Share a time when you have successfully procured a large gift and what strategy you employed to do so.

"In my previous position as a major gifts officer, I had a fundraising goal of 5,000,000 per fiscal year. This was strictly for above-the-line expenses, and I consistently contributed in excess of 10,000,000 per year in additional below-the-line funds to build upon the organization's endowment. Part of my strategy was focusing on a handful of individual donors who would donate large sums based upon their passion for the organization's work funding innovative STEM programs in middle schools.

I identified a potential donor based upon my research into educational philanthropists with a special interest in advancing STEM efforts in schools. I sent him an introductory letter and engaged him via phone call to invite him to meet with me about our organization. We connected instantly, and he was especially impressed with the large number of funds we had been able to raise for our one hundred partner schools. His specific scientific interest was in robotics, so he agreed to provide one million dollars annually to our robotics program with a ten-year commitment."

"As a corporate and foundational giving officer with my organization, I am responsible for soliciting and securing donations over 10,000. Like the Red Cross, the majority of the funds we raise go directly into providing life-saving services in the wake of disasters and emergency situations. Because our work requires us to respond quickly, we were in need of a mobile unit from which we could effectively run our operations. I had been working on a strategic partnership between our organization and a corporation that had recently moved to our city, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get them involved.

I pitched the idea of the mobile unit and offered to name it in the corporation's honor if they covered the cost of purchasing the unit. They agreed and donated 200,000 for a new bus and an additional 75,000 for its conversion. Our city recently suffered devastation from a tornado, and our organization was able to meet the call: We deployed our fleet of volunteers to help with cleaning up debris. We also sent out the mobile unit to function as a makeshift office from which we connected families with resources like financial assistance, housing, clothing, food, and more."

Use this opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the donor cycle. Think of specific times when you followed the donor cycle model and share who the donor was, the steps you took to procure the funding, what the funding was for, and how large the gift was.