CONSTANT INNOVATION, CONSTANT EVOLUTION

2020 ANNUAL REPORTNATIONAL INSTITUTE ON MONEY IN POLITICS

MISSIONThe nonpartisan, nonprofit National Institute on Money in State Politics promotes an accountable democracy by compiling comprehensive campaign-donor, lobbyist, and other information from government disclosure agencies nationwide and making it freely available on FollowTheMoney.org.

VISIONThe Institute compiles and analyzes one-of-a kind datasets that illustrate the role of money in political systems. The data provides powerful insights into how money in politics affects policy agendas.

www.FollowTheMoney.org

MISSION – VISION – INNOVATION

FY2020

CONSTANT INNOVATION, CONSTANT EVOLUTION

It’s in times of crises that we learn the stuff of which we’re made.

Entering the presidential election year in January 2020, we at the National Institute on Money in Politics knew we had our work cut out for us. Not that election cycles in which we gather contribution data from upward of 30 gubernatorial races don’t stress our capacity. But presidential elections raise the public’s awareness of what’s at stake in our democracy. They see wave upon wave of candidate advertising, much of which is nauseating to most voters. They learn of millionaires for whom $100,000 checks are easy to write. And they learn of the “dark money” organizations that make the millionaires’ checks seem like wait-staff tips. Voters want to know more. And faster.

Over the past few years, we have leveraged technology and our talented computer programmers to improve the efficiency of our data collection and processing. We ditched costly out-of-the-box software and programmed our own to handle our unique and multifaceted data needs. We looked to AI theory and machine learning to greatly increase the ways we clean data and correlate massive numbers of donors with their historical giving. And we’ve made the data, as well as interactive web-based data-analysis tools, available to the public to inform their participation in our democracy.

So, when we entered 2020, we were ready for action, ready to meet the information needs of the curious, the angry, the demanding, and those working for change.

Then Covid-19 hit.

And we didn’t miss a beat. Because we had already built data-acquisition and research functions into our website, staff were able to pick up their computers, monitors, and essential files, as well as chairs and desks, to quarantine safely in their home offices in March, well before much of the country began to do so. We quickly adjusted internal communications, so we knew who was working on what. And our productivity in building our unique archive of state-level campaign-finance information from all 50 states actually increased. We’re still answering the phone daily to answer questions from reporters, scholars, advocates, and the public. We’re still hosting webinars for interested groups. And we’re still the go-to resource for facts and figures on who is running for office in the states, who is supporting them with contributions, and how participation is changing.

We can’t control the chaos that is the American way of holding elections. But we can offer up high-quality, peer-reviewed facts with which to measure the effects of money on elections, on public policy, and on participation by candidates and voters. And that is no small feat.

And perhaps, just perhaps, we as a country can enter the 2021 New Year with a greater understanding of the importance of facts, and build toward a more accountable democracy.

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– Edwin Bender, Executive Director

FY2020

INFORMED GROUNDBREAKING SMALL-DONOR CAMPAIGN POLICY IN

NY & NYC

CITED 239 TIMES BY NEWS MEDIA

ARCHIVED $6.8 BILLION IN CONTRIBUTIONS

PUBLISHED 26 RESEARCH REPORTS

MOVED DATA STORAGE TO THE CLOUD & MOVED STAFF TO REMOTE WORK

LAUNCHED OUR UNIQUEPOWER MAPPING TOOL

2020 HIGHLIGHTS

2020 HIGHLIGHTS

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UPDATED GROUNDBREAKING DATABASE OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS

ADDED 2020’S SITTING OFFICEHOLDERS TO DATABASE

TO MAXIMIZE ANALYSES

SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED ENTIRE5-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN

COUNTED $1.6 BILLION INSTATE LOBBYING FOR 2019

TAUGHT JOURNALISTS TO USE THE SIMILARITY INDEX

ADDED CRITICAL GENDER INFORMATION TO CANDIDATES & CONTRIBUTORS

SMALL-DONOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE POLICY

Campaign Finance Institute staff provided essential research to the New York State Campaign Finance Reform Commission as New York state considered adopting a small-donor matching program similar to New York City’s.

CFI released an initial report in February 2019: Small-Donor Matching Funds for New York State Elections - A Policy Analysis of the Potential Impact and Cost. In September, CFI Director Michael Malbin presented valuable, unbiased testimony; CFI also provided several analyses that were influential in the Commission’s deliberations, especially on qualification requirements and matching rate formulas.

CFI then produced a major report on the new program in January 2020: Small Donor Matching Fund in New York State: Major Innovations – With a Catch.

