Contribution limits — federal (2024)
Codified contribution caps and filing thresholds. Federal rows cite 11 CFR §110 and 52 USC §30116. State rows cite each state's campaign-finance statute. Per the no-vendors rule, every dollar amount on this page points at a primary source — click a citation to read the underlying regulation.
Contribution caps
Corporation
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | prohibited /election | 52 USC §30118(a); 11 CFR §114.2(b) Corporate contributions to federal candidates are prohibited. Bright-line statutory ban; treasurer override cannot bypass. |
| PAC | prohibited /year | 52 USC §30118(a); 11 CFR §114.2(b) Corporate contributions to non-super PACs are prohibited (other than to a corporation's own SSF for administrative costs). Bright-line statutory ban. |
| Super PAC | no limit | Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) Corporate contributions to super PACs are permitted and unlimited post-Citizens United. Corporate contributions to candidates and non-super PACs remain prohibited under 52 USC §30118. |
Federal contractor
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | prohibited /election | 52 USC §30119; 11 CFR §115.2 Federal-government contractors are prohibited from making contributions to federal candidates, parties, or committees for the duration of any contract negotiation/performance period. |
Foreign national
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | prohibited /election | 52 USC §30121; 11 CFR §110.20 Contributions and donations from foreign nationals are prohibited in any federal, state, or local election. Bright-line ban; treasurer override cannot bypass. |
| PAC | prohibited /year | 52 USC §30121; 11 CFR §110.20 Foreign-national contributions to any U.S. political committee are prohibited. |
| Super PAC | prohibited /year | 52 USC §30121; 11 CFR §110.20 Foreign-national contributions to super PACs are prohibited despite super PACs being uncapped for domestic donors. |
Individual
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | $3,300 /election | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(A); 11 CFR §110.1(b)(1) Per election. Primary, general, runoff, and special each count separately (11 CFR §110.1(j)). BCRA-indexed every odd year. |
| PAC | $5,000 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(C); 11 CFR §110.1(d) Per calendar year, per non-connected/separate-segregated-fund PAC. Statutory cap; not BCRA-indexed. Super PAC contributions are unlimited under SpeechNow.org v. FEC — separate row. |
| National party | $41,300 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(B); 11 CFR §110.1(c)(1) Per calendar year, per national party committee. DNC + RNC + DCCC + NRCC + DSCC + NRSC each carry their own cap. BCRA-indexed. |
| National party (additional account) | $123,900 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(9); 11 CFR §110.1(c)(5) Per calendar year, per additional national party account: presidential nominating convention, party HQ building, and recount/legal-proceedings account. Three separate caps, one cap per account. BCRA-indexed. |
| State/local party | $10,000 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(D); 11 CFR §110.1(c)(2) Per calendar year, combined across all state/district/local party committees of one political party. Statutory cap; not BCRA-indexed. |
| Super PAC | no limit | SpeechNow.org v. FEC, 599 F.3d 686 (D.C. Cir. 2010) No contribution limit. SpeechNow.org v. FEC (D.C. Cir. 2010) + Citizens United v. FEC (US 2010) struck the FECA cap as applied to independent-expenditure-only committees. |
Multicandidate PAC
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | $5,000 /election | 52 USC §30116(a)(2)(A); 11 CFR §110.2(b)(1) Per election. Multicandidate status requires ≥6 months of registration, contributions from ≥50 persons, and contributions to ≥5 federal candidates (11 CFR §100.5(e)(3)). Statutory cap. |
| PAC | $5,000 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(2)(C); 11 CFR §110.2(d) Per calendar year, per PAC. Statutory. |
| National party | $15,000 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(2)(B); 11 CFR §110.2(c) Per calendar year. Statutory. |
| State/local party | $5,000 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(2)(C); 11 CFR §110.2(d) Per calendar year, combined across all state/district/local party committees of one political party. Statutory. |
Non-multicandidate PAC
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | $3,300 /election | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(A); 11 CFR §110.1(b) Per election. PACs that have not yet qualified as multicandidate (11 CFR §100.5(e)(3)) are subject to individual-equivalent caps. |
| PAC | $5,000 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(C); 11 CFR §110.1(d) Per calendar year. Statutory. |
| National party | $41,300 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(B); 11 CFR §110.1(c) Per calendar year. BCRA-indexed. |
| State/local party | $10,000 /year | 52 USC §30116(a)(1)(D); 11 CFR §110.1(c)(2) Per calendar year, combined. Statutory. |
