Checklist · Election Law

Campaign Finance Compliance for Candidates and PACs: A Practical Checklist

52 U.S.C. § 30101

Type
Checklist
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2024-11-19
Topic
Election Law

Federal campaign finance law is a strict-liability-feeling regime built on a small statute and a very large body of regulation, and the people who get hurt by it are usually not villains — they are volunteers, first-time candidates, and treasurers who did not know that a printing discount is a contribution. This checklist walks a federal campaign or political action committee through the full compliance lifecycle: registering the committee and designating a treasurer whose personal exposure is genuine, opening a segregated depository account, identifying what counts as a contribution or expenditure (money, in-kind goods and services, loans, and coordinated spending), applying the indexed contribution limits, and screening out the categorically prohibited sources — corporations, labor organizations, foreign nationals, federal contractors, and contributions made in the name of another. It then covers source verification and refunds, the candidate's personal funds and loans after FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate, the coordination rules that silently convert an "independent" expenditure into an illegal contribution, the walls between a campaign and a super PAC or 501(c)(4), disclaimer requirements, the reporting calendar with its 48-hour and 24-hour notices, three-year recordkeeping, the personal-use prohibition that has ended careers, and what actually happens in an FEC audit or Matter Under Review. Contribution limits are indexed for inflation and change every cycle — every dollar figure in this area must be verified against the FEC's current schedule before you rely on it. State and local campaign finance regimes are entirely separate and are frequently stricter than federal law.

Campaign Finance Compliance for Candidates and PACs: A Practical Checklist

Election Law > Campaign Finance | Published 19 November 2024 - Updated 11 May 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

Almost nobody sets out to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act. They accept a free banner from a friend's print shop, deposit a check without reading the memo line, or let the candidate "just have a quick word" with the super PAC's consultant. Campaign finance law punishes the ordinary and the innocent with the same paperwork it uses on the corrupt — which is exactly why a checklist beats good intentions.

Keywords: campaign finance compliance, FECA, FEC, political committee, treasurer liability, contribution limits, in-kind contribution, prohibited sources, foreign nationals, straw donors, coordination, independent expenditures, super PAC, disclaimers, personal use

How to use this checklist

This is a federal checklist. It tracks the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), 52 U.S.C. § 30101 et seq., and the Federal Election Commission's regulations at 11 C.F.R. Parts 100–116. It assumes you are running, advising, or treasuring one of three things: an authorized committee (a candidate's campaign), a separate segregated fund or nonconnected PAC (a traditional PAC that gives money to candidates), or an independent-expenditure-only committee (a super PAC).

Two warnings before you begin, and they matter more than anything else on this page.

First: do not trust remembered dollar figures. Nearly every contribution limit in federal law is indexed for inflation and is re-published by the FEC each election cycle. A number that was right last cycle is wrong this cycle. Every threshold in this checklist is described structurally, and you must verify the current figure against the FEC's published limits before you accept, solicit, or refund anything.

Second: federal law is a floor, not a ceiling, and it is not the only law that applies to you. State and local campaign finance regimes are wholly separate statutes with their own committees, limits, disclosure schedules, and — very often — flat bans on corporate money that federal law does not impose. If you are running for state or municipal office, this checklist is background, not authority. The doctrinal architecture underneath all of it is laid out in Election Law: A Comprehensive Guide to Voting Rights, Redistricting, and Campaign Finance, and the full map of resources sits in The Election Law Toolkit.

Our running example. Marisol Vance is a first-time candidate for the U.S. House. Her committee is Vance for Congress; her treasurer is Dev Okonjo, a retired accountant and family friend who agreed to the job over dinner. In week three, a supporter who owns Cascadia Print Works, Inc. prints 4,000 yard signs and refuses payment. "Consider it a gift," he says. Everything that follows explains why that sentence is a legal event.

Phase 1 — Register the committee, the candidate, and the treasurer

  • [ ] Track the moment the candidate crosses the statutory candidacy threshold — receiving contributions or making expenditures aggregating over $5,000 (52 U.S.C. § 30101(2)). "Testing the waters" activity can precede candidacy, but the exemption is narrow and evaporates the moment the person is holding themselves out as a candidate.
  • [ ] File the Statement of Candidacy (FEC Form 2) and designate a principal campaign committee within 15 days of becoming a candidate (52 U.S.C. § 30102(e)(1)).
  • [ ] File the committee's Statement of Organization (FEC Form 1) within 10 days of becoming a political committee (52 U.S.C. § 30103(a)).
  • [ ] Name a treasurer on the Statement of Organization. A committee may not accept a contribution or make an expenditure while the treasurer's office is vacant (52 U.S.C. § 30102(a)).
  • [ ] Consider naming an assistant treasurer on the Form 1 so a vacancy does not freeze the committee mid-cycle.
  • [ ] Obtain an EIN, register for FEC electronic filing credentials, and confirm your filing office (House candidates and most PACs file with the FEC; Senate candidate committees now file electronically with the FEC as well, following the 2018 amendment ending the Secretary-of-the-Senate paper detour).
  • [ ] Adopt a written compliance policy before you take the first dollar — who may solicit, who may deposit, who may sign checks, and who says no.

Why it matters, and the traps. Registration is the one part of this regime that campaigns reliably get right, which is precisely why it lulls them. The traps are in the timing and in the vacancy rule. A committee that lets its treasurer resign in October and does not amend its Form 1 is, on the face of the statute, prohibited from accepting contributions or making expenditures until the office is filled — during the most expensive three weeks of its life. Amend the Form 1 within 10 days of any change to the information on it.

The other trap is testing the waters. Money raised to explore a candidacy is not exempt from the source prohibitions or the limits; it is only exempt from reporting until candidacy attaches, at which point it must be disclosed retroactively. A prospective candidate who takes a $10,000 check from a corporation while "just exploring" has committed a violation, not a preliminary.

