What We’ve Been Hearing During Nonprofit Job Interviews

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor
Image of a nonprofit CEO interviewing for the executive director position at a nonprofit organization.

One of my clients is hiring a new Development Director. A common occurrence as the average development professional only stays in their role 19 months. 

 

☝️ Yep, that stat is real.

 

The role is specifically focused on scaling the department & team, yielding substantial revenue growth for the organization.

 

I inquired to the ED how the first round of resumes/interviews went…

 

Her synopsis? “Not great….too many candidates just want to focus on fundraising through events.”

 

So hard when the nonprofit sector has prioritized transactional events for too long.

 

Here’s a tip for anyone interviewing right now…

 

When a very specific STRATEGY or PLANNING question is asked of you . . .

 

We want to know how you generate revenue by:

⏲️Aligning your hours and dollars with said strategy for results

📈Managing and leading in direct alignment with the organization’s growth plans

 

We’re not asking about tactics.

 

We don’t want the answer to be about:

▶︎ databases you’ve cleaned up

▶︎ appeals you’ve written and sent out

▶︎ events you’ve planned

 

I don’t mean to be harsh. But, let me see that you understand the business behind fundraising.

 

It’s critical. 

 

Leader: If this resonates with you because your fundraising team’s activities or plans aren’t aligned with the organization’s long-term strategy and goals, then it’s going to be hard to get them off the annual fundraising spin cycle. 

 

The good news is you can fix this. Apply here for help.

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and diversifying revenue.

🍎 Grab FREE Guides + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the sector’s misconceptions, equip your board, and shift your team into High-ROI fundraising.

📈 Work with me to diversify revenue & secure the gen-ops gifts you need to grow. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from investment-level donors a bigger part of your budget, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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