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FY2020

IN OTHER WORDS

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“Amid societal upheaval and the onset of COVID, NIMP’s growing treasure house of data and campaign-transparency products have helped journalists, scholars and everyone else hold elected officials accountable.”

‒Bert Brandenburg, President, NIMP

Board of Directors

“Your data was essential to the Politics of Judicial Elections report. We wouldn’t be able to assess the campaign contributions in all of these races without the work you all do.” Doug Keith, Brennan Center for Justice, NYU

“I just wanted to let you know that our stories about immigration detention, and the money the companies spread to candidates across the country, were published today. It wouldn’t have been possible without you and your team, so thank you again for helping us and for the public service you provide by making all those campaign contributions easily available.” Stacey Barchenger, USA Today

“I report on campaign finance, lobbying, and the influence of money in New Hampshire politics. I have found your database to be an invaluable resource, especially since much of the filings compiled and maintained by the state of New Hampshire are paper-based and therefore very difficult to aggregate and analyze.” Casey McDermott, NH Public Radio

“FTM's work is extremely valuable and important. Most of my research directly builds on the high-quality data compiled by FTM. I would not have been able to conduct my research if it hadn't been for FTM's work.” Alexander Fouirnaies, The Harris School, Univ. of Chicago

FY2020

26 RESEARCH REPORTS

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New York Gets a Different Sort of Immunity From COVID-19

Large Gender Imbalances in State Legislative Leadership

Political Contributions and a Successful Bid for Millions in CARES Act Loans

Campaign Finance Institute - Setting Historical Markers During a Pause: Joe Biden's and the Democratic Field's Fundraising in Context

From Campaign Committees to Legislative Committees: Connect the Dots Between Money and Policymaking in State Legislatures and in Congress

It’s a Family Affair: The Dueling De La Fuentes

Timing is Everything: Tracking Political Contributions Throughout an Election, 2020 Update

Campaign Finance Institute -- Freshman Democrats in House Districts That Trump Carried are Raising Lots of Money -- But So are Their Challengers

Gender & Campaign Finance Disparities Continue in State Legislatures

Campaign Finance Institute - Historic Presidential Campaign Spending: It's about to go a lot higher

Journalism & Power Mapping: a quick way to see industries’ potential influence on public policies

Campaign Finance Institute’s Guide to Money in Federal Elections, 1974-2018

10 years after Citizens United: State races transformed by explosive growth in independent spending

Campaign Finance Institute: Small Donor Public Finance in New York State -Major Innovations, with a Catch

The Politics of Judicial Elections, 2017-18

NY State Poised to Enact Groundbreaking Campaign Finance Reform

Campaign Finance Institute - Historical Presidential Fundraising through September 30: How Will 2020 Fundraising Stack Up Against Recent Presidential Campaigns?

Koch's Americans for Prosperity Foundation Leads Challenges to Oversight

Campaign Finance Institute: Testimony Prepared for the New York State Campaign Finance Reform Commission

Attorneys General Take On Big Tech

Policy to Profits: GEO Group

NRA: Dramatic Drop in 2018 State-Level Contributions

Self-Funders Continue to Falter

Are Small Donors Surfing the Waves?

Campaign Finance Institute: National Party Fundraising through June 30, 2019: Both Parties Raising More Money; GOP Has the Cash Advantage

Campaign Finance Institute: Trump's Early Fundraising and Democrats' Large Field Yielding Record Amounts

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POWER MAPPING

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Unique to the Institute’s coding of political contributors, power mapping factors in important variables such as incumbency, legislative leadership, and committee positions to provide a visual representation of the monetary support and decision-making power of each sitting officeholder.

Contributions are graphically mapped by selecting contributor sectors, sponsors of bills, party affiliation, and individual contributors.

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FY2020

INNOVATIVE INTERNAL PROCESSESFASTER INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

The Institute created and implemented a modern entity resolution system using basic principles of machine learning. This enabled the Institute to increase its automated match of new transactions to existing contributors by 40-50%.

These matches are critical for providing a consistent and accurate view of donor patterns across jurisdictional lines.

The Institute also eliminated manual entry & increased additional internal efficiencies.

