September/October 2010 Issue

Fat Cats United: 10 Biggest 527 Groups

How much money has the College Republican National Committee raised so far this year? How about the SEIU?

<a href="http://www.crnc.org/site/c.npIUKWOrFkG/b.5771869/k.BFBE/Home.htm">College Republican National Committee</a>

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Read also: The rest of this special report, a note on sourcing, and MoJo‘s daily political coverage.

527 groups, which can collect unlimited donations, raised $506 million in 2008. They’ve already raised $236 million for this fall’s election—and it’s not even a presidential year. Here are the 10 biggest:

527 COMMITTEE / POLITICAL LEANING

TOTAL RAISED

TOP DONOR / AMOUNT

American Solutions for Winning the Future
Conservative/Republican

$17.2 million

Crow Holdings
$350,000

Service Employees International Union
Liberal/Democratic

$6.4 million

SEIU
$6.4 million

America Votes
Liberal/Democratic

$6.4 million

Friends of America Votes
$2.4 million

Citizens United
Conservative/Republican

$5.8 million

Self-employed donors
$61,320

College Republican National Committee
Conservative/Republican

$4.5 million

John Templeton Foundation
$450,100

EMILY’s List
Liberal/Democratic

$4 million

Akonadi Foundation/Newsweb
$250,000 each

Carly for California
Conservative/Republican

$3.6 million

Carly Fiorina Enterprises
$2.5 million

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Liberal/Democratic

$2.7 million

IBEW
$1.2 million

ActBlue
Liberal/Democratic

$2.5 million

JPMorgan Chase
$39,848

Mid-Atlantic Leadership Fund
Liberal/Democratic

$2.4 million

Democratic Governors Association
$1.45 million

As of July 9. Top donors list does not include retired donors.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate