adversarial or purely transactional

Progression Framework

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

Data Systems & Operational Governance

4 competencies

CompetencyMajor Gifts ManagerDirector of Major GiftsSenior Director of Major GiftsVP of Major Gifts
CRM Architecture & Data Hygiene

Enters accurate donor records, updates interaction logs, and runs routine data audits to maintain system integrity.

Configures CRM workflows, establishes data governance protocols, and optimizes system usability for fundraising teams.

Oversees CRM integration with marketing and finance platforms, enforces enterprise data standards, and leads vendor evaluations.

Directs technology roadmap alignment with fundraising strategy, ensures data privacy compliance, and secures budget for system scalability.

Performance Analytics & Reporting

Generates standard pipeline reports, tracks individual KPIs, and identifies basic trends in gift cycles.

Develops predictive dashboards, analyzes campaign ROI, and translates data into actionable team performance adjustments.

Establishes cross-functional reporting frameworks, models long-term revenue projections, and aligns analytics with board expectations.

Governs enterprise data strategy, institutionalizes advanced forecasting models, and leverages analytics for strategic resource allocation.

Risk Compliance & Audit Readiness

Adheres to gift acceptance policies, maintains accurate documentation, and completes mandatory compliance training.

Implements internal audit checklists, monitors regulatory updates, and ensures team adherence to ethical fundraising standards.

Designs compliance risk frameworks, coordinates with legal counsel on complex gift structures, and prepares for institutional audits.

Establishes organization-wide ethical fundraising governance, mitigates systemic compliance risks, and represents the institution in regulatory matters.

Workforce Capacity & Volunteer Coordination

Schedules volunteer shifts, tracks participation metrics, and provides day-to-day guidance to support staff.

Designs capacity-building programs, aligns volunteer roles with fundraising objectives, and manages team workload distribution.

Develops succession planning for fundraising teams, institutionalizes volunteer leadership pathways, and optimizes cross-departmental resource sharing.

Sets strategic workforce planning initiatives, governs organizational capacity models, and champions professional development at the executive level.

Donor Engagement & Strategic Fundraising

5 competencies

CompetencyMajor Gifts ManagerDirector of Major GiftsSenior Director of Major GiftsVP of Major Gifts
Digital Outreach & Multi-Channel Campaigns

Executes email sequences, manages social media touchpoints, and tracks digital engagement metrics for assigned segments.

Orchestrates omnichannel donor journeys, optimizes content strategy based on A/B testing, and aligns digital tactics with offline cultivation.

Integrates digital fundraising with major gift pipelines, scales automated engagement platforms, and measures digital-to-major conversion rates.

Defines digital fundraising vision, secures investment in emerging outreach technologies, and ensures brand consistency across all donor touchpoints.

Donor Relationship Management & Stewardship

Maintains consistent communication schedules, documents interactions, and delivers baseline stewardship touchpoints.

Architects personalized stewardship journeys, monitors donor satisfaction metrics, and trains staff on relationship lifecycle management.

Develops institutional stewardship frameworks, manages high-value donor escalations, and aligns engagement with mission-driven impact narratives.

Champions a culture of donor-centricity across the organization, governs executive-level relationship protocols, and ensures long-term donor loyalty at scale.

Hybrid Revenue & Community Partnership Models

Supports local partnership outreach, tracks community engagement activities, and assists in hybrid funding application processes.

Structures collaborative funding agreements, manages corporate-community alliances, and evaluates hybrid revenue pilot programs.

Designs scalable partnership ecosystems, aligns hybrid models with institutional mission, and negotiates multi-stakeholder funding frameworks.

Champions enterprise revenue diversification, establishes strategic community alliances, and integrates hybrid funding into long-term financial sustainability plans.

Prospect Cultivation & Qualification

Executes targeted outreach and applies standardized scoring rubrics to qualify individual prospects within assigned portfolios.

Designs prospecting workflows, calibrates qualification criteria, and oversees portfolio segmentation to maximize pipeline velocity.

Aligns prospecting strategies with institutional priorities, establishes cross-departmental referral networks, and mentors managers on high-touch cultivation.

Sets enterprise-wide prospect research standards, secures executive sponsorship for top-tier opportunities, and integrates cultivation into long-term institutional strategy.

Strategic Solicitation & Pitch Development

Prepares customized solicitation materials, rehearses pitch delivery, and executes ask strategies for mid-to-high tier gifts.

Structures complex multi-phase solicitation campaigns, aligns proposals with donor interests, and coaches staff on negotiation tactics.

Designs enterprise-wide gift strategies, integrates programmatic outcomes into funding proposals, and leads principal gift negotiations.

Defines institutional fundraising narratives, approves high-stakes solicitation frameworks, and partners with board leadership for transformational asks.