In preparation for the fall election season, OpenSecrets.org is releasing our overhauled top contributors lists. These lists will provide users with an easy way to see the organizations and individuals donating the most money to federal campaigns and committees. We have long provided this information, but in the past it could be confusing or misleading. For example, organizations that only donated to outside spending groups could show up as “on the fence” because they didn’t donate to Republicans or Democrats, when in actuality these organizations heavily favored conservative or liberal political causes. Now, the true tilt of a donor will be displayed, allowing users to easily identify the partisan preferences of an organization or individual.

The most comprehensive list is our new Top Overall Federal Contributors list. Here, you can see the top donors to nearly every type of federal entity – campaigns, parties, federally-focused 527s, super PACs and Carey committees are all included in these totals. These numbers include direct giving from the organization’s employees as well as its PAC, if it has one. What’s missing is the money that we can’t see: Donations to dark money groups are never disclosed and therefore organizations that choose to spend their money in the shadows will not appear as prominently on the list as we might expect.

One of the first things you may notice about the 2014 list is that of the top 20 organizations, only two favor Republicans. The rest, with the exception of one “on the fence” trade association, all strongly prefer liberal policies and Democratic candidates. ActBlue, long a major player in directing small contributions to Democrats, tops the list of organizations. In addition, 11 of the top 20 organizations are unions. This is a pronounced shift from 2012. In that election cycle, seven of the top 20 organizations favored conservatives.

On the Top Individuals list, the story is different. Although the top three overall donors are Democrats, six of the top 10 and 11 of the top 20 heavily favor Republicans.

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The Top Overall Donors list can be greatly influenced by unlimited donations to 527 organizations and outside groups, so we provide the option for users to see those organizations and individuals which donate the most hard money. These totals include individual contributions made by employees of these companies to candidates and parties, as well as limited contributions made by the company’s own PAC. In this case, a different pattern emerges. Not only do the organizations tend to be less polarized in their partisan preferences, but many of the organizations favor Republicans. Eight of the top 20 organizations fall “on the fence,” equally supporting Democratic and Republican candidates and parties.

The giving patterns of the top hard money donors are wildly different from those of the top outside money donors. Among the top 50 outside money donors not a single organization gives equally to both sides of the ideological spectrum — nearly every organization supports liberals or conservatives with 100% of their money. As is the case with the top overall donors, the top outside money donors are dominated by liberal organizations, a pronounced contrast from the 2012 cycle. In 2012, four of the top five outside money donors favored conservative outside groups; this cycle, all five top donors are liberals.

The one place where conservative organizations are out-giving liberal ones is in the newly important area of joint fundraising committees. These committees are designed as an easy way for a donor to write a single check and have that money distributed to a variety of campaigns and party committees. This cycle, 18 of the top 20 organization donors to joint fundraising committees favor Republicans. Among individuals, a whopping 100 percent of the top 10 and 90 percent of the top 50 donors are Republicans.

It’s still early — by fundraising standards — in the 2014 cycle, so check back as we move closer to Nov. 4 to keep tabs on the organizations and individuals trying to influence your vote.



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