IMPROVED ENTITY RESOLUTION

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FY2020

POWER USERS FY2020

51,448,659 RECORDS

DOWNLOADED BY ACADEMICS

295,821,361 RECORDS

DOWNLOADED BY ADVOCATES

A sample of power users:

Purdue University • Miami University • Center for American Women and Politics/Rutgers University • Yale University • University of Denver • Princeton University • Northwestern University • Harvard University • Duke University • University of Michigan • London School of Economics • University of Maryland • Georgetown University • Brandeis University • Texas A&M University

Vote Smart • Public Accountability Initiative (LittleSis) • Global Witness • Color of Change • Philly Power Research • Barrington Institute • Gill Foundation • Brennan Center for Justice • The Nature Conservancy • Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals • Center for Political Accountability

FY2020 POWER USERS

35,694,355 RECORDS DOWNLOADED

BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

41,087,669 RECORDS

DOWNLOADED BY JOURNALISTS

Sample of media power users:

Washington Post • New York Times • American Prospect • Legal Newsline • US News & World Report • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • WRAL-TV • Montana Free Press • Bloomberg News • The Ole' Buzzard • The Guardian • Associated Press • Washington Post • USA Today • CO Politics • Arkansas Democrat Gazette • Center for Public Integrity • Santa Fe New Mexican • Sludge • BNN Bloomberg • Healthcare IT News • Facing South • Newsweek • Tulsa Beacon • Financial Times • American Independent • CNBC • MarketWatch • Salt Lake Tribune • MSN Money • ABC News • Honolulu Civil Beat • FactCheck.org • Grand Forks Herald • Capital Research Center • Minneapolis Star-Tribune • Albany Times-Union • Crain’s Chicago Business

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The Institute’s entire database archives

$158,647,005,235.

ACCURACY REMAINS PARAMOUNT

“and ten cents” says it all. We track every

dime as closely as we track every million-dollar benchmark.

www.FollowTheMoney.org

FY2020

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15 million records documenting $6.8 billion in contributions to state and federal races

UPLOADS TO THE DATABASE

355,637 state-level lobbyists and clients in 50 states

$1.35 billion spent lobbying at federal level

$1.85 billion spent lobbying in 18 states

77,327 records documenting $279 million of independent spending in state races

FY2020

LOBBYING VS. CONTRIBUTIONS

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FY2020

NOTE: Fewer than half of the states require reporting of meaningful lobbying information

THANK YOU, FUNDERSWE THANK THE FOLLOWING FOUNDATIONS FOR SIGNIFICANT PAST SUPPORT:

THE BAUMAN FOUNDATIONTHE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENTCARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORKDRIEHAUS FOUNDATIONENERGY FOUNDATIONTHE JAMES IRVINE FOUNDATIONJOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATIONTHE JOYCE FOUNDATIONALBERT A. LIST FOUNDATIONJOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATIONROBERT R. MCCORMICK FOUNDATIONPIPER FUNDPUBLIC WELFARE FOUNDATIONROCKEFELLER FAMILY FUNDSUNLIGHT FOUNDATIONTHORNBURG FOUNDATIONWILLIAM B. WIENER JR. FOUNDATION w

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Board of Directors at the Institute's 2019 convening in Montana. Clockwise from top left: Caroline Fredrickson, Edwin Bender, Chris Gates, Bert Brandenburg, Geri Palast, Jeff Malachowsky, Abby Wood. (Not pictured: Rosalind Gold, Jodeen Olguín-Tayler, Charlie Kolb, Maurice BP-Weeks.)

Edwin Bender, Executive Director, National Institute on Money in Politics, Helena, MT

Bert Brandenburg, Senior Advisor, Ward Circle Strategies, Washington, DC

Caroline Fredrickson, Distinguished Visitor From Practice, Georgetown Law Center, Washington, DC

Christopher T. Gates, Philanthropic and Nonprofit Advisor, Washington, DC

Rosalind Gold, Chief Public Policy Officer, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Los Angeles, CA *

Charles Kolb, Executive Director , Quality of Life Plus, Washington, DC *

Jeff Malachowsky, Philanthropic Advisor, Washington, DC

Jodeen Olguín-Tayler, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Movement Voter Project, New York, NY *

Geri Palast, Executive Director, Israel Action Network, New York, NY

Ann M. Ravel, Lecturer, UC Berkeley School of Law, Berkeley, CA * **

Maurice BP Weeks, Co-Executive Director, Action Center on Race and the Economy, Detroit, MI *

Abby Wood, Associate Professor of Law, Political Science, and Public Policy, USC Gould School of Law, Los Angeles, CA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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* not pictured ** on board leave

National Institute on Money in Politics

833 N. Last Chance Gulch, Helena, MT 59601

406-449-2480; information@followthemoney.org

@moneyinpolitics @followthemoney.org

Published October 2020

www.FollowTheMoney.org