Only about $68.7 million of the almost $212 million that Donald Trump collected in the last three months through joint ventures with the Republican National Committee and state parties actually reached his campaign. | Getty Trump cash haul bypasses campaign Though Trump appeared to narrow the fundraising gap with Clinton, much of the money won't benefit his candidacy.

Donald Trump posted an impressive fundraising haul last quarter, but a less efficient operation and his dependence on an estranged party apparatus mean his campaign benefits from only about a third of that.

Only about $68.7 million of the almost $212 million that Trump collected in the past three months through joint ventures with the Republican National Committee and state parties actually reached his campaign, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission. Almost as much — $63.5 million — was eaten up by operating expenses such as paying for fundraising and compliance consultants, catering and event spaces, list rentals, direct mail and digital ads.


Four percent of the haul, almost $9.3 million, can't be used on the campaign at all, because it's earmarked for special RNC accounts for convention, legal and building expenses, the campaign finance reports show. The rest was split with the RNC and state parties.

Hillary Clinton's campaign, by contrast, received $85.2 million over the three months through her joint fundraising arrangements. That's also less than a third of the total $295 million haul. But Clinton works in lockstep with the Democratic Party and ran a leaner machine, spending 22 cents on overhead for every dollar raised, to Trump's 30.

The new financial details underscore how much Trump is relying on the Republican Party to make up his lack of investment in a ground game, even as his lashing out against party leaders grows ever more hostile. Officially, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus assured members Monday that the party is standing by its nominee, after temporarily freezing some mailings over the weekend after the release of the tape in which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women. (He has denied actually doing so.) But the RNC has spent nothing on TV ads supporting Trump.

The Republicans also have to worry about defending control of the Senate as Democrats outspend them in the closest races. Even their massive House majority could be at risk, with Speaker Paul Ryan warning that Trump is doing worse than John McCain did in 2008, when House Republicans lost more than 20 seats.

On Saturday, Trump's campaign cut ties with Ohio’s state GOP chairman, even though the real estate mogul needs the party's help to win the state if he has any hope of taking the White House.

The Trump campaign has neglected building a field organization, spending $1.6 million on staff and field consultants in August, compared to the Clinton campaign's $3.3 million. Typically, the nominee's joint fundraising arrangements with the state parties are a key source of cash for in-the-trenches activities like calling voters to drive them to the polls.

But Trump's joint committee, known as Trump Victory, waited until Sept. 30, the last day of the quarter, before sending any money to the states. Each of the participating state parties got between $150,000 and $900,000. While Trump Victory is legally obligated to transfer portions of its cash to its participating state parties, there are no rules about when the committee has to distribute its proceeds.

Once the transfers are made, the state parties have great flexibility in what they can do with the cash — including transferring it directly to battleground states or sending it to the RNC for use as it sees fit.

There are strategic reasons for Trump Victory to tightly control the flow of cash to state parties. Trump’s campaign and the RNC want to ensure as much cash as possible is reserved for homestretch phone banks, canvassing and mailers, and not blown early on yard signs. And they want to make sure as much cash as possible is spent in battleground states, only a few of which are participating in Trump Victory, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The New York GOP has begun sending mailers to voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Colorado and New Jersey, using money it received directly from Trump Victory and rerouted from other parties, according to a state official.

Spencer Ritchie, director of the Mississippi Republican Party, told POLITICO earlier this month he'd asked the RNC about when his party would receive cash from Trump Victory and was "told to hang tight." The late transfers could put Republicans at a disadvantage with the campaign nearing its end. "It's getting so close to the election,” Ritchie said.

Clinton has also taken heat for starving state parties, but with a different mechanism. The Hillary Victory Fund, as the arrangement is known, transferred millions to participating state parties, only to have those dollars funneled to the DNC, effectively sidestepping contribution limits since party committees are allowed unlimited transfers among themselves.

In the third quarter, the Hillary Victory Fund sent the state parties $117.4 million, but it won't be revealed how much of that went on to the DNC until the committee files its next monthly FEC reports on Thursday.

The campaigns themselves also don't file their September reports until Thursday, but statements from both sides on Saturday showed Clinton leading with $154 million raised in September and $150 million on hand, to Trump's $100 million haul and $75 million in the bank.

Trump did make some inroads with big-money donors in September, after months drawing ire or indifference from the party's top benefactors. Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, after sitting out most of the cycle, gave $10 million in September to Future45, a pro-Trump super PAC led by mega-donor Todd Ricketts. The group raised another $2.3 million from Todd Ricketts' billionaire father, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, and energy executives Joe Craft and Jay Bergman.

Rebuilding America Now, another pro-Trump super PAC, raised almost $18 million in the third quarter, including $6 million from Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive and failed Senate candidate; $2 million from Mountaire CEO Ronald Cameron; $5 million from Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus; and $1 million from Pennsylvania investor Walter W. Buckley Jr.

Other Trump super PACs have struggled to catch on. The Committee to Restore America's Greatness, associated with longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, raised less than $85,000 in the quarter.

The pro-Clinton super PAC American Bridge 21st Century raised $3.1 million in the quarter, including $500,000 from Renaissance Technologies executive Henry Laufer and $250,000 from investor S. Daniel Abraham. Correct the Record, the news watchdog led by David Brock that tag-teams with the campaign, raised $2.8 million, including $500,000 from investor Donald Sussman and $1 million from Hyatt heirs J.B. and Mary Kathryn Pritzker.

Other allied groups, such as the Great America PAC supporting Trump and Priorities USA supporting Clinton, will file on Thursday.