Phase 2 — Understand the treasurer's personal exposure

  • [ ] Confirm the treasurer understands and accepts the role. Get it in writing.
  • [ ] Give the treasurer actual authority — signature authority, access to the bank feed, and the standing right to refuse a deposit.
  • [ ] Establish that the treasurer, not the candidate and not the campaign manager, owns the decision on whether a contribution is permissible.
  • [ ] Document the treasurer's supervision of any staff who touch money.
  • [ ] Consider directors-and-officers-style coverage or an indemnity from the committee, and understand its limits — a committee that goes broke indemnifies no one.
  • [ ] Calendar the treasurer's personal signature obligations on every report (52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)).

Why it matters, and the traps. The FEC names the treasurer in enforcement matters. FECA imposes the recordkeeping and reporting duties on the treasurer (52 U.S.C. § 30102(c), (d), § 30104(a)), and the Commission routinely proceeds against the treasurer in an official capacity and, where the conduct is bad enough, in a personal capacity — meaning a civil penalty payable out of the treasurer's own pocket, which the committee's dissolution does not extinguish.

Dev Okonjo took this job as a favor. He now has a personal financial interest in whether Vance for Congress files accurately, and he needs to behave like it. The Commission's own guidance recognizes a treasurer's "best efforts" and reasonable reliance on records — but reliance is only reasonable if the treasurer actually supervises. A treasurer who is a figurehead while the campaign manager runs the bank account has all of the liability and none of the control. This is the same structural problem that governance lawyers confront in the corporate world, and the fix is the same one described in Board Governance, Minutes, and Corporate Formalities: A Practical Checklist: real authority, contemporaneous records, and a documented decision trail.

Phase 3 — Open the depository account and never commingle

  • [ ] Open a campaign depository account at a qualified bank in the committee's name.
  • [ ] Confirm that no personal funds of any individual are held in the account. FECA is explicit: committee funds must be segregated from, and may not be commingled with, the personal funds of any individual (52 U.S.C. § 30102(b)(3)).
  • [ ] Deposit every receipt into the depository, or refuse and return it — do not park contributions in a personal account "temporarily."
  • [ ] Deposit or refund each contribution within 10 days of the treasurer's receipt (11 C.F.R. § 103.3(a)).
  • [ ] Reconcile the account monthly, not quarterly, and never at deadline.
  • [ ] Set a rule that the candidate does not carry a committee debit card.

Why it matters, and the traps. Commingling is the gateway drug of campaign finance crime. It is rarely the offense that gets charged; it is the condition that makes the chargeable offense possible and undetectable. Once campaign money and personal money share an account, every subsequent question — was that dinner a fundraiser or a birthday? — becomes unanswerable, and unanswerable resolves against the treasurer.

The 10-day deposit rule is the one campaigns break most often and notice least. A check that sits in a desk drawer for six weeks because nobody was sure about the donor is already a violation, independent of whether the donor turned out to be permissible.

Phase 4 — Know what a "contribution" and an "expenditure" actually are

  • [ ] Treat as a contribution any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value made for the purpose of influencing a federal election (52 U.S.C. § 30101(8)(A)).
  • [ ] Treat in-kind goods and services as contributions, valued at the usual and normal charge — anything provided free or at a discount is a contribution in the amount of the discount (11 C.F.R. § 100.52(d)).
  • [ ] Treat loans to the committee as contributions to the extent outstanding (52 U.S.C. § 30101(8)(A)(i)); a genuine bank loan made in the ordinary course of business on commercially reasonable terms is not (11 C.F.R. § 100.82).
  • [ ] Treat coordinated spending by an outsider as an in-kind contribution (52 U.S.C. § 30116(a)(7)(B); 11 C.F.R. § 109.20).
  • [ ] Apply the volunteer exemptions correctly: uncompensated volunteer services are not a contribution (11 C.F.R. § 100.74), and there are narrow further exemptions — for a volunteer's use of their own home or church/community-room space, for invitations and food and beverage at volunteer events, and for a volunteer's unreimbursed travel — each capped and each with conditions. These sit in the "exceptions to contributions" provisions of 11 C.F.R. Part 100, Subpart C; read the specific exemption you intend to rely on, in its current text, before you rely on it.
  • [ ] Log every in-kind at the moment it is received, with a written valuation and its basis.
  • [ ] Report each in-kind twice — once as a receipt and once as an offsetting operating expenditure.

Why it matters, and the traps — the Cascadia problem. Here is the worked example.

Cascadia Print Works, Inc. prints 4,000 yard signs for Vance for Congress and waives its invoice. The owner believes he has made a generous personal gesture. In fact he has caused his corporation to make an in-kind contribution to a federal candidate, valued at Cascadia's usual and normal charge for that job — say $6,200. That single act implicates three separate prohibitions at once:

  1. It is a corporate contribution, categorically banned by 52 U.S.C. § 30118 (Phase 6).
  2. It exceeds the per-election contribution limit by a wide margin even if the donor had been an individual (Phase 5).
  3. It is unreported, because nobody recorded it as a receipt (Phase 13).

Note carefully what did not save the campaign: the fact that no money changed hands. "Anything of value" means anything of value. Free web design, a donated venue, discounted polling, a corporate jet flight, a law firm's unbilled hours, a vendor's "friends and family" rate — each is a contribution measured by the discount, and each must be sourced, limited, and reported. The volunteer exemptions are the narrow safety valve, and they cover an individual's uncompensated personal services, not a company's free work product.

The correct response is in Phase 8. Do it fast.

