Nonprofit Executive Director Interview Questions (for Boards and Candidates)

One of the most useful executive director interview questions is also one of the shortest: “Tell us about a time you disagreed with your board.” A strong answer shows how the candidate raises a hard point, whether they know where the board’s job ends and theirs begins, and whether the relationship held.

This guide is written for both chairs at the table. One document comes first in the hire sequence: the executive director job description, which sets what the interview measures.

What Should the Board Settle Before Interviews?

Before the first interview, the board should agree on the outcomes it wants from the executive director in year one, who sits on the search committee, and who leads the organization until the new hire starts. Without that agreement, each interviewer measures candidates against a different job.

BoardSource lists selecting the chief executive among the Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards and says boards “must reach consensus on the chief executive’s responsibilities.” In CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation’s Daring to Lead 2011 study of about 3,000 nonprofit executives, just 33% were very confident their board would hire the right successor.

Write three year-one outcomes down. They become the first evaluation later. Settle the title too (executive director or CEO), decide whether a board member or an interim executive director covers the gap, and look at developing nonprofit leaders already on staff.

What Is the Both-Sides Interview?

The Both-Sides Interview is a five-part structure for an executive director interview. The board covers four parts: mission and judgment, board partnership, money and operations, and people and small-staff leadership. The fifth part belongs to the candidate, who asks the board the questions it least wants to answer.

Take a composite small shop: an operating budget under $500K a year, five staff and a board that has never hired an executive director. The committee writes two questions per part and saves 20 minutes for the candidate. The first finalist asks how many months of cash the organization holds, and nobody on the committee knows. Better to learn that now than at the first tight payroll.

Executive Director Interview Questions by Category

The executive director interview questions below follow the four board parts of the Both-Sides Interview. Pick two or three from each category for the finalist interview, ask every finalist the same ones and note what each answer shows. A strong answer names a real situation, the candidate’s own role in it and what happened next.

Probe outside the candidate’s home ground. In the coaching applications we receive from new executive directors, the leader usually rose through one function, such as programs or fundraising, and met finance, board governance, HR and strategy in the same first year. The interview shows the board which gaps it is hiring.

Mission and judgment

• What drew you to this mission, and what have you learned about our programs?
• Tell us about a decision you made without all the information you wanted.

Listen for reasons tied to this organization’s work and a trade-off the candidate accepted.

Board partnership

• What did you do the last time a board member stepped into management?
• What is the board’s job, in your view, and what is yours?
• How would you like to work with the board chair between meetings?

A strong answer names a specific moment the candidate raised early and in the right room, and shows they know how the roles divide.

Money and operations

• Walk us through how you would read our last Form 990 and budget.
• What share of revenue from one funder would worry you, and what would you do about it?
• Tell us about a donor or grant relationship you built from the start.

A red flag is a candidate who never opened the documents. A strong one read them and asks about what they found, such as one grant carrying most of the budget.

A finalist who asks to see the budget is already doing the job.

People and small-staff leadership

• In a small team you will cover gaps yourself. What would you hand off first?
• Tell us about a hard performance conversation you led. How did you open it?

Honest answers about the hours beat confident ones. Compare them with the responsibilities the job really carries.

Which Behavioral Questions Reveal the Most?

Behavioral questions ask for a past example (“Tell us about a time…”) in place of a hypothetical. They reveal the most when the committee listens for four parts: the situation, what the candidate did, what happened and what they would change. An answer that stays general after one follow-up question is a signal in itself.

Two sample answers to the disagreement question, both illustrations written for this guide:

• Thin: “I get along with every board. If we disagree, I go with what they decide.”
• Strong: “Our board wanted a summer program the month a large grant ended. I brought a cash forecast to the finance committee and proposed a one-site pilot, and the board approved it. Next time I would raise the cash question a month earlier.”

Then ask a bonus question: “What support would you need from us in the first year?” A strong answer is specific, such as a monthly check-in with the board chair or introductions to the largest funders.

No list of questions predicts fit on its own. Weigh the interview alongside reference checks and a written first-year plan.

That is the board’s side of the table. The candidate’s side starts with the questions boards hope nobody asks.

What Should Candidates Ask the Board?

Candidates should ask about four things before accepting an offer: the organization’s financial health, how engaged the board is, the founder’s role if the founder is still involved, and why the last executive director left. A board that is ready to hire can answer all four plainly, in the finalist interview or in writing afterward.

Under the IRS public disclosure rules, nonprofits must make their Form 990 returns available for three years, and ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer posts many of them. Read the last three.

1. Financial health. How many months of reserves do you hold? What did the last audit find? In Daring to Lead 2011, 46% of executives reported reserves of less than three months.
2. Board engagement. How many members give and attend? When did the board last review the executive director? In the same study, 45% had no evaluation the previous year.
3. A founder still present. What role will the founder have? See our guide to founder syndrome.
4. Why the last executive director left. In Daring to Lead, one in three executives had followed a leader who was fired or forced out.

Every question a board cannot answer points to a decision it has not made yet.

In the board partnerships our coaches see working, the chair and the executive director talk monthly outside board meetings, both can say where governance ends and management begins, and the board reviews its own work as well as the executive director’s.

A second composite: a finalist, call her Odette, asks where the founder will sit after the transition. The board has not decided, and two members disagree. Before the offer, the board writes the founder’s role and an end date into a one-page agreement.

What Happens After the Offer?

After the offer, the board’s work moves from choosing a leader to supporting one. Set a first evaluation date tied to the year-one outcomes, schedule a monthly check-in between the board chair and the new executive director, make introductions to key funders and agree on what support the first year includes.

Daring to Lead 2011 found that “many boards see executive transition as ending with the hire.” Yet in that study, 52% of executives in their first year were very happy in the job, against 37% in years one through three, and 67% of all respondents expected to leave within five years.

Some coaching applications we receive come from board chairs on behalf of a new executive director, naming where the leader needs help, such as fundraising. Introduce coaching in the first month: offered after a hard review, it carries a stigma that keeps capable leaders away. See the first 90 days and supporting your new executive director through coaching.

What Should Each Side Do Next?

Each chair can act this week. Board: send finalists the last two years of financial statements, and the board’s own self-assessment if one exists, before the finalist interview. Candidate: decide which answer would make you turn the offer down, and put the question that would reveal it first on your list.

Before the finalist round, the board can ask itself which of the candidate’s questions it would struggle to answer today.

Center for Nonprofit Coaching volunteer coaches donate their time, which is why six one-to-one sessions cost $300, $400 or $600 depending on your operating budget (under $250K, $250K to $500K, or over $500K a year), 85%+ below market rate. For a new executive director, that means a confidential coach for the first year, with no stake in the board or the staff. Six sessions cover a bounded agenda, such as delegation or board communication, and larger operational problems stay with the board and staff. The new hire can start an application.

Frequently Asked Questions