Fundraising
Fundraising is one of the hardest and most important parts of the campaign. A candidate should spend many hours a day fundraising and invest in advertising one's self through a variety of media sources - radio, newspaper, internet, telephone, television, billboards, flyers, posters, stickers, etc.
Federal
As the largest and most expensive campaigns, candidates running for federal offices must report their financial activities to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC website has rules about fundraising and services to help organize campaign finances. Candidates must register with the FEC within 15 days of reaching $5,000 worth of contributions or expenditures if they have not already registered by the March 16-30 deadline. The FEC Form 2 must be filed; this form allows a campaign committee to raise and spend money on the candidate's behalf. Within 10 days of filing FEC Form 2, a candidate must file a Statement of Organization FEC Form 1, and from this point on, a candidate must report his or her receipts and disbursements regularly to the FEC. When a contribution is made to the candidate, it must be deposited into the campaign bank account within 10 days of receipt. To each candidate or candidate committee per election To national party committee per calendar year To state, district & local party committee per calendar year To any other political committee per calendar year (1) Special Limits Individual may give $2,400* $30,400 $10,000 (combined limit) $5,000 $115,500 overall biennial limit -- National Party Committee may give $5,000 No limit No limit $5,000 $24,600 to Senate candidate per campaign (3) State, District & Local Party Committee may give $5,000 (combined limit) No limit No limit $5,000 (combined limit) No limit PAC (multicandidate) (4) may give $5,000 $15,000 $5,000 (combined limit) $5,000 No limit PAC (not multicandidate) may give $2,400 $30,400 $10,000 (combined limit) $5,000 No limit Authorized Campaign Committee may give $2,500 (5) No limit No limit $5,000 No limit
Contribution Limits for 2009-2010
45,600 to all candidates; $69,900 to all PACs and parties (2)
*All contribution limits are indexed for inflation.
1. A contribution earmarked for a candidate through a political committee counts against the original contributor’s limit for that candidate. In certain circumstances, the contribution may also count against the contributor’s limit to the PAC. 11 CFR 110.6. See also 11 CFR 110.1(h).
2. No more than $45,600 of this amount may be contributed to state and local party committees and PAC’s.
3. This limit is shared by the national committee and the national Senate campaign committee.
4. A multicandidate committee is a political committee with more than 50 contributors which has been registered for at least 6 months and, with the exception of state party committees, has made contributions to 5 or more candidates for federal office. 11 CFR 100.5(e)(3).
5. A federal candidate’s authorized committee(s) may contribute no more than $2,000 per election to another federal candidate’s authorized committee(s). 11 CFR 102.12(c)(2).
Statewide
Candidates for statewide office may not receive more than $3,500 from an individual during the election cycle. Political parties and party committees (combined county, state and national) may not contribute more than $50,000 to a candidate during an election cycle.
State
Candidates for South Carolina House and Senate may not receive more than $1,000 from an individual during the election cycle. Political parties and party committees (combined county, state and national) may not contribute more than $5,000 to a candidate during an election cycle.
County or Municipal
Candidates may not receive more than $1,000 from an individual during the election cycle. Political parties may not contribute more than $5,000 to a candidate during an election cycle.