Political Fundraising Glossary
Political Fundraising Glossary
Like any industry, political fundraisers throw around a lot of industry specific terms. This is a quick effort to gain a little clarity. Note that this page is a work in progress and will evolve as we think of more items to put on the list.
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501(c) Groups: Nonprofit, tax-exempt groups organized under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code that can engage in varying amounts of political activity, depending on the type of group. Notably, 501(c) groups are not legally required to disclose any information about their donors. There are several types, including:
- 501(c)(3) groups -- operate for religious, charitable, scientific or educational purposes. These groups are not supposed to engage in any political activities, though some voter registration activities are permitted.
- 501(c)(4) groups -- commonly called “social welfare” organizations. They may engage in political activities, so long as these activities do not become their primary purpose.
- 501(c)(5) labor and agricultural groups, and 501(c)(6) business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards and boards of trade face restrictions similar to 501(c)(4) groups regarding political activities.
527 Committee: A tax-exempt group organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code to raise money for political activities including voter mobilization efforts, issue advocacy and the like. Currently, the FEC only requires a 527 group to file regular disclosure reports if it is a political party or political action committee (PAC) that engages in either activities expressly advocating the election or defeat of a federal candidate, or in electioneering communications. Otherwise, it must file either with the government of the state in which it is located or the Internal Revenue Service. The Citizens United ruling allows 527 committees to raise unlimited funds from individuals, corporations and unions to expressly advocate for or against federal candidates, and since the controversial ruling, several so-called 527 groups have registered with the FEC as "super PACs."
B
Best Effort: A phrase taken from Federal Election Commission regulations used by candidates' campaign committees to excuse their failure to provide the FEC with complete disclosure information concerning their contributors. For example, when only the name and address but not the employer or occupation of a contributor is given on a campaign finance form, the words "best effort" will sometimes be written in. Some states require candidates to return checks to contributors if sufficient disclosure information is not provided.Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA): Also known as the McCain-Feingold law enacted in 2002 bans unlimited soft money contributions to the national political parties and prohibits federal officeholders from soliciting soft money. The law increased the limits on “hard money” contributions, which can be given directly to federal candidates and political parties. BCRA also barred special interest groups from spending soft money on so-called “issue ads” that identify a specific federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election.Buckley v. Valeo: The 1976 Supreme Court case that challenged most of the provisions in the Federal Campaign Election Act, as amended in 1974. The Supreme Court upheld the law’s requirements that candidates, parties, PACs and groups engaging in express advocacy disclose their fund-raising and spending. The court also affirmed voluntary public financing and limits on individual contributions. The court struck down, as infringements on free speech, limits on campaign spending (unless the candidate accepts public financing), limits on contributions by candidates to their own campaigns (unless publicly financed) and limits on independent expenditures (election spending by outside interest groups not coordinated with candidates or their committees).Bundling: The practice through which multiple contributions from a single industry, interest group, company or group of individuals are delivered to a candidate. Bundling is a legal practice that can occur one of two ways: 1) an individual or group, known as a conduit or bundler, collects and delivers the contributions in a “bundle” to a candidate (in some cases, the conduit must report bundled contributions to the Federal Election Commission), or 2) individuals from the same industry, interest group or company send contributions that reach a candidate around the same time. In these cases, the person or group who solicited the contributions (the bundler) is often given an identification code that the contributors put on their checks so he gets the credit for bringing in the contributions.
