The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that most fundamental measures of the economy - aside from inflation - are better for most people than at any point since the pandemic began, which means that economic conditions are promising for fundraisers in the last weeks of the year. Experts say fundraisers can project their outlook by paying attention to consumer confidence, the stock market, and unemployment. Consumer confidence is down to its lowest level in the past ten years, but experts say that this will not have much of an impact on giving levels through the end of the year. The stock market's major indices were flat or down in November, thanks to the Omicron variant, but on a year-to-date basis, major market indices have seen big gains since January. This is good news for fundraisers as charitable giving rates are strongly linked to annual stock-market performances. Finally, the national unemployment rate declined in October. This was positive for nonprofits, as Johns Hopkins University estimates nonprofit employers will exceed pre-pandemic work-force levels in less than a year.
