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1. Introduction
What Is Joint Fundraising
Joint fundraising is fundraising conducted jointly by a political committee and one or more other political committees or unregistered organizations.
Who Must Observe Joint Fundraising Rules
The rules described in this appendix apply to political committees and unregistered organizations engaged in joint fundraising. The participants in joint fundraising activity may include party committees, party organizations not registered as political committees, federal and nonfederal candidate committees, nonparty political committees (e.g., federal PACs) and unregistered nonparty organizations (e.g., nonfederal PACs).<1> 102.17(a)(1)(i) and (a)(2).
Overview of Rules
All participants in a joint fundraising effort, including unregistered organizations, must:
• Create or select a political committee to act as the fundraising representative;
• Agree to a formula for allocating proceeds and expenses;
• Sign a written agreement naming the fundraising representative and stating the allocation formula;
• Establish a separate account for joint fundraising receipts and disbursements;
• Notify the public of the allocation formula and certain other information (detailed below) when soliciting contributions;
• Screen contributions to make sure they comply with the limits and prohibitions of the Federal Election Campaign Act; and
• Report allocated proceeds and expenses (applies to political committees only).
The committee named as the fundraising representative has additional responsibilities, as explained below.
5. Separate Depository
Establishing the Account
Joint fundraising participants must establish a separate account for the receipt and disbursement of all joint fundraising proceeds. Each participating political committee must amend its Statement of Organization (FEC Form 1) to show the account as an additional depository. 102.17(c)(3)(i).
Depositing Contributions
The fundraising representative must deposit contributions into the account within 10 days after receiving them. Only contributions permissible under the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act) may be deposited in the joint fundraising account. If any participant is an unregistered organization which may, under State law, accept prohibited contributions, the participants may either establish a second account for such contributions or forward them directly to the participants that may accept them. 102.17(c)(3)(i) and (ii).
10. Recordkeeping
Receipts
With regard to gross proceeds, the fundraising representative must collect the following contributor information and later forward it to the participating political committees:
• For contributions exceeding $50: the amount, date of receipt and the contributor’s name and address.
• For contributions exceeding $200: the amount, date of receipt and the contributor’s name, address, occupation and employer. 102.8(a) and (b); 102.17(c)(4)(ii).
The date of receipt is the date the fundraising representative receives the contribution. 102.17(c)(3)(iii).
Prohibited Contributions
The fundraising representative must also keep a record of the total amount of prohibited contributions received, if any, and of any transfers containing prohibited funds made to participants that may accept them. 102.17(c)(4)(ii).
Disbursements
The fundraising representative must retain, for three years, records on all disbursements made for the joint fundraiser. The required recordkeeping information is described here. If a commercial fundraising firm or agent is used, it must forward required records on disbursements to the fundraising representative. 102.17(c)(4)(iii).
14. Reporting
Fundraising Representative
The fundraising representative reports all joint fundraising proceeds in the reporting period in which they are received. If any prohibited contributions are received for an unregistered organization, the fundraising representative must report them as memo entries. Each Schedule A used to itemize contributions must clearly indicate that the receipts are joint fundraising proceeds. 102.17(c)(3)(iii) and (c)(8)(i)(A).
The fundraising representative must also report all disbursements made for the joint fundraiser in the reporting period in which they are made. 102.17(c)(8)(ii).
Participants
After the fundraising representative distributes the net proceeds, each participating political committee reports its share as a transfer-in from the fundraising representative. Using the records received from the fundraising representative, a participating committee itemizes its share of gross receipts as contributions from the original donors (to the extent required by the rules on itemization—see here) on memo entry Schedules A . When itemizing gross contributions, the participant must report the date of receipt as the day the fundraising representative received the contribution. 102.17(c)(3)(iii); (c)(8)(i)(B).
Note that, if the fundraising representative is one of the participating committees (rather than a committee established solely for the joint fundraiser), it must report its own share of gross receipts in addition to reporting total fundraising proceeds.
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