Hillary Clinton’s campaign has worked to expand its small donor base. | AP Photo Clinton relies heavily on big donors Campaign raised 40 percent of its cash from donors who gave the maximum in January.

As Hillary Clinton fell behind Bernie Sanders in January fundraising, she continued relying heavily on big donors for her fundraising haul, according to a report filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission.

About 40 percent of the $14.9 million Clinton raised in January came from donors who gave the maximum $2,700 donation for the primary or more, and, as such, will not be able to give again for the duration of her fight for nomination against Sanders. Clinton has raised $130 million overall for the cycle, with about half of it coming from maxed out donors.


By contrast, only 18 percent of her January haul, and 17 percent of her overall tally, came from small donors of the sort powering Sanders’ fundraising juggernaut, which raised $20 million in January. Those donors can continue giving in small increments until they reach the maximum donation, which seldom occurs for most small donors.

Clinton’s campaign has worked to expand its small donor base as its operation ramped up its spending in January in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, where she scored an extremely narrow victory over Sanders.

According to Saturday’s report, Clinton spent about $10.5 million on television and radio advertising, $4.2 million on payroll-related costs, $1 million on direct mail, $370,000 on rent and $241,000 in polling over the month of January.

The campaign also reported owing $1.1 million in debt at the end of the month, including $377,000 to a charter airplane service, $218,000 to her ad buyer and $117,000 to the firm of her pollster Joel Benenson.

The former secretary of state also donated $100,000 of in-kind payroll, benefits and computer equipment to her campaign, bringing her total self-funding to $468,000 for the cycle.