PACs, Super PACs, and Party Committees: A Fundraiser's Field Guide

Who Is on the Field

• Candidate committees take limited contributions for one candidate.
• Traditional PACs (including separate segregated funds) raise hard money under federal caps and may give to candidates within those caps.
• Super PACs (independent expenditure only committees) may take unlimited amounts from individuals, corporations, unions, and others. They don't give directly to candidates; they spend on their own.
• Party committees (national, state, local) follow their own limit tables for receipts and transfers.

Print the FEC charts and keep them at hand: FEC candidate and committee guides.

Limits: 2025 and 2026

For federal candidate committees, an individual may give $3,500 per election in the 2025 to 2026 cycle (primary and general count as separate elections). Official table: FEC contribution limits for 2025 and 2026.

Party and PAC lines use different buckets (calendar year versus per election, depending on who receives the check). Read the row that matches the actual recipient.

Super PACs and Coordination

A super PAC can't coordinate its spending with a candidate or party committee. Under 11 CFR 109.21 a coordinated communication counts as an in-kind contribution, which a super PAC isn't allowed to make. Bring compliance counsel into planning whenever vendors, content, or events are shared.

What Fundraisers Control

Disclosure

Know the committee ID the money is entering and how the donor line will read on the report.

Clean data

Employer, occupation, and address rules tighten as totals rise, starting at the $200 aggregate itemization threshold (11 CFR 104.3).

Joint events

If more than one committee is named, allocate proceeds under FEC rules up front. "We'll true it up later" creates report pain.

The FEC compliance guide covers the filing calendar, and where committees usually slip covers the intake mistakes that end up in enforcement matters.

Fields the Report Will Ask For

FundraiserMax stores employer, occupation, and address on every contact, carries them on each contribution, and lets you search for gifts still missing those fields before a period closes. You can note a limit amount on a donation account for reference, but checking a donor against the per-election cap is still the treasurer's job.