Election Campaign Finance Tracker
Donation tracking, FEC compliance, disclosure reports
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Election Campaign Finance Tracker
Part of the worlds-biggest-software-project initiative.
An AI-native, non-partisan platform for donation tracking, FEC compliance, and disclosure reporting across federal, state, and local jurisdictions.
The Election Campaign Finance Tracker is a campaign finance management system for treasurers, compliance officers, PAC administrators, and political consultants. It combines donor management, real-time contribution-limit checking, and automated FEC report generation in a single platform, replacing the manual data entry and rigid rule-based validation common to incumbent tools.
Why Election Campaign Finance Tracker?
- The dominant fundraising platforms are politically restricted: ActBlue serves Democratic candidates only, WinRed serves Republican candidates only, leaving independent, bipartisan, and third-party campaigns underserved.
- Established compliance suites (NGP VAN, Aristotle) carry enterprise pricing and custom contracts that can exceed $50,000/year, putting full-featured compliance out of reach of smaller campaigns.
- The free government option (FECFile) requires manual data entry, offers no donor management, and provides only validation rather than compliance checking; its desktop version is Windows-only.
- Most platforms are rule-based and federal-focused; multi-jurisdiction state compliance and natural-language compliance queries remain underserved gaps.
- AI-augmented features (NGP VAN's Disclosure Inspector, ISPolitical's error detection) show the value of intelligent compliance review, but these capabilities are locked inside proprietary, politically-aligned ecosystems.
Key Features
FEC Filing & Compliance
- FEC electronic filing integration with Form 3, 3P, and 3X generation and direct submission
- Automated FEC report generation from transaction data, eliminating manual entry
- Real-time contribution limit checking against individual, corporate, and aggregate limits
- Audit trail logging covering who entered, modified, or approved each transaction
- Basic state filing support across major US states
Donor & Contribution Management
- Indexed donor and contribution database with contributor details, amounts, dates, and contribution type
- Recurring donation and subscription management
- Donor relationship intelligence surfacing giving patterns, lapsed donors, and upgrade opportunities
- Direct payment processing integration to avoid manual transaction entry
AI-Augmented Compliance
- AI-powered error detection in FEC reports, modelled on the Disclosure Inspector pattern
- Prohibited-source screening flagging corporations, foreign sources, and known violations in real time
- Multi-jurisdiction compliance rules engine that auto-detects which federal and state filing obligations apply
- Natural-language compliance query interface (e.g. "Can we accept this donation from X?") returning cite-backed answers
Access, Mobility & Operations
- Multi-user access with role-based permissions for treasurers, compliance staff, and managers
- Mobile-accessible responsive dashboard
- Field campaign mobile app with offline capability
- Rapid onboarding wizard for new committees
AI-Native Advantage
AI shifts campaign finance compliance from rule-based validation to context-aware reasoning. Real-time prohibited-contribution detection screens incoming donations against FEC limits, corporate bans, and foreign-source rules before funds are deposited. A natural-language interface lets treasurers ask compliance questions and receive cite-backed answers, while a cross-jurisdiction engine auto-detects applicable state and federal obligations based on candidate, office, and committee type. AI-driven donor relationship intelligence surfaces giving patterns, lapsed donors, and anomalies that rule-based systems miss.
Tech Stack & Deployment
The platform targets a responsive web dashboard with a companion field-campaign mobile app supporting offline use. Integration points include the FEC Electronic Filing System (XML/JSON formats published in FEC documentation), state filing system APIs, payment processors, and bank feeds for reconciliation. Filings target FEC Form 3/3P/3X specifications and accommodate state-specific disclosure rules; non-federal activity is tracked separately to align with IRS 527 organisation rules.
Market Context
US federal election campaigns spent over $14 billion in the 2024 cycle, with tens of thousands of registered federal, state, local, PAC, super PAC, and party committees representing the addressable market. Commercial platforms range from approximately $100/month for small campaigns (Trail Blazer) to custom enterprise contracts above $50,000/year for large PACs and national committees, while ActBlue and WinRed charge donation processing fees of roughly 3.2 to 3.95 percent. Primary buyers are campaign treasurers, compliance officers, campaign managers, PAC administrators, political consultants, and party committee finance directors.
Project Status
This project is in the research and specification phase.
Contributions, feedback, and domain expertise are welcome.
Contributing
We welcome contributions from developers, domain experts, and potential users. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
Important: All contributions must be your own original work or clearly attributed open-source material with a compatible licence. Copyright infringement and licence violations will not be tolerated and will result in immediate removal of the offending contribution. If you are unsure whether a piece of code, text, or other material is safe to contribute, open an issue and ask before submitting.
Licence
Licence to be determined. See discussion for context.