The ACFRE Oral Review puts you in front of a panel for about three hours: four general questions, four on your two chosen specialty topics, and one capstone, at fifteen minutes per response. Prepare by rehearsing a five-part spoken structure — situation, standard, options, recommendation, safeguard — until it holds up under pressure, and anchor every ethics answer in AFP's Code of Ethical Standards, because failing the ethics dimension on any single question fails the entire review.
Where the oral review fits in the ACFRE journey
The oral peer review is the fourth and final stage of the ACFRE credential, open only after you pass the written exam.
AFP's Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive (ACFRE) designation is earned through four sequential stages: application, portfolio review, written exam and an oral peer review. Each stage must be completed before you move to the next, so you become eligible for the oral review only after a passing grade on the written exam.
Eligibility at the application stage is substantial: current work in the fundraising profession, at least ten years of full-time professional fundraising experience or an equivalent combination, a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience, recent senior-level management and leadership coursework plus ethics hours, and either a CFRE, FAHP or IADF or at least twenty years of full-time experience. Candidates also commit to AFP's Code of Ethical Standards and the Donor Bill of Rights.
The whole program must be finished within two years of application approval, with one optional one-year extension available on request. Oral reviews are scheduled by special arrangement at AFP events such as AFP ICON or AFP LEAD.
Official sources: AFP — How to Become an ACFRE — afpglobal.org/acfre/how-become-acfre, retrieved 2026-09-15; AFP ACFRE Program Instruction Packet (revised February 2018) — Oral Peer Review; Scoring; Order of the Process sections
What happens during the review itself
You face nine questions in about three hours: four general, four on your two selected topics, and one capstone, with fifteen minutes for each response.
AFP's current program page links the instruction packet revised February 2018. It gives the detailed sequence below; confirm current scheduling and delivery instructions with the ACFRE program.
Before the panel enters, you get thirty minutes alone with the four general questions, which are asked first. The panel then introduces its members, and you have fifteen minutes to respond to each question.
After a short break, the review continues with two questions on each of your two selected topics — again fifteen minutes per response — followed by another break and one capstone question. The entire review lasts about three hours, and AFP notifies candidates in writing within seven days of the results.
Official sources: AFP — How to Become an ACFRE — afpglobal.org/acfre/how-become-acfre, retrieved 2026-09-15; AFP ACFRE Program Instruction Packet (revised February 2018) — Oral Peer Review; Scoring; Order of the Process sections
Choosing your two specialty topics
You select two topics in advance from AFP's list, and the Certification Board includes questions in the areas you choose.
The instruction packet lists the eligible specialty areas. Because the panel scores your advanced knowledge and skill in each selected topic separately, choose the two where your portfolio and recent work show the most depth — that is preparation advice, not an official rule, but it follows directly from how the review is scored.
Once you pick, prepare each topic at two levels: the specifics of the specialty itself, and how it connects to the whole fundraising field, since scoring explicitly looks for that global perspective.
- Annual Campaigns
- Board Development/Governance
- Capital Campaign
- Corporations and Foundation
- Endowments
- Major Gifts
- Nonprofit Management
- Organizational Development
- Planned Giving
- Public Relations
- Special Events
Official sources: ACFRE instruction packet: oral specialty topics (page 13) — Page 13, separate printed lines for Corporations and Foundation and Endowments
How the panel scores your answers
Panels evaluate both content and process against seven practice dimensions, and an ethics failure on any single question fails the whole review.
AFP expects candidates to articulate advanced fundraising knowledge in an organized way, connect their topics to the field globally, and show skills grounded in both experience and theory. The questions use issues, problems and scenarios typical of fundraising at the advanced level.
One rule deserves emphasis before anything else: if you fail the ethics dimension on any of the nine questions, the review is an automatic fail regardless of how strong your other answers are. Treat the code as the spine of your preparation, not one topic among many.
- Understanding of fundraising ethics based on the AFP Code of Ethical Standards — failing this dimension on any question fails the review
- Problem-solving skills
- Evidence of management skills
- Understanding of planning, implementation and evaluation as parts of the total development process
- Advanced knowledge and skill in your first selected topic
- Advanced knowledge and skill in your second selected topic
- Clarity, organization and professional extemporaneous delivery
Official sources: AFP ACFRE Program Instruction Packet (revised February 2018) — Oral Peer Review; Scoring; Order of the Process sections
A five-part structure for spoken answers
Rehearse one spoken sequence for every case — situation, standard, options, recommendation, safeguard — so the structure arrives before the nerves do.
