AP Photo Trump not exactly self-funding his campaign The majority of money has come from donors. He’s made loans and in-kind contributions.

Donald Trump often says that he does not get enough credit for self-funding his presidential campaign. But as his recent financial disclosure reveals, he is not funding most of it.

Instead, the majority of his campaign funding comes from donors. This quarter, the campaign received 73,942 “unsolicited donations” totaling about $3.7 million, according to a release from the campaign. That accounts for most of the $5.8 million the campaign has taken in to date.


Trump has contributed to financing his campaign through in-kind gifts and loans.

In the third quarter, he made about $100,000 in in-kind contributions to his campaign.

That’s in addition to the $1.8 million Trump previously loaned the campaign. Trump can pay himself back for the loan with campaign funds at any point.

At the same time, Trump’s businesses have charged significant rent to the campaign. The campaign paid $144,000 for rent in the third quarter to Trump Tower Commercial LLC, Trump Restaurants LLC and the Trump Corp.

On the campaign trail, Trump regularly portrays his campaign as a self-funded one. “I’m self-funding my own campaign,” he said at a rally last week in Las Vegas.

“If I lose, I was stupid,” he said. “Because I don’t think I get enough credit for self-funding.”

Trump has said he will spend “whatever it takes” to win the nomination and his campaign manager recently told The Washington Post the campaign was likely to spend “considerably more than $20 million” on media buys by the end of the year.

A campaign spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

Among the other notable findings from Trump’s filing is the amount the campaign is spending on hats. Trump’s single-largest expense was a $423,860 disbursement for “T-shirts/hats.” The second-largest line item was an additional $273,669 for hats. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hat became instantly iconic when he unveiled it at a July tour of the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, and the campaign has been selling the hats online.

Trump spent just more than $200,000 renting lists from conservative Newsmax Media. He returned an in-kind $84,237 contribution for catering from billionaire car dealer Ernie Boch Jr., because it exceeded the yearly legal limit of $2,700. Boch hosted an August fundraiser for Trump with more than 1,000 attendees at his mansion near Boston.

In July, Trump moved a rally in Phoenix from the Biltmore Hotel to the Phoenix Convention Center in response to overwhelming demand for tickets. The campaign still ended up paying the Biltmore $5,187 for renting its unused space.

Though Trump has not yet taken out major ad buys, his campaign paid $6,000 to Common Sense Media in Virginia for radio media placements.

Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski takes in $20,000 a month through his Green Monster LLC. Spokeswoman Hope Hicks received $3,167 for communications consulting.

Sam Clovis, the conservative Iowa activist who defected from Rick Perry’s ailing campaign in August to become Trump’s national co-chairman, received $2,667 for consulting and $1,561 for mileage and travel reimbursement in the third quarter.

Before joining the campaign, Clovis wrote of Trump in emails that later leaked, that he “left me with questions about his moral center and his foundational beliefs. ... His comments reveal no foundation in Christ, which is a big deal.” Clovis has said he later changed his mind about Trump after meeting with him.

Colorado billionaire Larry Mizel and his wife, Carol, each have given $5,400 to date to the campaign, half of which has been refunded. Mizel, who sits on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, has become the go-to point man for GOP politicians looking to travel to Israel and align themselves with the country.

Conservative constitutional scholar and Northwestern Law professor Steven Calabresi, a co-founder of the Federalist Society and leading proponent of executive power, gave Trump the legal maximum of $2,700.

Below is a breakout of the campaign’s finances as of the end of September.

Total raised in the third quarter: $3,926,511

Total spent in the third quarter: $4,035,076

Debt: $1,804,747

Total cash on hand: $254,772