Fundraisers are more optimistic about giving trends and prospects for their organizations’ future than they have been since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, a survey by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) finds.

Conducted in late December 2021 and early January 2022, AFP’s latest Fundraising Confidence Survey asked fundraisers how confident they were about various aspects of their work and what they saw ahead in terms of trends and challenges. When asked how optimistic they were about reaching their annual fundraising goal in 2021, respondents indicated an average confidence level of 8.04 (out of 10) for reaching their 2021 fundraising, up from 7.63 at the end of September 2021 and 6.52 in September 2020. In terms of raising more money in 2021 compared with 2020, the confidence level was 7.52, up from 6.59 in September 2021 and 4.89 in September 2020.

The level of confidence that fundraisers have in their organizations’ capacity to hire staff and invest in fundraising infrastructure and capacity also reached an all-time high. Optimism about hiring and increasing capacity was 5.64 for the first quarter of 2022, significantly higher than the 4.76 confidence level a year ago for the first quarter of 2021. That increased optimism extended to the next six months of 2022 (6.23 compared with 4.28 a year ago) and the next 12 months (6.78 compared with 6.06 a year ago).

“It’s not a surprise that we’re seeing higher confidence in fundraisers as the charitable sector and the entire world slowly but surely moves out of ‘pandemic mode’ and transitions into a new normal,” said AFP president and CEO Mike Geiger. “I think this new data really shows how far we’ve come over the past two years, even though we have to acknowledge that the recovery has been uneven and that charities are facing different kinds of challenges in their fundraising. I’m most excited about the data about hiring because if charities are feeling confident about hiring fundraising and investing in fundraising infrastructure, that’s a very good sign for the profession and the entire sector.”

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