C
Campaign Committee: A fund-raising committee set up by a candidate to finance a campaign for state or federal office. All campaign committees file regular campaign finance reports -- usually once a quarter -- with the Federal Election Commission that detail their donors and expenditures.Campaign Spending Limit: A maximum amount that a candidate's campaign can spend during the election period. In its 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that campaign spending limits constitute a violation of free speech unless voluntarily accepted, or accepted in exchange for public financing or other public resources. Voluntary campaign spending limits exist in eleven states and in primary and general elections for president.Candidate Spending Limit: A maximum amount that a candidate can give or loan to his or her own campaign. According to the Supreme Court's 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, mandatory limits on candidate spending violate the Constitution's guarantee of free speech.Candidate-to-Candidate Giving: Contributions made by members of Congress whose seats are considered safe to candidates facing difficult elections. A lawmaker may make a contributions out of his or her campaign account, leadership PAC and personal funds. Current contribution limits from a lawmaker’s campaign account or personal funds to a candidate are $2,500 per election (primary and general). PACs may contribute up to $5,000 per election. Click here to see candidate-to-candidate giving during the 2010 election cycle.Ceiling: An upper limit on campaign expenditures. Sometimes also refers to the upper limit on what individuals, PACs, and political parties can contribute.Chain of custody: Refers to the chronological documentation or paper trail, showing the receipt, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of physical or electronic documents.Challenger: The candidate trying to unseat the person in office, or incumbent.Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: A U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled in a 5-4 decision in January 2010 to allow corporations and unions to use their general treasuries to pay for political advertisements that expressly call for the election or defeat of a candidate -- or independent expenditures. The decision also allowed nonprofit groups to use corporate or union funds to air electioneering communications within 30 days of a primary election and 60 days of a general election, which had previously been prohibited since the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.Coalition: A group of similar-minded organizations or individuals who have joined together to lobby for a specific cause. Because of their size, coalitions often wield more influence among elected officials than do individual organizations that lobby alone. Some coalitions, such as the Business Roundtable, do not reveal their membership, making the money spent on campaign contributions and lobbying difficult to determine within a coalition.Compliance Funds: Money raised by major-party presidential nominees that is used for legal and accounting expenses incurred in the process of satisfying the reporting and other requirements of federal campaign finance laws. Used by candidates as a way of getting around the prohibition on fundraising during the presidential general election.Conduit: A person, group, or organization that forwards others' contributions to candidates, a legal activity under federal law. Such contributions always count against the federal contribution limit for the donors, and sometimes against the limit for the conduit as well (in cases in which the conduit exercises "direction and control").Conflict of Interest: The situation that results when an umpire takes money from the players, when a judge takes money from defendants and prosecutors, and when government officials take campaign contributions from people whose economic interests are affected by government policy-making. "We are the only people in the world required by law to take large amounts of money from strangers and then act as if it has no effect on our behavior." -- U. S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)Contribution: Money, or anything else of value (such as mailing lists, telephones, billboard space) given to a candidate's campaign committee, political party, or political action committee (PAC) by an individual or organization.Contribution Limits: The rules governing how much an individual or PAC can contribute to a federal candidate or party committee. Limits apply to contributions of hard money, which is given directly to candidate's campaign. Soft money, which is given to political parties and groups not associated with particular candidates and cannot be used to expressly advocate for a candidate's election, was not regulated until 2002. Contributions to state and local candidates and party committees to be used exclusively to elect state and local candidates are subject to state contribution limits.Under federal law, an individual during the 2012 election cycle may contribute:
- $2,500 to a candidate per election (primary and general are considered two different elections)
- $30,800 to a national political party committee per year
- $5,000 to a PAC per year
- $117,000 per election cycle to candidates, parties and PACs, combined
A PAC may contribute:
- $5,000 to a candidate per election (primary and general)
- $15,000 to a political party per year
- $5,000 to another PAC per year
Additional limits apply to contributions from parties to candidates and from individuals, corporations or labor unions to state parties for generic political activity (see Levin Funds).Coordinated Expenditure: In federal elections, money spent by political parties on behalf of their presidential and congressional candidates in the general election. Such expenditures are limited by law, and are not direct payments to candidates but payments by the parties to cover candidates' campaign costs.Costs of Funds Raised: A percentage representing the cost of soliciting, processing and tracking a donation.Crimson: Republican fundraising platform that enables FEC compliant fundraising collaboration across dispersed political organization. Crimson is used by all major Republican presidential campaigns and national committees.CrimsonMobile: A smartphone version of Crimson.CrimsonRPM: Republican social fundraising platform that has empowered campaigns and committees to raise over $100M via friends-asking-friends in the 2012 cycle alone.