Phase 5 — Apply the contribution limits (indexed — verify every cycle)

  • [ ] Identify the contributor type for each receipt: individual, multicandidate committee (a PAC that has been registered six months, received contributions from more than 50 persons, and — other than a state party — made contributions to five or more federal candidates), non-multicandidate committee, or party committee.
  • [ ] Identify the recipient type: authorized candidate committee, PAC, national party committee, state/district/local party, or party convention/headquarters/recount account.
  • [ ] Remember that the primary and the general are separate elections, each with its own limit — as are a runoff and a special election.
  • [ ] Verify the current, indexed figures against the FEC's published contribution limits for the current two-year cycle. Individual-to-candidate, individual-to-PAC, individual-to-party, and party coordinated-spending limits are all indexed and all move.
  • [ ] Understand that no aggregate limit on a donor's total federal giving survives — the biennial aggregate limits were struck down in McCutcheon v. FEC, 572 U.S. 185 (2014). Per-recipient limits remain fully in force.
  • [ ] Understand that there is no limit at all on contributions to an independent-expenditure-only committee (a super PAC).
  • [ ] Track general-election funds received before the primary in a segregated manner, and refund them if the candidate loses the primary.
  • [ ] Cap cash: a committee may not accept more than $100 in cash from one source per election, and anonymous cash contributions above $50 must be disposed of rather than kept (11 C.F.R. § 110.4(c)).

Why it matters, and the traps. The limits are the part of campaign finance law everyone thinks they know, and the part where remembered numbers do the most damage. Do not write a dollar figure into a solicitation, a fundraising page, or an acceptance decision from memory. The statutory baseline is 52 U.S.C. § 30116; the operative number is whatever the FEC has most recently published for the current cycle.

The subtler trap is the primary/general split. A donor who maxes out "for the cycle" at a spring fundraiser has, in the eyes of the law, typically given a primary-election contribution and a general-election contribution. If the candidate loses the primary, the general-election portion was never earned and must be refunded — within 60 days, from funds the campaign has almost certainly already spent. Segregate general-election money on the books from day one, or plan on writing refund checks out of an empty account.

And keep the constitutional architecture in mind: Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), upheld contribution limits as anti-corruption measures while striking down expenditure limits as direct restraints on speech. That asymmetry — money you give is regulable, money you spend yourself is not — explains essentially every doctrinal seam in this document, including coordination (Phase 10). The long arc from Buckley through Citizens United is traced in Citizens United and the Road Ahead for Federal Campaign Finance Reform.

Phase 6 — Screen out the categorically prohibited sources

  • [ ] Corporations and labor organizations: no contributions to federal candidates or party committees, and no contributions in connection with any federal election (52 U.S.C. § 30118; 11 C.F.R. Part 114). This includes incorporated nonprofits, incorporated small businesses, and LLCs that have elected corporate tax treatment.
  • [ ] National banks and federally chartered corporations: prohibited from contributing in any election — federal, state, or local (52 U.S.C. § 30118(a)).
  • [ ] Foreign nationals: no contributions or donations, directly or indirectly, in connection with a federal, state, or local election; no independent expenditures; no electioneering communications; and no participation in a committee's decision-making about political spending (52 U.S.C. § 30121; 11 C.F.R. § 110.20).
  • [ ] Federal contractors: no contributions from a person or firm negotiating for or performing a federal contract, from the time negotiations begin until performance is complete (52 U.S.C. § 30119; 11 C.F.R. Part 115).
  • [ ] Contributions in the name of another (straw donors / conduits): flatly prohibited (52 U.S.C. § 30122). See Phase 7.
  • [ ] Federal-employee coercion / Hatch Act: no solicitation of federal employees in the federal workplace, and no contributions in a federal building.
  • [ ] Build a source screen into the contribution intake workflow — before deposit, not after.

Why it matters, and the traps.

The Citizens United misunderstanding is the single most dangerous belief in this field. Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), held that the government may not ban independent expenditures by corporations and unions, and in doing so it overruled Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652 (1990) — a case that is dead and should never be cited as good law. What Citizens United did not do is legalize corporate contributions to candidates. The § 30118 ban on direct corporate and union contributions to candidates and parties is alive, enforced, and constitutional. A corporation may spend unlimited money on its own speech; it may not write a check to Marisol Vance, and it may not print her yard signs for free. Cascadia Print Works has done precisely the thing that survived Citizens United.

A corporation's lawful channels are (a) its own truly independent expenditures, (b) contributions to a super PAC, and (c) a separate segregated fund — a corporate PAC funded by voluntary contributions solicited from its restricted class of executives, shareholders, and their families.

Foreign nationals is the prohibition with criminal teeth and no forgiveness. A "foreign national" is a foreign government, foreign political party, foreign corporation or association, or an individual who is not a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. Green-card holders are not foreign nationals for this purpose and may contribute. Everyone else in that list may not — and the ban reaches state and local elections, not just federal. Its constitutionality was upheld by a three-judge district court in Bluman v. FEC, 800 F. Supp. 2d 281 (D.D.C. 2011), summarily affirmed by the Supreme Court, 565 U.S. 1104 (2012). The indirect-participation rule bites hardest at U.S. subsidiaries of foreign parents: a domestic subsidiary may sponsor a PAC only if it is funded entirely from U.S.-generated funds and no foreign national participates in any decision about political spending — not the CEO abroad, not the parent's board, not "informally." Screening for foreign-source money is a due-diligence function that should feel familiar to anyone who has run the screens described in Export Control and Sanctions Compliance: A Practical Checklist; the mindset is identical — verify the source before the transaction, not after.

Federal contractors: the ban attaches to the contracting entity. Individual officers, employees, and shareholders of a corporate federal contractor may still contribute their personal funds, and the corporate contractor may still operate an SSF. But a sole proprietor or individual consultant performing a federal contract personally is barred, and the D.C. Circuit sitting en banc upheld that ban against constitutional challenge in Wagner v. FEC, 793 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2015). If your committee raises from the government-contracting community, read Government Contracts: A Comprehensive Guide to Federal Procurement alongside this section — the definition of who is "performing" a contract does real work here.

