On ActBlue, August pushed us north of $12 million for the month and put the Big Number within striking distance of $300 million. That’s huge. And while the top 5 committees for August raised more than $6m of that total, none of them had an average donation size larger than $40. The rest of the $12 million went to nearly 2,000 other committees. There are around 500 races that get you a seat in Washington D.C., which means that 1,500 other candidates and committees are raising money through ActBlue.
Across the aisle, the folks at the top of the organization decide to drop huge sums of money on a few races. Over here, hundreds of thousands of donors give what they can to support thousands of candidates across the country. I don’t know if you’ve seen the polls lately, but it looks like our way is working a little bit better. And now, the numbers:
| Number of contributions | 309,877 |
|---|---|
| Total raised | $12,785,110.61 |
| Average Contribution size | $41.26 |
| Committees receiving money | 1,981 |
Here’s what August 2012 looks like compared to August 2011 and 2008 (last presidential election year). Percentage change is year over year:
| August 2008 | August 2011 | August 2012 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions | 21,267 | 78,172 | 309,877 | 296% |
| Volume ($) | $2,706,849.69 | $3,051,815.13 | $12,785,110.61 | 319% |
| Mean Donation | $127.28 | 39.04 | 41.26 | 5% |
| Committees | 1,068 | 916 | 1,981 | 116% |
Here are the five top committees, by number of donors, for August 2012.
| Name | Race | Donors | Dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| DCCC | Party Committee | 129,318 | $4,215,738 |
| DSCC | Party Committee | 40,678 | $1,585,605 |
| CREDO SuperPAC | SuperPAC | 16,120 | $385,933 |
| Democracy for America | Organization | 13,674 | $274,859 |
| Mazie Hirono | HI-Sen | 9,499 | $227,671 |
