DonationWatch

Political party donations tracker for the United States

What is this?

Party donations are an important part of politics. They are an important indicator of political support. We try to present this data clearly and comprehensibly.

The data presented here is sourced from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) bulk disclosures and covers political contributions documented since 2016. Unlike parliamentary systems where donations flow directly into central party headquarters, US federal campaign finance is decentralized across candidate campaigns, party organizations, and independent expenditure committees. To provide an accurate picture of the financial coalitions behind each movement, DonationWatch consolidates major funding vehicles into unified party totals ("Democrats", "Republicans", and "Bipartisan & Nonpartisan Super PACs"). This includes: • Official party committees: National, congressional campaign, and state party committees (e.g., DNC, RNC, DSCC, NRSC, DCCC, NRCC) • Authorized federal candidate campaign committees • Politically aligned Super PACs, Hybrid PACs, and Joint Fundraising Committees (e.g., Senate Majority PAC, Future Forward, MAGA Inc., Senate Leadership Fund, Harris Victory Fund, Trump 47 Committee) • Nonpartisan and industry-focused Super PACs that back candidates across both major parties (e.g., Fairshake, United Democracy Project) Why some PACs are not mapped to a party: Official party and candidate committees report a declared party affiliation in FEC records and are mapped automatically. Super PACs and Hybrid PACs operate as independent entities without formal party declarations; DonationWatch continuously audits and maps all prominent committees reaching $5 million or more in cumulative receipts. Smaller single-issue groups, corporate PACs, and committees below this threshold without clear alignment remain unmapped to prevent speculative attribution, and their receipts are excluded from party totals. Data normalization & scope: • Minimum Amount: Only contributions of $10,000 or greater are tracked. Because federal law caps direct donations to candidates ($3,300 per election) and traditional PAC accounts ($5,000 per year), this threshold isolates high-dollar receipts to party committees, Joint Fundraising Committees (JFCs), Super PACs, and unlimited Hybrid PAC accounts. • 501(c)(4) Non-Profits ("Dark Money"): Contributions from 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations (e.g., Future Forward USA Action, One Nation) to Super PACs are recorded as organizational receipts (ORG), as these entities do not disclose their underlying donors to the FEC. • Deduplication: JFC contributions are recorded at initial receipt, while internal distributions and attribution memos are discarded. Conduit pass-throughs (WinRed, ActBlue) and transfers between tracked committees are excluded so funds are counted only once. • Exclusions: Refunds are deducted from donor totals. Candidate self-funding (loans and personal contributions) and operating revenue (interest, dividends, asset sales) are excluded.

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