 ActBlue logo (2023-present) | |
| Formation | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Type | Nonprofit political action committee |
| Location | |
Executive Director | Regina Wallace-Jones |
| Affiliations | Democratic Party |
| Website | secure |
ActBlue Charities Inc. [1] is an American political action committee and fundraising platform established serving left-leaning and Democratic nonprofits and politicians. [2] Its Republican counterpart is WinRed.
ActBlue does not endorse individual candidates. [3] The organization is open to Democratic campaigns, candidates, committees, and progressive 501(c)4 organizations. Groups that use ActBlue pay a 3.95% credit card processing fee. As a nonprofit, ActBlue runs its own, separate fundraising program and accepts tips on contributions to pay for its expenses. [4] [5] [6]
ActBlue was founded in 2004 by Benjamin Rahn and Matt DeBergalis. [7] Rahn and DeBergalis were joined in 2005 by Jonathan Zucker and Erin Hill. Zucker took over as Executive Director in 2007; [8] he was replaced by Hill in 2009. In 2023, Regina Wallace-Jones replaced Hill as Executive Director. [9]
In February 2016, ActBlue launched AB Charities, an arm of the organization that makes ActBlue's fundraising tools available to nonprofits. [10] Both the 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential nominees, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, used ActBlue during their primary and general election campaigns. [11] [12] Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 primary campaigns also used ActBlue for fundraising. [13]
ActBlue reports to the Federal Election Commission all contributors to Federal campaigns, regardless of the amount. [14] When a candidate for a Federal election raises money through ActBlue, ActBlue serves as a conduit for election law purposes. [15] [16] All conduit contributions are itemized and reported. By contrast, there is a $200 threshold for reporting individuals who contribute directly to a candidate committee. Many small donors, whose names would ordinarily be shielded, are thus exposed to the public. [17]
ActBlue raised $19 million in its first three years, from 2004 to 2007. [18] In the 2005-2006 campaign, the site raised $17 million for 1500 Democratic candidates, with $15.5 million going to congressional campaigns. By August 2007, the site had raised $25.5 million. [19]
In the 2018 midterms elections, ActBlue raised $1.6 billion for Democratic candidates. [20] Conor Lamb, Beto O'Rourke, and Kyrsten Sinema have worked with ActBlue. [21]
In 2019, ActBlue raised roughly $1 billion for a wide variety of campaigns. [22] The Daily Beast notes that between January and mid-July 2019, ActBlue brought in $420 million, and that "According to the organization, that total came from 3.3 million unique donors and was dispersed to almost 9,000 Democratic campaigns and organizations, with $246 million coming in the second quarter alone." [23]
In 2020, several fundraising records were broken. In the week following the murder of George Floyd, on May 31, over $19 million was raised, the highest single-day total so far that year. On June 1, that yearly record was again broken with $20 million in donations. Over half of donations in the week following the killing went to charitable (non-political) causes, including one ActBlue page devoted to a bail fund which raised over $1.5 million from over 20,000 donors. [24] In the day following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, over $30 million was donated through ActBlue, again breaking the single-day fundraising record. [25]
In 2022, ActBlue brought in $20.6 million on the day the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization . [26]
In 2023, ActBlue announced that it was laying off roughly 17 percent of its staff as part of what the group said was a "restructuring" that would help ensure "long-term financial sustainability." ActBlue said the staff reductions would primarily impact the non-technical sector, allowing the organization to hire "technical and specialized roles." [27]
In 2019, the Republican Party created WinRed to similarly support Republican organizations and causes with small-donor fundraising. [28]
In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The legal term PAC was created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States. Democracies of other countries use different terms for the units of campaign spending or spending on political competition. At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.
United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives.
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gather money for non-profit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for for-profit enterprises.
Matching funds are funds that are set to be paid in proportion to funds available from other sources. Matching fund payments usually arise in situations of charity or public good. The terms cost sharing, in-kind, and matching can be used interchangeably but refer to different types of donations.