D
Debt Retirement: The practice of raising additional campaign funds after the election is over in order to pay off the candidate's campaign debt.Democratically Financed Elections: An electoral system in which candidates' campaigns are funded with resources that come from the people as a whole, rather than an elite few. Also, a specific legislative proposal under which eligible candidates who pledge not to accept or spend any private money whatsoever during the primary and general election periods would receive equal amounts of full public financing with which to conduct their campaigns. A variation on this proposal is likely to become a statewide ballot initiative in Maine in 1996. Other variations have been introduced in, though not passed by, five state legislatures and the city council of New York City.Dialing for Dollars: Making phone calls to potential big-money donors. A time-consuming -- and, in the period preceding an election, a daily -- task undertaken by the candidates themselves as well as their key fundraisers. "I have to call people and ask them for money. Then I have to call them and ask them again. Then I have to call them one more time." -- former U. S. Rep. Jim Bacchus (D-Fla.) .Disclosure: The requirement that candidates, political parties, and political action committees (PACs) report the amounts and sources of their campaign contributions. Federal candidates must list each contributor's name, address, employer, and occupation. As of 1994, 23 states did not require disclosure of employer and occupation.Donation: A voluntary financial contribution to a political organization .
E
Earmarking: Occurs when a contributor writes a check to, for example, the Democratic National Committee in response to a solicitation and designates through a notation on the check the name of a candidate for whom the contribution is intended. In this case, the DNC acts as a "conduit" and must identity the contribution and the contributor in federal disclosure reports.Election Cycle: The two-year time period leading up to a general federal election. The 2012 election cycle, for example, consists of the entire calendar years of 2011 and 2012. All 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as one-third of the U.S. Senate, are up for election each cycle. Presidential elections occur every other election cycle.Electioneering Communications: Broadcast advertisements, for television or radio, that 1) air within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election, 2) mention or refer to a federal candidate and 3) are aimed at 50,000 or more members of the electorate of the office the candidate is seeking. These expenditures must be reported to the Federal Election Commission.Equal Protection: Refers to the "Equal Protection" clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The guarantee of "equal protection of the law" has been evoked to challenge the constitutionality of today's system of privately financed elections. It is alleged that under such a system citizens without access to wealth are denied their right to equal political opportunity.Exploratory Committee: A fund-raising committee set up by an individual who is considering a run for federal office. Once the individual declares his or her candidacy, the exploratory committee becomes a campaign committee. An exploratory committee does not have to file reports on its financial activity until the individual decides to run, but all contribution limits and prohibitions apply, the same as they do to campaign committees. To avoid the question of when he or she has formally begun to run for office, an individual often will file reports as a “candidate,” while publicly maintaining that he or she is still only exploring the possibility of running. This has been especially true of presidential candidates in recent years.Express Advocacy: Paying for political advertisements and other mass communications that benefit particular candidates, a practice that is regulated by federal and state election law. Groups and individuals who pay for such communications sometimes claim that they were engaged not in "express advocacy" but rather "issue advocacy," a constitutionally protected exercise of free speech and, therefore, not subject to contribution limits. The distinction between the two forms of advocacy is often not clear.
F
FEC Commissioner: The Federal Election Commission has six commissioners who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. No more than three commissioners may belong to the same political party, which has resulted in an even split among commissioners (three Democrat, three Republican) since the FEC’s creation. The commissioners hold public meetings where they adopt new regulations and issue advisory opinions. Pending enforcement actions and litigation are discussed in closed-door meetings. Commissioners are limited to one six-year term, although some continue to serve after their terms have expired if no one else is appointed to replace them.Federal Election Campaign Act: The 1971 law that is the basis of all modern campaign finance regulations. It was amended in 1974, 1976, 1979 and, most recently, 2002. The law requires full, timely disclosure of federal campaign contributions. It prohibits unions and corporations from using general treasury funds to influence federal elections, but allows them to solicit voluntary contributions from members, employees and stockholders through political action committees (PACs). Following the campaign finance abuses of the 1972 presidential race, the law was amended in 1974 to provide the option of public financing for presidential elections, and to set contribution limits for individuals and PACs. The 1974 amendments also set spending limits for candidates, although this provision was later struck down by the Supreme Court as an infringement on free speech. The 1974 amendments also created the Federal Election Commission to enforce and administer campaign finance regulations.In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act amended the law to ban soft money donations to the national parties, prohibit federal officeholders from raising soft money, restrict the use of soft money for “issue ads” and increase hard money contribution limits. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to prohibit corporations and unions from using money from their treasuries on indpendent poltical advertisements and overturned the soft money requirement to fund issue ads. See also: Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 and Buckley v. ValeoFederal Election Commission: The independent regulatory agency responsible for the civil enforcement and administration of the campaign finance law. Federal candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives, the presidency or the vice presidency file quarterly reports with the FEC disclosing contributions and expenditures, which must be itemized if they amount to more than $200. U.S. Senate candidates file with the Secretary of the Senate, which then forwards the reports to the FEC. The agency regulates public financing of presidential campaigns and can seek fines against campaigns that violate campaign finance laws. Six commissioners, appointed by the president, oversee the FEC. No more than three commissioners may be from the same party, a requirement that has resulted in a 3-3 split among Democratic and Republican commissioners throughout the FEC’s history. The FEC has been criticized as a weak and slow enforcement agency that rarely takes strong enforcement action against major political players. The FEC Web site is www.FEC.govFederal Funds: Money raised by a federal candidate, party or political action committee to finance a federal campaign. Also known as “hard money.”Finance: Political code for fundraising.Finance Committee: A group of candidate supporters who work together to solicit donations for a candidate's election.Financially Competitive: An unofficial but important term used by election-watchers to refer to a candidate who has at least half as much campaign money as her or his competitor.Fingerprinting: The process of identifying contributors by determining their addresses, occupations, employers, economic interests, political and ideological affiliations, and spouses and children who may have contributed.Floor: A minimum or set amount of public financing or other public resources (e.g., free media or postage) available to all eligible candidates.Follow the Money: Originally, the phrase is said to have been used by "Deep Throat" to tell reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein how to find out who was behind the 1972 Watergate break-in. Now, an expression indicating that one needs to look at the sources of elected officials' campaign contributions in order to understand how and in whose interests public policy is made. "Follow the money and you will find yourself opening a window on this hidden game [of cash constituents looking for legislative favors] -- a window that deserves to be pulled wide open for everyone to see." -- Larry Makinson, Follow the Money HandbookFranking Privilege: Free postage for official, non-campaign-related correspondence conducted by federal office-holders. Used most heavily during election years and thus considered an in-kind public subsidy to incumbents that augments their financial advantage over challengers. In 1995, each U.S. Representative was entitled to use up to $150,000 per election cycle for franking purposes. Allotment varies according to the number of mail households in a district. The average allotment for FY 1995 is $108,000.Friends-Asking-Friends Fundraising: The act of soliciting nonprofit donations directly from one’s online contacts using Web-based tools like CrimsonRPM, email or social networks. Generally, social media tools and peer-to-peer fundraising software facilitate this fundraising method. Often the peer-to-peer fundraising software is provided by the nonprofit to their supporters to enable them to solicit donations for that nonprofit via the Web.Full Public Financing: An arrangement under which all of the campaign funds used by candidates come from the government and none comes from private sources.Fundraising: Act or process of raising money for a political organization.Fundraising Expense: An expense incurred when soliciting contributions.
G
General Election: An election in which a candidate is elected to public office. Candidates in a general election are chosen in a primary election. Public funds are available to presidential candidates running in a general election, if the candidate agrees to spending limits.General Election Public Funding: Public financing that is available to presidential candidates running in a general election. If a presidential candidate accepts general election public funds, then he or she must agree to spending limits, which are set by law and adjusted for inflation. Candidates who accept public financing are not allowed to raise private funds for the general election, with one exception: They may raise compliance funds to pay for campaign lawyers and accountants. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama became the first candidate to opt out of the public financing system, a move that enabled him to vastly out-raise his Republican opponent, John McCain, who had opted to use public funding.Goals: The result or achievement reached at the end of a process, for example a revenue goal for a fundraising event.Grass Roots: A group or organization that originates from or maintains close connections with significant numbers of ordinary citizens or citizen leaders. A grass roots campaign, for instance, seeks to mobilize ordinary citizens to take part in an election campaign or a cause involving an important issue.
H
Hard Money: The regulated contributions from an individual or PAC to a federal candidate, party committee or other PAC, where the money is used for a federal election. Hard money is subject to contribution limits and prohibitions and can be used to directly support or oppose a candidate running for federal office. Hard money can pay for television ads, mass mailings, bumper stickers, yard signs and other communications that mention a specific candidate.Host Committee: The fund-raising committee set up by a host city to help defray the costs of a political convention. A city may also set up a host committee to promote itself as a potential convention site. Contributions to a host committee are not regulated. Corporations and labor unions may make large, unlimited contributions to a host committee. So can individuals, even if they have already contributed the maximum amount to a candidate or party. Host committees are often considered a way for political parties to skirt contribution limits and raise soft money for the convention.
I
In-kind contribution: Services provided to in lieu of money, like printing services, floral arrangements, or furniture rental provided.Inaugural Committee: A fund-raising committee set up by the president-elect to help pay for the inauguration ceremony and festivities. Contributions to an inaugural committee have no legal limits, meaning donors can give large donations, even if they already gave the maximum amount to the president-elect’s campaign committee. An inaugural committee’s contributions and expenditures do not have to be disclosed, although the president-elect often voluntarily identifies donors and amounts. Excess inaugural funds could be transferred to the national and state political parties as soft money before the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act went into effect. The BCRA bans the national parties from collecting soft money, but leftover inaugural funds can still go to state and local parties.Ideological Contributor: A classification used by campaign finance analysts to denote a person or group who makes a political donation in support of a particular philosophy (e.g., libertarianism) or issue (environmental protection) -- as opposed to business contributors and labor contributors.Ideological PAC: A term used by campaign finance analysts, not one defined by law, referring to a PAC organized around an idea, philosophy, issue, or political party -- as opposed to a business or labor PAC.Incumbent: Person holding an elected office. Usually refers to an elected official running for re-election.Independent Expenditures: Independent expenditures are advertisements that expressly advocate the election or defeat of specific candidates and are aimed at the electorate as a whole. Under federal rules, these expenditures must be made completely independent of the candidates, with no coordination. Individuals, political parties, unions, corporations, PACs and other groups making independent expenditures must disclose the name of the candidates who benefit and must itemize the amounts spent in a report to the Federal Election Commission.Individual Contributions: Limited, regulated contributions made by an individual to a candidate’s campaign committee, a PAC or a political party. During the 2012 election cycle, individuals may contribute $2,500 per election (primary and general are considered separate elections) to candidates, $5,000 per year to a PAC and $30,800 per year to a political party. Individual contributions are subject to an aggregate limit of $117,000 per two-year election cycle.Issue Ads: Political advertising that does not specifically call for the election or defeat of a named candidate but focuses on matters of public concern is called issue advertising. Issue advertising itself has become an issue in recent years since it affords parties, interest groups, and wealthy individuals a way to skirt campaign finance laws in support of their preferred candidates and policies.
J
Joint Fundraiser: A fundraising event sponsored by more than one candidate committee, PAC, or party committee.Joint Fund-raising Committee (JFC): A fund-raising committee set up by two or more candidates, political parties or a combination of the two to jointly raise money. All beneficiaries of a joint fund-raising committee share the cost of hosting fund-raisers.
L
Leadership PAC: A fund-raising committee formed by a politician as a way to help fund other candidates’ campaigns or pay for certain expenses not related to the campaigns. Leadership PACs are often used by politicians who aspire to leadership positions in Congress.Legal Defense Fund: A special fund established by an elected official to help pay his or her legal bills. Because a legal defense fund is separate from a candidate’s campaign committee, contributors who have already given the maximum amount to a campaign can still contribute to a legal defense fund. The House limits contributions to defense funds to $5,000 a year, while the Senate permits donations of $10,000 annually. The House also allows corporations and unions—which cannot give money directly to candidates—to contribute to legal defense funds. The Senate prohibits such donations. Lobbyists are prohibited from donating to legal defense funds for both House members and senators. Contributions to legal defense funds are reported to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House.Levin Funds: Contributions that state and local parties can spend on voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities related to federal elections. Levin funds are limited to the lesser of $10,000 per donor or the amount that may be given to state and local parties under the applicable state law. Corporations and labor unions may make Levin fund contributions if state law otherwise allows such entities to contribute to state elections. Levin funds are not considered “hard money” and do not count against contribution limits or prohibitions on hard money contributions.Lobbyist: One who tries to influence decision makers. The term originates from the physical layout of capitol buildings, where legislators deliberate in a chamber, and nonlegislators must gather outside the chamber, in the lobby. Thus, those trying to influence lawmakers came to be known as lobbyists.Lowest Unit Rate: The cheapest prices for a radio or TV advertisements that broadcasters offer to their regular customers. Under various federal campaign finance reform proposals, broadcasters would have to offer the same prices, or rates, to federal candidates and their campaign committees.
M
Matching Funds: Public funds available to a presidential candidate to help bankroll his or her primary campaign. The Presidential Election Campaign Fund matches up to $250 of each individual contribution to help candidates defray the cost of their primary campaigns. (Contributions from PACs are not matched.) To receive matching funds, candidates must meet certain threshold requirements showing sufficient public support. Candidates also must agree to a number of restrictions, including spending limits during the primary campaign that are set by law and adjusted for inflation. The primary spending limit for the 2011 presidential election currently stands at about $44 million.Maxing Out: Making campaign contributions to candidates, PACs, and parties up to the limit allowed by law. Federal election law, for example, allows individuals to give a maximum of $1,000 per candidate per election (primaries and run-offs are counted as separate elections); $5,000 to a PAC per calendar year; $20,000 to a national political party per calendar year; and a total of $25,000 to candidates, PACs, and parties per calendar year. Major donors who max out often turn to soft-money giving. "Let's say I know I need to raise X amount of money for my campaign. So I say: "Okay, what are the PACs I can hope to max out?" And you hope they'll decide to max out with you." -- former U. S. Rep. Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.)McCain Feingold: Also known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) bans unlimited soft money contributions to the national political parties and prohibits federal officeholders from soliciting soft money. The law increased the limits on “hard money” contributions, which can be given directly to federal candidates and political parties. BCRA also barred special interest groups from spending soft money on so-called “issue ads” that identify a specific federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election.Moneybomb (alternatively money bomb, money-bomb, or fundraising bomb) describes a grassroots fundraising effort over a brief fixed time period, usually to support a candidate for election by dramatically increasing, concentrating, and publicizing fundraising activity during a specific hour or day. The effort combines traditional and Internet-based fundraising appeals focusing especially on viral advertising through online vehicles such as YouTube, Myspace, and online forums.Multi-Candidate Committee: The FEC's designation for a PAC or other political committee that has made contributions to at least five federal candidates.
N
Non-Connected Committee: The FEC's designation for a free-standing PAC -- such as EMILY's List -- that has no sponsoring or parent organization.Non-Party Committee: FEC term for any political committee not operated by a political party. The term makes no distinction between PACs and other non-party committees (e.g., candidate committees) even though almost all the "non-party committee" contributions listed on federal candidates' campaign reports are from PACs. This ambiguity can cause problems when analyzing the reports.NRCC: National Republican Congressional Committee. Run by Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives for the purpose of raising money to support Republican candidates for the House.NRSC: National Republican Senatorial Committee. Run by Republican members of the U.S. Senate for the purpose of raising money to support Republican candidates for the Senate.
P
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: The act of soliciting nonprofit donations directly from one’s online contacts using Web-based tools like CrimsonRPM, email or social networks. Generally, social media tools and peer-to-peer fundraising software facilitate this fundraising method. Often the peer-to-peer fundraising software is provided by the nonprofit to their supporters to enable them to solicit donations for that nonprofit via the Web.Political Action Committee (PAC): A political committee that raises and spends money to elect or defeat candidates. Most PACs represent businesses, such as the Microsoft PAC; labor unions, such as the Teamsters PAC; or ideological interests, such as the EMILY’s List PAC or the National Rifle Association PAC. An organization’s PAC will solicit money from the group’s employees or members and make contributions in the name of the PAC to candidates and political parties. Individuals contributing to a PAC may also contribute directly to candidates and political parties, even those also supported by the PAC.A PAC can give $5,000 to a candidate per election (primary, general or special) and up to $15,000 annually to a national political party. PACs may receive up to $5,000 each from individuals, other PACs and party committees per year. A PAC must register with the Federal Election Commission within 10 days of its formation, providing the name and address of the PAC, its treasurer and any affiliated organizations. Some PACs also fund political advertisements designed to aid their preferred candidates. Moreover, som PACs -- such as ActBlue, EMILY's List, the Club for Growth and some leadership PACs -- act as conduits to bundle donations to targeted candidates.Presidential Election Campaign Fund:Primary Election: An election in which voters nominate a candidate to run for office in a general election. Public funds are available to a presidential candidate running in a primary election, if the candidate agrees to spending limits.Public Financing: Campaign money supplied by the government to eligible candidates. The federal government provides presidential candidates with matching public funds in the primary and full public financing in the general election. Twenty-three states provide partial public financing to candidates for various state offices and/or to political parties.
Q
Quality of Disclosure: A measure of the proportion of contributor information that is fully disclosed by a campaign. Federal law requires that campaigns itemize all contributions of $200 or more on their campaign finance reports. Campaigns are required to report the name, address, amount and date of such contributions, and must use their “best efforts” to gather and report each donor’s occupation and employer. However, there is no requirement that the donor provide the occupation and employer information. The Center for Responsive Politics measures the quality of disclosure for each federal candidate and national political party by displaying the percentage of contributor information a candidate or party has fully disclosed or only partially disclosed. The results reveal which candidates’ and parties’ contributors we know a lot about, and which candidates’ and parties’ contributors largely remain a mystery.
R
Recount Fund: A fund-raising committee set up to pay the legal costs of a recount when election results are in dispute. Individual donations to a recount fund have no legal limit and do not have to be disclosed. Contributions from corporations or labor unions are prohibited.
S
Shadow Committee: A nonprofit group with close ties to a political party that collects large soft money contributions to spend on efforts intended to influence the outcome of elections. Shadow committees began to form after passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which prohibits the national political parties from raising soft money. With the soft money ban in effect, many observers expect large amounts of soft money to be funneled to shadow committees instead.Because shadow committees are not registered with the Federal Election Commission as political committees, they do not disclose their contributions and expenditures to the FEC. However, tax-exempt groups created under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code must file disclosure reports with the IRS (see 527 Group). A shadow committee that works too closely with a political party could be considered to be coordinating with that party, a finding that could subject both to legal action by the FEC.Social Fundraising: The act of soliciting nonprofit donations directly from one’s online contacts using Web-based tools like CrimsonRPM, email or social networks. Generally, social media tools and peer-to-peer fundraising software facilitate this fundraising method. Often the peer-to-peer fundraising software is provided by the nonprofit to their supporters to enable them to solicit donations for that nonprofit via the Web.Soft Money: Contributions made outside the federal contribution limits to a state or local party, a state or local candidate or an outside interest group.Spending Limits: The dollar limits on the amount of money that presidential candidates who receive public funds may spend on their campaigns. There are separate limits for the primary and general elections. The limits are set by law and adjusted for inflation. As it stands now, the spending limit in the 2012 presidential primary campaign will be about $44 million for each candidate who accepts primary matching funds. The general election limit will be about $88 million. Most of the candidates in the 2012 election are expected to coose not to take public funds, and therefore are not required to stay within the spending limit.Super PAC: A super PAC, also known as an independent expenditure-only committee, is a type of political action committee that came into existence in 2010 following a federal court decision in SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission. Super PACs may raise and spend unlimited sums of money for the sole purpose of making independent expenditures to support or oppose political candidates. Unlike traditional political action committees, super PACs may not donate money directly to candidates. Super PACs are required to disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission, although some super PACs get around this requirement by listing 501(c) nonprofit groups as their donors -- these groups are not required to disclose their funders.Surplus Funds: Campaign money left over after the election and the payment of all of the campaign's outstanding bills and debts.
T
Testing the Waters: Exploring the feasibility of becoming a candidate for a particular office. Money is often raised to pay for activities related to testing the waters -- such as travel, telephone, and polling costs -- and prospective candidates sometimes create testing-the-waters, or exploratory, committees for that purpose.Transition Fund: A fund-raising committee set up by the president-elect to help pay expenses during the transition between Election Day and the inauguration. Money is raised to pay for office space, staff and other expenses. Contributions to a transition fund, which are not regulated and do not have to be disclosed, supplement the public funding the president-elect receives to help defray costs during the transition. Excess transition funds could be transferred to the national and state political parties as soft money before the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act went into effect.
U
V
Volunteer: Individual who donates their time to perform tasks in service to a political organization.
W
War Chest: Money a politician sets aside to use for campaigns.Widget: A web application placed on a webpage, blog, or social network profile that provides visitors with user-specific information. Widgets are key elements in online or peer-to-peer fundraising tools.WidgetMakr: A web based donation processing form builder.