How to Track Political Donations From Your Friends and Enemies
One way to quietly learn more about someone’s politics and the issues they really care about is to find out which campaigns they have supported financially. Sometimes you’ll find unexpected surprises or learn that where someone puts their money isn’t always just a matter of party affiliation. Or you may find that an organization with certain values votes differently with its dollars .
If you want to know whether (and how much) your family member, neighbor, employer, or favorite company has contributed to various political candidates, you can easily find this information by searching public financial disclosure records.
Are political donations public?
In general, donations made to political campaigns are publicly available. All Senate, House and presidential candidates (and any committees authorized to raise money for them) must report campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). FEC rules require campaigns to track all donations, although the amount of information collected and reported depends on the amount of the donation. For donations of $50 or less (such as funds raised during a fundraiser), campaigns are not required to collect any identifying information about the donor.
Reporting requirements also vary for state candidates depending on state laws: for example, campaigns may not disclose donor identities for small donations totaling less than $50 to $100.
How to Track Donations to National Campaigns
The FEC has a searchable donor database that allows you to view donors by recipient or contributor, and you can narrow results by zip code, donor’s occupation, employer, contribution amount, and more.
However, studying FEC reports can be a little tedious. A more manageable option is the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization OpenSecrets (formerly known as the Center for Responsive Politics), which tracks money in U.S. elections and politics and produces detailed reports on spending by lobbyists, political action committees (PACs), interest groups and other donors. OpenSecrets has a searchable campaign donation database that shows which campaigns or candidates a donor has contributed to. You can also use the advanced search option to sort by recipient or donor information, such as occupation, employer, or zip code.
Another way to browse content is to use Get Local! tool . Select a candidate’s state from the drop-down menu, then use the tabs to view reports by donor, candidate, metro area, etc. The same tool has a zip code search, allowing you to narrow down donations to just your area.
How to Track Donations to State and Local Campaigns
The FEC collects data only on federal campaigns and candidates. The National Institute on Money in Politics uses a tool called FollowTheMoney.org to track donations to state and local campaigns. Note that the organization has merged with the Center for Responsive Policy, so in the future OpenSecrets will store all available data.
However, for now, you can use FollowTheMoney.org to view and search state campaign finance data for the 2024 election. Select the state you are interested in on the map, after which a new tab will open with an overview of the state. From here, you can select the type of office (such as governor) to narrow down the details of donations to specific races.
Another option is to scroll to the Tools section of the map and use the drop-down menus to select your state and election cycle. Finally, try typing the name into the main search bar – this will display the person’s contributions and, if they are also a candidate, detail the money they have received.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for on FollowTheMoney, you can go directly to your state’s campaign finance or board of elections website and find disclosure forms.
There are also government organizations, such as the Virginia Public Access Project , that track money in local elections. A quick Google search for “[state] campaign disclosure” should help you track down these groups if they exist in your area.