The financing of electoral campaigns in the United States happens at the federal, state, and local levels by contributions from individuals, corporations, political action committees, and sometimes the government. Campaign spending has risen steadily at least since 1990.
The Clinton Foundation is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was established by former president of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence." Its offices are located in New York City and Little Rock, Arkansas.
Eric Frederick Trump is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, and his first wife, Ivana Trump.
Moneybomb is a neologism coined in 2007 to describe a grassroots fundraising effort over a brief fixed time period, usually to support a candidate for election by dramatically increasing, concentrating, and publicizing fundraising activity during a specific hour or day. The term was coined by Trevor Lyman to describe a massive coordinated online donation drive on behalf of presidential candidate Ron Paul, in which context the San Jose Mercury News described a moneybomb as being "a one-day fundraising frenzy". The effort combines traditional and Internet-based fundraising appeals focusing especially on viral advertising through online vehicles such as YouTube, Twitter, and online forums. In the case of lesser-known candidates it is also intended to generate significant free mass media coverage the candidate would otherwise not receive. Moneybombs have been used for grassroots fundraising and viral activism over the Internet by several 2008 presidential candidates in the United States. It emerged as an important grassroots tool leading up to the 2010 midterm elections and 2012 presidential election in the United States.
In politics, grassroots fundraising is a fundraising method that involves mobilizing local communities to support a specific fundraising goal or campaign. It has been utilized by American presidential candidates like Howard Dean, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and Bernie Sanders.
Candid is an information service specializing in reporting on U.S. nonprofit companies. In 2016, its database provided information on 2.5 million organizations. It is the product of the February 2019 merger of GuideStar with Foundation Center.
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public.
Jonathan Zucker is a political technology entrepreneur and campaign finance attorney best known as the founder of Democracy Engine, the first COO and second CEO of ActBlue and the founder of It Starts Today.
The Hillary Victory Fund was a joint fundraising committee for Hillary for America, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and 33 state Democratic committees. As of May 2016, the Fund had raised $61 million in donations.
Swing Left is a progressive political group with Hybrid PAC status in the United States that was created following the election of Donald Trump in 2016 with a goal of gaining a Democratic majority in United States legislatures. The group was founded by Ethan Todras-Whitehill, Miriam Stone, Josh Krafchin, Michelle Finocchi, and Matt Ewing to create ways for Democrats to volunteer in their nearest swing district. Its initial mission was to win a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives in 2018 by building a network of volunteers and donors in targeted swing districts across the U.S. Swing Left uses a margin of fifteen points to determine which seats are considered "swing seats", and then concentrates their efforts there. Swing Left cast a broader net in 2019, when they began putting effort toward maintaining a Democratic majority in United States State Legislatures after merging with another organization, Flippable. Swing Left focuses on training volunteers to register voters, phone bank, fundraise, and engage in door-to-door campaigning for Democratic candidates.
The Democratic Coalition, formerly known as the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, is an American Super PAC founded in 2016 by Nathan Lerner, Scott Dworkin, and Jon Cooper for the purpose of opposing Donald Trump, with a fundraising goal of $20 million by Election Day. It was originally known as the Keep America Great PAC.
Women for Trump is a political group in the United States who have supported the presidency of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
WinRed is an American Republican Party (GOP) fundraising platform endorsed by the Republican National Committee. It was launched to compete with the Democratic Party's success in online grassroots fundraising with their platform ActBlue.
Arabella Advisors is a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network. It was founded by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler. The Arabella network spent nearly $1.2 billion in 2020 and raised $1.35 billion in 2022.
Sean M. Fieler is an American hedge fund manager known for his backing of religious and conservative causes, especially those aligned with his Catholic faith. He is chair of the American Principles Project, a conservative think tank.
As required by federal law, ActBlue reports and itemizes (that means list the donor name & information) for every single federal donation that comes through our platform, including donations under $200.