This is study advice rather than an official requirement, but it maps directly onto the published scoring dimensions. When you read a case, restate the situation in one sentence, name the standard or policy you are relying on before you recommend anything, weigh at least two genuine options, state a clear recommendation with a reason, and end with a safeguard such as a written agreement, a disclosure step or a policy review.
Rehearse aloud and record a practice answer if that helps you review it. Listen for a clear explanation of the problem, accurate use of the relevant standard and a recommendation supported by the facts. Try a follow-up question that changes one assumption, then explain whether that changes your conclusion.
Adapt the sequence to the case. A clearly prohibited action does not become a legitimate alternative because you are practicing an options step. The purpose is to make your reasoning understandable, not to recite a fixed script or predict how panelists will score you.
- Situation: restate the case in one sentence.
- Standard: name the code provision, policy or law you rely on before recommending.
- Options: weigh at least two genuine alternatives aloud.
- Recommendation: state one clear course of action with a reason.
- Safeguard: name the written agreement, disclosure or policy step that keeps it defensible.
Official sources: AFP ACFRE Program Instruction Packet (revised February 2018) — Oral Peer Review; Scoring; Order of the Process sections
Original practice case: taking donor data to a new role
Personal relationships do not make an organization's confidential donor database yours to take. AFP's code requires protection against unauthorized disclosure and treats donor and prospect information created for an organization as its confidential intellectual property.
Work through the case aloud before reading the example answer. It practices applying a published principle to stated facts; it does not reproduce an AFP oral-review question.
Practice case
An AFP-member fundraiser is leaving an organization. They propose copying its confidential donor and prospect database for use at their new employer, arguing that they personally cultivated those relationships. Assume no authority to take, disclose or transfer the records. What decision would you make, and why?
Show the model answer
Do not copy or transfer the database. The records were created for the organization, and personal work cultivating donors does not confer ownership or authorization to disclose them. Explain the confidentiality and ownership requirements, keep the records under the organization's control, and clarify an authorized transition through the appropriate organizational process.
The current AFP code addresses both unauthorized disclosure and taking, sharing or transferring organizational donor/prospect information. Both matter here. No consent or authority may be assumed from personal familiarity with donors. This is an original illustration of ethical reasoning, not a legal opinion, official panel answer or predicted score.
Fees, retakes and the program clock
The current program page lists $400 for each stage, totaling $1,600 before repeat attempts. The linked packet permits up to three attempts at portfolio review, the written examination and oral peer review.
The packet states that a repeated component costs an additional $400 and allows up to three attempts at portfolio review, the written examination and oral peer review. After three failures in a phase, it requires a one-year wait before a new application. The portfolio is due within one year of application approval, and the written examination must be taken within one year of portfolio approval, within the overall program calendar.
The current program page describes the same $1,600 total differently — a $400 application fee plus a $1,200 certification fee — and notes that candidates who complete the application phase may qualify for a scholarship covering the certification fee. If fees are a deciding factor, ask AFP directly about current scholarship availability.
Official sources: AFP — How to Become an ACFRE — afpglobal.org/acfre/how-become-acfre, retrieved 2026-09-15; AFP ACFRE Program Instruction Packet (revised February 2018) — Oral Peer Review; Scoring; Order of the Process sections
Your next steps
Confirm your eligibility, choose specialty topics that match your documented experience, and rehearse the spoken structure on cases drawn from the code.
Before anything else, verify the current rules against AFP's own pages, since this guide reflects the program page and the packet it links. If you believe you qualify but do not exactly meet the stated requirements, AFP asks for a letter of inquiry before you submit an application — that is the sanctioned route for borderline cases.
- Read the current How to Become an ACFRE page and the instruction packet end to end.
- If eligibility is borderline, send AFP a letter of inquiry before applying.
- Choose your two specialty topics where your last five years of work is strongest.
- Read the AFP Code of Ethical Standards in full — it is short, and the ethics dimension is an automatic fail if missed.
- Rehearse the five-part structure aloud on recorded, timed practice cases at least weekly.
- Map your program deadlines: two years total, portfolio within one year of application approval, written exam within one year of portfolio approval.
Official sources: AFP — How to Become an ACFRE — afpglobal.org/acfre/how-become-acfre, retrieved 2026-09-15; AFP ACFRE Program Instruction Packet (revised February 2018) — Oral Peer Review; Scoring; Order of the Process sections; AFP Code of Ethical Standards (amended December 2023) — Ethical Standards, including conflicts of interest, solicitation and stewardship, and compensation sections
Official sources
Key facts verified against AFP sources: