FEC Campaign Finance Research for Journalists: A Guide

What does the FEC collect, and what does it miss?

The FEC publishes campaign finance data you can search online ^[1]. That includes money raised, money spent and the names of individual donors ^[1].

How far back you can go depends on the type of filer. PAC, party and presidential filings run from 1993 to the present ^[2]. House filings run from May 1996 ^[2]. Senate filings run from May 2000 ^[2].

Most reports are filed electronically. Reports filed on paper are scanned and posted on the FEC website ^[2].

The FEC is not your only source. Researchers can also get campaign finance reports from state records offices ^[2].

Where do you start on the FEC site?

Start at the FEC's Browse data page. It splits the work into two ideas: raising and spending ^[1].

Raising includes receiving anything of value, such as money, services or property ^[1]. Spending includes all the types of disbursements candidates and committees make ^[1].

Pick the question you are asking before you pick a tool. Who funds this candidate? Who is paying for ads? Where did a committee's money go? Each question points to a different search.

For donor questions, use the individual contributions search. It shows who is donating to candidates and committees ^[1].

How do you search individual contributions step by step?

You can search by contributor name, location, employer and occupation ^[1]. Work through the filters in this order.

1. Open the individual contributions search from the Browse data page ^[1].
2. Start with one filter, such as a contributor name or a committee you already know ^[1].
3. Add a location. You can filter by city, state and/or zip code ^[3].
4. Try employer or occupation to see whether donors cluster in one industry or company ^[3].
5. Narrow by the date or the amount of the contribution ^[3].
6. Combine filters. The FEC says you can use more than one at a time to narrow a search ^[3].

Know what the data can and cannot show. Committees must list the name, address, occupation and employer of each individual who gives more than $200 during an election cycle ^[4]. For PACs and party committees, the period is a calendar year ^[4].

Committees must list donors who give more than $200 during an election cycle (or calendar year for PACs and party committees), so don't assume the list shows every donor ^[4]. Keep it in mind before you describe a donor list to your readers.

Contributions from political committees are different. They must be itemized regardless of the amount ^[5].

Confirm you have the right person before you name anyone. Employer and location are both searchable, so use them to check the match ^[3].

How do you follow the spending?

Spending data covers the disbursements candidates and committees make ^[1]. For independent expenditures, use the FEC's independent expenditures data ^[6].

Committees must report independent expenditures on a schedule beyond regular reports. In certain circumstances, that means within 24 or 48 hours ^[6].

The thresholds depend on timing. Through the 20th day before an election, filers must report independent expenditures totaling $10,000 or more for a given election ^[7]. These are the 48-hour reports ^[7].

After the 20th day but more than 24 hours before an election, the bar drops to $1,000 or more ^[7]. These are the 24-hour reports ^[7].

One detail matters if you add up totals. Do not combine an independent expenditure for a Senate candidate with one for a House candidate ^[7].

Do not confuse these reports with contribution notices. The FEC says 48-hour notices are not the same as the 24- and 48-hour reports on Form 5 ^[8]. Authorized committees never file Form 5 ^[8].

How often is money reported?

House and Senate candidate committees report receipts and disbursements quarterly ^[9]. They report on Form 3, and presidential committees report on Form 3P. ^[9]

In election years, committees of candidates in the general election must also file a pre-general and a post-general report ^[9].

Near an election, a second layer applies. Additional rules cover candidate committees less than 20 days but more than 48 hours before the election ^[8]. In that window, committees file a 48-Hour Notice on Form 6 when they receive a contribution of $1,000 or more ^[8].

Here is how to use that in your reporting. A quarterly report gives you a snapshot. Near an election, 48-hour notices cover contributions of $1,000 or more received in the final window, so check them alongside the quarterly report. Check both before you write "the candidate raised."

Why is the newest data missing?

The FEC site shows two kinds of data. Processed data has been categorized and coded by the FEC. ^[6] That multi-step process can take days for electronic filings or weeks for paper filings ^[6].

Raw data has not yet been categorized and coded. It comes straight from committees' raw electronic reports ^[6]. It does not include paper filings ^[6].

The FEC also warns that newly filed summary data may not appear on its site for up to 48 hours ^[1]. A 2015 FEC press office tutorial says processing can take from several days to a few weeks after a filing deadline ^[10].

If you are on deadline, learn the raw files. A .FEC file holds all the transactions disclosed in a campaign finance report ^[10]. You can export it into a spreadsheet to sort it more easily ^[10].

Video from FECTube: FECConnect OnDemand (FEC official YouTube channel). Open at youtube.com. Content from youtube.com loads only if you click.

The document below is a 2015 FEC press office tutorial on raw data files, so the screens may look different from today's FEC site ^[10].

Document · Federal Election Commission

FEC Press Office Tutorial #2: Locating, Downloading and Exporting Raw Data Files (PDF, July 2015)

Open at fec.gov

Document from Federal Election Commission. Open at fec.gov. Content from fec.gov loads only if you click.

Can you publish what you find?

Federal rules limit how donor information can be used. Information about individual contributors from FEC reports cannot be sold or used to solicit contributions or for any commercial purpose ^[4]. That covers political and charitable solicitations ^[4].

News use is treated differently. FEC regulations say the restriction does not apply to use of contributor information in newspapers, magazines, books or similar communications ^[4]. The principal purpose must not be to solicit contributions or conduct commercial activity ^[4].

The FEC also says media outlets, such as newspapers and news and opinion websites, may republish individual contributor information ^[5]. That includes personally identifiable information found in campaign finance reports ^[5].

Two limits are worth knowing. The restriction applies only to individual contributor information, not to the names and addresses of political committees ^[5]. And a mailing address can be any address where a person can receive mail, including a work address or a P.O. Box ^[5].

The exception covers newspapers, magazines, books or similar communications whose principal purpose is not soliciting or commercial activity ^[4]. The FEC says contributor data cannot be sold or used to solicit contributions or for commercial purposes, so keep it out of mailing lists and fundraisers ^[4].

If your project sits near sales or fundraising, or you publish in an unusual format, ask a media lawyer before you publish.

Some editors and sources may ask about your work. You can join the National Press Association as an independent reporter to keep a membership record alongside your published stories. A credential is not government-issued and does not give you legal rights.

How do you verify before you publish?

Treat every number as a snapshot. Big Local News notes that processed FEC data may not include the last few months of receipts ^[11].

Check the date of the latest receipts processed. Then put that date in your story ^[11]. A line such as "records filed through" a given date tells readers what your total covers.

If you use raw contribution files, clean them first. Big Local News says to remove additional memo entries on Line 11(a)(i). These carry an "X" in the memo_code column ^[11].

Memo entries disclose information but are not added to the overall schedule, so remove them before you total ^[11].

Run a few more checks before you file.

• Compare your total with the committee's summary data, and note that new summaries may lag by up to 48 hours ^[1].
• Confirm each named donor by employer and location ^[3].
• Separate individual donors from political committees ^[5].
• Look for late 48-hour notices if the election is close ^[8].
• Ask the committee for comment, and say what the filings show and when they were filed.

Checklist and where to go next

Use this list on your next story.

1. Define the question: donors, spending or independent expenditures ^[1].
2. Search individual contributions with combined filters ^[3].
3. Pull quarterly reports and late notices for the same committee ^[9].
4. Check independent expenditure reports for independent spending ^[6].
5. Decide whether processed or raw data fits your deadline ^[10].
6. Clean memo entries and record the date your data runs through ^[11].
7. Keep donor data out of solicitation and commercial use ^[4].
8. Remember that researchers may also obtain campaign finance reports from state records offices ^[2].

Keep a log of your searches, filters and download dates. That log helps you answer an editor, a source or a reader who asks how you got a number. For one way to document your reporting, read our guide to press credentials for independent reporters.

If you want a record of your freelance work to show with story pitches or interview requests, see how a press credential can document your work. It does not give you access or legal protection. The reporting still has to stand on its own.