Finally, do not forget the pay-to-play overlay, which is not FECA at all: SEC Rule 206(4)-5 restricts contributions by investment advisers seeking government client business, MSRB Rule G-37 does the same for municipal securities dealers, and many states and cities have their own. These rules can make a perfectly legal contribution catastrophic for the donor's business.

Phase 7 — Screen for conduit and straw-donor contributions

  • [ ] Never accept a contribution the committee has reason to believe was funded by someone other than the named contributor (52 U.S.C. § 30122; 11 C.F.R. § 110.4(b)).
  • [ ] Never accept a contribution that has been reimbursed — by an employer, a spouse's business, a bonus, or a wink.
  • [ ] Watch for the pattern signals: a cluster of maxed-out checks with sequential numbers; multiple contributors at the same corporate address; contributors whose listed occupation is inconsistent with the amount; a bundler who delivers a stack of checks and asks for credit.
  • [ ] Distinguish a lawful bundler (who solicits and forwards contributions from other people's own money) from an unlawful conduit (who supplies the money and puts other names on it). The first is legal and, for lobbyist bundlers, separately reportable; the second is a crime.
  • [ ] Understand earmarking: a contribution passed through an intermediary but directed to a particular candidate counts against the original donor's limit and must be reported by both the conduit and the recipient (11 C.F.R. § 110.6).
  • [ ] Refuse, refund, and document any contribution that fails this screen.

Why it matters, and the traps. Section 30122 is the provision that turns a paperwork regime into a felony statute. A knowing and willful violation of FECA involving contributions or expenditures aggregating $25,000 or more in a calendar year is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years (52 U.S.C. § 30109(d)(1)(A)(i)); at lower aggregations the exposure drops to one year, but it does not disappear. And straw-donor conduct rarely travels alone — it typically brings 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (false statements, because the committee's report is now false), 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy to defraud the United States by impairing the FEC's functions), and sometimes wire fraud. The reason a small contribution can produce a federal prison sentence is that the reports are federal records, and falsifying them is a separate crime.

The victim here is often the committee. A campaign that unknowingly deposits reimbursed checks files a false report and must amend it, refund the money, and explain itself. A campaign that suspects and deposits anyway has crossed from victim to participant. This is the exact intersection where campaign law becomes criminal law, and the framework for what happens next is set out in White-Collar Crime and Corporate Criminal Liability: A Comprehensive Guide.

Phase 8 — Verify the source, use best efforts, and refund what you cannot keep

  • [ ] Collect, for every contributor whose contributions aggregate over $200 in an election cycle, the contributor's name, mailing address, occupation, and employer (52 U.S.C. § 30104(b)(3)(A)).
  • [ ] Where that information is missing, make at least one written follow-up request within 30 days of receipt, in a mailing or communication that contains no solicitation and clearly notifies the contributor that the committee is required by law to obtain the information — the regulatory "best efforts" standard (52 U.S.C. § 30102(i); 11 C.F.R. § 104.7).
  • [ ] Document the best-efforts attempt. The safe harbor is only available if you can prove you tried.
  • [ ] For a contribution that appears impermissible or excessive, either refuse it outright, or deposit it and maintain sufficient funds to refund it, and refund within 30 days of the treasurer's determination (11 C.F.R. § 103.3(b)).
  • [ ] For an excessive contribution, obtain a written reattribution (e.g., to a spouse) or redesignation (e.g., to the general election) within the regulatory window, with the contributor's written authorization — or refund.
  • [ ] Keep a copy of the front and back of every refund check and the transmittal letter.
  • [ ] Report the refund on the correct schedule in the correct period. A silent refund is still a reporting violation.

Why it matters, and the traps. "Best efforts" is a genuine safe harbor and campaigns squander it constantly by treating it as a mood rather than a procedure. The regulation tells you exactly what to do — a written request, within 30 days, with the statutorily prescribed notice and no solicitation attached. Campaigns lose the safe harbor by bundling the "please tell us your employer" ask into a fundraising email. That is not a best-efforts request; it is a solicitation with a question in it.

Back to Marisol. Dev Okonjo discovers the Cascadia signs six weeks in, during a monthly reconciliation, when he notices 4,000 signs and no invoice. The correct sequence is immediate and unglamorous:

  1. Value it at Cascadia's usual and normal charge — obtain the print shop's standard price sheet and document the figure ($6,200).
  2. Cure it. A corporate in-kind cannot be "refunded" by returning used yard signs. The committee must pay Cascadia the full commercial value from committee funds, promptly, converting the gift into an arm's-length purchase.
  3. Report it. Disclose the transaction as an operating expenditure, and if the impermissible contribution existed across a reporting period, amend the affected report rather than quietly fixing it forward.
  4. Paper it. A memo to the file: what happened, when it was found, what was paid, when. If a Matter Under Review ever follows, this memo is the difference between a negotiated conciliation and an aggravated penalty.
  5. Fix the process. Add a rule: no vendor work begins without a signed invoice at commercial rates.

Voluntary, prompt, documented self-correction is the single most powerful mitigation available in this regime. The instinct to hide a small problem is what converts it into a large one.

Phase 9 — Handle the candidate's personal funds and loans

  • [ ] Recognize that a candidate may spend an unlimited amount of her own personal funds on her own campaign — Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), struck limits on candidate self-funding as an unconstitutional restraint on the candidate's own speech.
  • [ ] Distinguish a candidate contribution (irrevocable; not repayable) from a candidate loan (repayable from campaign funds, and reported as a debt).
  • [ ] Confirm the source of the "personal funds" — jointly held assets, a spouse's separate property, and a business's money are not interchangeable with the candidate's personal funds.
  • [ ] Do not fund the campaign from a personal loan the candidate obtained on non-commercial terms or on the strength of a third party's guarantee. A guarantor is a contributor to the extent of the guarantee.
  • [ ] Report candidate loans as debts and carry them accurately on Schedule C until repaid or forgiven. Forgiveness is a contribution.
  • [ ] Know that the former $250,000 cap on repaying a candidate's personal loans with post-election contributions was held unconstitutional in Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, 596 U.S. 289 (2022). Post-election repayment of candidate loans is no longer capped by that provision — but the underlying contribution limits and source prohibitions still apply to every dollar used to repay.

Why it matters, and the traps. Self-funding feels like the one area where the candidate is free, and constitutionally she largely is — but the bookkeeping is where campaigns fail. The recurring trap is the informal advance: the candidate puts $9,000 of catering on her personal credit card, nobody writes it down, and eight months later the campaign "reimburses" her without ever having recorded the loan. That sequence produces an unreported contribution, an unreported debt, and an unexplained disbursement — three violations from one act of convenience.

Write it down at the time. Candidate advances are loans; loans are debts; debts are reported until they are extinguished. And be precise about whose money it is: if the candidate's spouse writes the check from a separately held account, that is a spousal contribution subject to the ordinary individual limit, not unlimited personal funds.

Phase 10 — Independent expenditures vs. coordinated spending

  • [ ] Classify every outside communication as one of: independent expenditure (express advocacy, not coordinated), electioneering communication (broadcast/cable/satellite ad naming a federal candidate within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general, targeted to the relevant electorate — 52 U.S.C. § 30104(f)), or coordinated communication (an in-kind contribution).
  • [ ] Run the FEC's three-prong coordination test (11 C.F.R. § 109.21): (1) the communication is paid for by someone other than the candidate or her committee; (2) it satisfies one of the content standards (e.g., republication of campaign material, express advocacy, or a public communication referring to a clearly identified candidate within the applicable pre-election window); and (3) it satisfies one of the conduct standards.
  • [ ] Memorize the conduct standards, because this is where campaigns die: a request or suggestion by the campaign; material involvement of the campaign in the communication's content, intended audience, timing, media, or specific media buy; substantial discussion between the campaign and the spender about the campaign's plans, projects, activities, or needs; use of a common vendor who conveys campaign information; use of a former employee or independent contractor of the campaign who conveys campaign information; and dissemination of campaign material prepared by the candidate.
  • [ ] Understand the consequence: satisfying all three prongs makes the spending an in-kind contribution (52 U.S.C. § 30116(a)(7)(B)(i)) — which, if the spender is a corporation, union, foreign national, or super PAC, is a prohibited or excessive contribution, not merely a reportable one.
  • [ ] Where a vendor is shared, use the regulatory firewall safe harbor (11 C.F.R. § 109.21(h)): a written, implemented policy prohibiting the flow of information between the employees serving the campaign and those serving the spender, described in writing and distributed to the relevant personnel.
  • [ ] Treat "redboxing" and public strategy postings with real caution. Publicly posting the campaign's messaging and B-roll for outside groups to find is a widespread practice, and the Commission has not consistently enforced against it — but "not consistently enforced" is not a legal opinion, and a campaign relying on it should say so out loud.
  • [ ] Note that party committees have their own regime: limited coordinated party expenditures under 52 U.S.C. § 30116(d), plus unlimited independent expenditures.

Why it matters, and the traps. Coordination is the load-bearing wall of the entire post-Citizens United structure. Unlimited outside money is constitutionally protected because it is independent. Strip the independence and the money is a contribution — and a $2 million "independent" ad buy that turns out to be coordinated is a $2 million illegal corporate contribution, with all the criminal exposure that implies.

The trap is that coordination almost never looks like a conspiracy. It looks like a consultant who works for both. It looks like a former finance director who now runs the super PAC and still remembers the media plan. It looks like the candidate telling a donor at a rope line that "we really need help on television in the Tri-Cities," which is a substantial discussion about the campaign's needs with someone who then funds an ad. The conduct standards were drafted to catch exactly these ordinary human interactions, and they do.

Build the firewall in writing before there is anything to hide behind it.

Phase 11 — Super PACs, 501(c)(4)s, and the walls between them

  • [ ] If forming a super PAC, register as a political committee, state in writing to the FEC that it will make only independent expenditures and will accept no contributions to be used for candidate contributions, and then honor that letter exactly.
  • [ ] Understand the pedigree: unlimited contributions to independent-expenditure-only committees follow from SpeechNow.org v. FEC, 599 F.3d 686 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (en banc), applying Citizens United's holding that independent expenditures do not give rise to corruption or its appearance. The FEC's 2010 advisory opinions implemented the result. "Super PAC" appears nowhere in FECA.
  • [ ] Keep a super PAC's money entirely out of candidate and party contributions. A hybrid ("Carey") committee that wants to do both must maintain strictly separate bank accounts — a limited, source-restricted account for contributions, and an unlimited account for independent expenditures only.
  • [ ] For a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization: political campaign intervention may not be its primary activity (IRC § 501(c)(4); Treas. Reg. § 1.501(c)(4)-1), and its exempt-function political spending is exposed to tax under IRC § 527(f).
  • [ ] Test whether a (c)(4)'s major purpose has become the nomination or election of candidates — if so, it is a political committee under FECA regardless of its tax status, and must register and disclose (the "major purpose" doctrine derives from Buckley).
  • [ ] Comply with independent-expenditure donor disclosure under 52 U.S.C. § 30104(c). The scope of who must be named has been the subject of active litigation; verify the current rule before promising a donor anonymity.
  • [ ] Never route money through a 501(c)(3). A § 501(c)(3) organization is under an absolute prohibition on participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate. Violation risks revocation and excise tax.
  • [ ] Screen for the conduit problem in reverse: using a (c)(4) to obscure the true source of super PAC money is a § 30122 problem wearing a tax-exempt coat.

Why it matters, and the traps. The boundary between a (c)(4) and a political committee is the most heavily lawyered line in this field and the least bright. The tax rules and the election rules ask different questions — the IRS asks about primary activity; the FEC asks about major purpose — and an organization can satisfy one and fail the other. Anyone building or funding one of these entities should work through Forming and Operating a Nonprofit: A Comprehensive Guide to Tax-Exempt Status and Applying for Tax-Exempt Status: A Form 1023 Checklist before drafting the first governing document, and keep The Nonprofit Legal Toolkit close for the governance side. The § 501(c)(3) prohibition in particular is absolute, and well-meaning charities lose their exemptions over pastor endorsements and voter guides that tilt.

Phase 12 — Get the disclaimers right

  • [ ] Put a disclaimer on every public communication by the committee, every communication expressly advocating election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, and every communication soliciting contributions (52 U.S.C. § 30120; 11 C.F.R. § 110.11).
  • [ ] For a candidate's authorized committee: "Paid for by [committee name]."
  • [ ] For an unauthorized committee (a PAC or super PAC): "Paid for by [name]" plus a statement that it is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee, plus a permanent street address, telephone number, or website.
  • [ ] For radio and television ads, comply with the "stand by your ad" requirements — the candidate's spoken statement approving the communication, and for TV, the required visual and audio identification.
  • [ ] For printed disclaimers, meet the box, contrast, and font-size specifications in 11 C.F.R. § 110.11(c)(2).
  • [ ] Apply disclaimers to internet public communications placed for a fee — paid digital ads carry disclaimers; a campaign's own organic social posts and unpaid emails have their own narrower rules. Verify the current rule; the FEC has amended its internet disclaimer regulations and small-item accommodations.
  • [ ] Use the small items and impracticable exceptions correctly — pins, buttons, bumper stickers, pens, skywriting, and water towers are exempt (11 C.F.R. § 110.11(f)); yard signs and mailers are not.
  • [ ] Have one person own disclaimer review, and route every creative through them before it ships.

Why it matters, and the traps. Disclaimer violations are the most common and most preventable FEC enforcement matters in existence. They are also, notably, constitutionally durable: Citizens United struck the corporate independent-expenditure ban 5–4 but upheld BCRA's disclaimer and disclosure requirements 8–1, reasoning that disclosure enables citizens to evaluate the messages they receive. Whatever you think will happen to the rest of this regime, the disclaimer rules are not going anywhere.

Marisol's yard signs — the Cascadia signs — went out with no disclaimer, because nobody checked. That is a separate violation from the corporate contribution, on the same 4,000 pieces of corrugated plastic.

Phase 13 — Report on time, including the 48-hour and 24-hour notices

  • [ ] Build the reporting calendar for the cycle on day one: quarterly reports for authorized committees (due April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 31), pre-primary and pre-general reports due 12 days before the election, and the post-general report due 30 days after (52 U.S.C. § 30104(a); 11 C.F.R. Part 104).
  • [ ] Know your PAC's election-year option — monthly or quarterly — and elect deliberately, not by default.
  • [ ] File 48-hour notices for any contribution of $1,000 or more received after the 20th day but more than 48 hours before the election (52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)(6)).
  • [ ] File 24-hour independent expenditure reports for IEs aggregating $1,000 or more within 20 days of the election (52 U.S.C. § 30104(g)(1)), and 48-hour IE reports for IEs aggregating $10,000 or more at any other time in the calendar year (§ 30104(g)(2)).
  • [ ] File electioneering communication disclosure within 24 hours of the date the aggregate disbursements exceed $10,000 (52 U.S.C. § 30104(f)).
  • [ ] Itemize every contributor over the $200 aggregate threshold with name, address, occupation, and employer, and itemize disbursements per the schedules.
  • [ ] Report debts and obligations on Schedule D, every period, until extinguished.
  • [ ] Never let a deadline slip into the administrative fines program (52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(4)(C)), which assesses penalties for late and non-filed reports on a published schedule and does not much care why you were late.

Why it matters, and the traps. Reporting is where the compliance work of every other phase becomes visible — and where its absence becomes visible too. The 48-hour notice is the trap of the final weeks: money is pouring in, staff are exhausted, and a $2,500 check that arrives 12 days out triggers a same-week filing obligation that nobody is watching for. Automate the trigger. Have the bank feed flag every deposit at or above the threshold during the notice window and route it to the treasurer immediately.

Amendments are not an admission of failure; a prompt, complete amendment is the cheapest thing you will ever buy in this practice area.

Phase 14 — Keep the records

  • [ ] Keep an account of every contribution received, with name and address for anything over $50, and full identification for anything aggregating over $200 (52 U.S.C. § 30102(c)).
  • [ ] Keep a receipt, invoice, or cancelled check for every disbursement over $200 (52 U.S.C. § 30102(c)(5)).
  • [ ] Preserve all records for three years after the report to which they relate is filed (11 C.F.R. §§ 102.9(c), 104.14(b)(3)).
  • [ ] Keep the valuation memoranda for every in-kind contribution.
  • [ ] Keep the best-efforts correspondence proving your Phase 8 attempts.
  • [ ] Keep the firewall policy and evidence of its distribution (Phase 10).
  • [ ] Keep records in a form you can produce to the FEC or to a grand jury without reconstructing them. If a subpoena arrives, follow Responding to a Government Subpoena or Investigation: A Practical Checklist and issue a litigation hold immediately.
  • [ ] Where counsel is involved, preserve privilege deliberately — see Building a Privilege Log: A Practical Checklist.

Why it matters, and the traps. The treasurer's recordkeeping duty is statutory and personal. Three years is a minimum, and it is measured from the filing of the report, not from the transaction — which in practice means most campaigns should hold records for the full cycle plus three years and should not dissolve their document systems the week after the election. Campaigns are transient organizations with permanent legal exposure; the laptop that went home with a departing staffer is the record you will need.

Phase 15 — Never convert campaign funds to personal use

  • [ ] Apply the statutory "irrespective" test: a campaign expense is a personal use — and therefore prohibited — if the obligation would exist irrespective of the candidate's campaign or duties as a federal officeholder (52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2); 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)).
  • [ ] Treat as per se personal use the categories the regulation enumerates: household food and supplies, mortgage/rent/utilities on a personal residence, clothing (with a narrow campaign-item exception), a country club membership, a vacation, tuition, admission to a sporting or entertainment event, and salary payments to the candidate's family unless for bona fide services at fair market value (11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)).
  • [ ] Apply a case-by-case analysis to travel, meals, vehicles, and legal fees — the test is always the "irrespective" test.
  • [ ] Pay any candidate salary strictly within the regulatory formula and window, and document it.
  • [ ] Prohibit personal use of the committee card by policy, and enforce the policy.
  • [ ] Give the treasurer standing authority to refuse a candidate's disbursement request.

Why it matters, and the traps. This is the phase that generates the criminal cases the public actually hears about. Congressman Duncan Hunter pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy arising from the misuse of campaign funds for family expenses. Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty in 2013 to conspiracy relating to the use of roughly $750,000 in campaign funds for personal purchases. The pattern in both is identical and instructive: the amounts started small, the records were sloppy, the treasurer was not truly independent, and the spending was reported — as legitimate campaign expenses — which is what turned bad judgment into false federal filings.

The "irrespective" test is deliberately unforgiving. It does not ask whether the expense helped the campaign; it asks whether the obligation would have existed anyway. A candidate's suit helps her campaign. She would still need clothes if she had never run. It is personal use. Dev Okonjo's most important job is to be the person who says that sentence out loud to a candidate who does not want to hear it — and the only way he can do it is if the campaign gave him the authority in Phase 2.

Phase 16 — Survive the audit, the RFAI, and the MUR

  • [ ] Answer every Request for Additional Information (RFAI) from the FEC's Reports Analysis Division fully and on time. These are routine, they are not accusations, and ignoring them is what escalates them.
  • [ ] Know that the FEC may audit a committee for cause where it appears the committee has not met the threshold requirements for substantial compliance (52 U.S.C. § 30111(b)) — random audits of privately funded authorized committees are not permitted.
  • [ ] If a Matter Under Review (MUR) opens, understand the sequence: complaint (or internally generated referral) → the respondent's opportunity to respond → reason to believe finding → investigation → probable cause finding → conciliation → suit in district court (52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)).
  • [ ] Remember the Commission's structure: six Commissioners, no more than three from one party, and four affirmative votes required for any enforcement action. Deadlock is a structural feature, not an accident, and it shapes strategy on both sides.
  • [ ] Take conciliation seriously. Voluntary self-reporting, prompt correction, and a documented compliance program are the recognized mitigating factors.
  • [ ] Recognize the criminal fork. Knowing and willful violations can be referred to the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section (52 U.S.C. § 30109(d)), and DOJ can and does proceed independently of the FEC.
  • [ ] Engage election counsel early — not after the subpoena, and not after the interview.
  • [ ] Understand the judicial-review architecture: FEC action and inaction are reviewable, and the administrative-law framework in Administrative Law: A Comprehensive Guide to Agency Action and Judicial Review and Challenging Agency Action Under the APA: A Practical Checklist governs how, though FECA supplies its own specialized review provisions.

Why it matters, and the traps. The single biggest predictor of how a MUR ends is what the committee did before it opened. A committee that found the Cascadia problem itself, cured it, amended its reports, memorialized the fix, and changed its intake process arrives at conciliation with a story. A committee that got caught arrives with excuses. The Commission distinguishes between them, and so does the Department of Justice.

The second trap is the RFAI. Treasurers who have never been in trouble treat a letter from the Reports Analysis Division as junk mail. It is not. It is the least expensive moment in the entire enforcement pipeline, and it is the only one you can close with a competent email.

Common mistakes to avoid

  1. Believing Citizens United legalized corporate contributions to candidates. It did not. The § 30118 ban on direct corporate and union contributions is fully in force. Citizens United concerned independent expenditures, and it overruled Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce — do not cite Austin.
  2. Treating a discount as a courtesy. Free or below-market goods and services are in-kind contributions valued at the discount. The friendly vendor is the most common source of a campaign's first violation.
  3. Relying on a remembered contribution limit. Every meaningful figure is indexed. Verify the current cycle's limits before you accept, solicit, or refund.
  4. Forgetting that the primary and general are separate elections. General-election money must be refunded if the candidate loses the primary — from an account that is by then empty.
  5. Appointing a figurehead treasurer. The statute puts the duties on the treasurer personally. A treasurer with liability and no authority is a liability generator.
  6. Doing "best efforts" wrong. The safe harbor requires a written, non-solicitation follow-up request with the prescribed notice, within 30 days, and proof you sent it.
  7. Letting a check sit. Deposit or refund within 10 days. Uncertainty is not a defense to the deposit rule.
  8. Assuming a green-card holder is a foreign national. Lawful permanent residents may contribute. Non-resident foreign nationals may not — and the ban reaches state and local elections too.
  9. Sharing a vendor with an "independent" group without a written firewall. The common-vendor conduct standard is real, and 11 C.F.R. § 109.21(h) hands you a safe harbor you have to actually build.
  10. Shipping creative without a disclaimer. The cheapest violation to avoid and the most frequently committed.
  11. Missing a 48-hour notice in the final stretch. Automate the bank-feed flag; do not rely on an exhausted finance director.
  12. Quietly reimbursing the candidate for an unrecorded advance. Write the loan down when it happens.
  13. Confusing a bundler with a conduit. Soliciting other people's money is legal; supplying the money and using other people's names is a felony (52 U.S.C. § 30122).
  14. Ignoring an RFAI. The cheapest exit ramp in the entire enforcement system.
  15. Ignoring state and local law entirely. Many states ban corporate contributions outright, and the pay-to-play rules (SEC Rule 206(4)-5; MSRB Rule G-37) can make a legal contribution ruinous for the donor.

The consolidated campaign finance checklist

Formation

  • [ ] Candidacy threshold tracked; Form 2 filed within 15 days; Form 1 filed within 10 days
  • [ ] Treasurer named, briefed on personal liability, and given real authority; assistant treasurer named
  • [ ] Depository account opened; no commingling; monthly reconciliation scheduled
  • [ ] Written compliance policy adopted; disclaimer owner designated

Intake

  • [ ] Source screen runs before every deposit: corporation? union? foreign national? federal contractor? conduit?
  • [ ] Current-cycle FEC limits confirmed in writing and posted where the finance team can see them
  • [ ] Primary and general contributions segregated on the books
  • [ ] Cash caps enforced ($100 per source; $50 anonymous — 11 C.F.R. § 110.4(c))
  • [ ] Every in-kind logged, valued at usual and normal charge, and reported twice
  • [ ] Contributor identification obtained above the $200 aggregate; best-efforts letters sent and retained
  • [ ] Deposit-or-refund within 10 days; impermissible contributions refunded within 30 days of determination

Spending and speech

  • [ ] Every public communication carries the correct disclaimer (52 U.S.C. § 30120)
  • [ ] Coordination three-prong test run on any outside spending; written firewall in place for shared vendors
  • [ ] Personal-use "irrespective" test applied to every candidate-adjacent disbursement
  • [ ] Candidate advances documented as loans; Schedule C current

Reporting

  • [ ] Full cycle calendar built: quarterlies, pre-primary, pre-general, post-general
  • [ ] 48-hour notice trigger automated on the bank feed ($1,000+ inside 20 days)
  • [ ] 24-hour / 48-hour IE reports and electioneering-communication reports calendared
  • [ ] Debts carried on Schedule D until extinguished
  • [ ] Amendments filed promptly, not defensively

Records and defense

  • [ ] All records retained three years from filing (11 C.F.R. §§ 102.9(c), 104.14(b)(3))
  • [ ] In-kind valuations, best-efforts letters, firewall policy, and self-correction memos preserved
  • [ ] RFAIs answered on time
  • [ ] Election counsel retained before, not after
  • [ ] Litigation hold procedure ready if a subpoena arrives

Primary Authority

Statutes

  • Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. § 30101 et seq. — in particular:
    • § 30101(2) (candidate; $5,000 threshold); § 30101(8) (contribution); § 30101(9) (expenditure)
    • § 30102 (organization of political committees; treasurer; recordkeeping; § 30102(b)(3) anti-commingling; § 30102(i) best efforts)
    • § 30103 (registration; statement of organization)
    • § 30104 (reporting; § 30104(a)(6) 48-hour notices; § 30104(c) IE donor disclosure; § 30104(f) electioneering communications; § 30104(g) 24-hour and 48-hour IE reports)
    • § 30109 (enforcement; § 30109(a)(4)(C) administrative fines; § 30109(d) criminal penalties)
    • § 30111(b) (audits for cause)
    • § 30114 (permitted uses; § 30114(b) personal-use prohibition and the "irrespective" test)
    • § 30116 (contribution limits; § 30116(a)(7)(B) coordinated spending as a contribution; § 30116(d) coordinated party expenditures)
    • § 30118 (corporate and labor organization contributions)
    • § 30119 (federal contractors)
    • § 30120 (disclaimers)
    • § 30121 (foreign nationals)
    • § 30122 (contributions in the name of another)
    • § 30125 (soft money restrictions on parties, candidates, and officeholders)
  • Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. §§ 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 527
  • 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy); 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (false statements)

Regulations

  • 11 C.F.R. Part 100 (definitions; § 100.52(d) in-kind valuation at the usual and normal charge; § 100.74 uncompensated volunteer services and the other exceptions to "contribution" in Subpart C; § 100.82 bank loans)
  • 11 C.F.R. Part 102 (organization; § 102.9 recordkeeping)
  • 11 C.F.R. Part 103 (§ 103.3 deposit, refund, and the 10-day / 30-day rules)
  • 11 C.F.R. Part 104 (reports; § 104.7 best efforts; § 104.14 retention)
  • 11 C.F.R. Part 109 (§ 109.20 coordination generally; § 109.21 the three-prong coordinated-communication test and the § 109.21(h) firewall safe harbor)
  • 11 C.F.R. Part 110 (limits; § 110.4 cash and contributions in the name of another; § 110.6 earmarking; § 110.11 disclaimers; § 110.20 foreign nationals)
  • 11 C.F.R. Part 113 (§ 113.1(g) personal use)
  • 11 C.F.R. Parts 114 (corporate/labor) and 115 (federal contractors)
  • SEC Rule 206(4)-5 and MSRB Rule G-37 (pay-to-play — not FECA, but frequently dispositive for donors)

Cases

A standing accuracy warning. Contribution limits under 52 U.S.C. § 30116 are indexed for inflation and republished by the FEC each cycle; no dollar figure for a contribution limit should be quoted from memory or from a prior edition of any document, including this one. Confirm the current schedule with the Commission before you act on it.

Related UpLaw Resources

Related Guides & Articles

Related Checklists

Related Toolkits

This checklist is general legal information from UpLaw (uplaw.us), not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Federal contribution limits are indexed and change every election cycle; state and local campaign finance laws are separate regimes and are frequently stricter than federal law. Verify current requirements with the Federal Election Commission and your state's election authority, and consult qualified election counsel before acting.