Super PAC
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | prohibited /election | SpeechNow.org v. FEC; Carey v. FEC consent order (2011) Prohibited. Super PACs cannot make direct or in-kind contributions to federal candidates; only independent expenditures. The pac.dog limit engine routes any super-PAC-to-candidate disbursement through the coordination check (COORDINATION_PROHIBITED) rather than the dollar-limit check. |
National party
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | $5,000 /election | 52 USC §30116(a)(2)(A); 11 CFR §110.2(b)(1) Per election. National party committees that qualify as multicandidate (they all do in practice). Separate from the national-party-to-Senate-candidate combined cap (next row). |
| US Senate candidate | $57,800 /election | 52 USC §30116(h); 11 CFR §110.2(e) Per Senate campaign — national + national senatorial committees COMBINED. (E.g. DNC + DSCC together, RNC + NRSC together.) BCRA-indexed. Separate from the $5,000-per-election cap on direct party-to-candidate contributions. |
| National party | no limit | 11 CFR §110.3(c)(1) Party-to-party transfers within the same political party are unlimited (11 CFR §110.3(c)(1)). |
State/local party
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | $5,000 /election | 52 USC §30116(a)(2)(A); 11 CFR §110.2(b)(1) Per election. State/district/local party committees that have qualified as multicandidate. |
Labor union
| Recipient | Cap | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Federal candidate | prohibited /election | 52 USC §30118(a); 11 CFR §114.2(b) Labor organization contributions to federal candidates are prohibited. Bright-line statutory ban. |
| Super PAC | no limit | Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) Labor organization contributions to super PACs are permitted and unlimited post-Citizens United. |
Filing thresholds
| Trigger | Amount | Action | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous cash cap | $50 (single contribution) | return funds | 11 CFR §110.4(c) Anonymous contributions over $50 must not be deposited; instead, donated to a 501(c)(3) or the U.S. Treasury. Anonymous contributions of $50 or less may be retained but cannot be itemized. |
| Best-efforts (employer/occupation) | $200 (aggregate) | best efforts | 52 USC §30102(i); 11 CFR §104.7 For contributions aggregating over $200 from a single source, the treasurer must use best efforts (at least one written or oral request) to obtain the contributor's employer + occupation if not initially provided. |
| Candidate registration trigger | $5,000 (per calendar year) | register | 52 USC §30101(2); 11 CFR §100.3(a) A person becomes a "candidate" once aggregate campaign contributions received OR expenditures made for the campaign exceed $5,000. Triggers Form 2 (Statement of Candidacy) within 15 days, plus Form 1 (Statement of Organization) by their principal campaign committee. |
| Cash contribution cap | $100 (single contribution) | refuse | 52 USC §30102(c)(2); 11 CFR §110.4(c)(1) Cash (currency) contributions over $100 from any source are prohibited. Amounts up to $100 may be accepted in cash. |
| Electioneering communication | $10,000 (aggregate) | file form | 52 USC §30104(f); 11 CFR §104.20 Electioneering communications (broadcast/cable/satellite ads referring to a federal candidate within 60 days of a general or 30 days of a primary) aggregating over $10,000 in a calendar year trigger Form 9 disclosure within 24 hours of distribution. |
| Federal employee solicitation | $100 (per event) | refuse | 5 USC §7323; 11 CFR §114.5 Hatch Act + 11 CFR §114.5 prohibit soliciting federal-employee contributions in any federal building or via federal-employee channels. The $100 figure marks the Hatch-related "voluntary contribution" threshold below which a federal employee may donate in their personal capacity from non-government property. |
| Independent expenditure (24-hour notice) | $1,000 (aggregate) | notice 24h | 52 USC §30104(g)(1); 11 CFR §109.10(d) Within 20 days of an election, independent expenditures of $1,000 or more must be reported on Form 24 within 24 hours. Lower threshold and shorter window than the 48-hour rule. |
| Independent expenditure (48-hour notice) | $10,000 (aggregate) | notice 48h | 52 USC §30104(g)(2); 11 CFR §109.10(c) Independent expenditures aggregating over $10,000 in a calendar year (outside the 20-day pre-election window) trigger a Form 24 48-hour report. Reset at each $10k threshold above the initial. |
| Independent-spender registration | $250 (aggregate) | register | 52 USC §30104(c); 11 CFR §109.10(b) Per FEC guidance, an individual or group making independent expenditures aggregating over $250 in a calendar year must file Form 5 (24/48-hour IE report for non-political-committees). At higher volumes, registration as an independent-expenditure-only committee (super PAC) becomes practically required. |
| Contribution itemization | $200 (aggregate) | itemize | 52 USC §30104(b)(3)(A); 11 CFR §104.3(a)(4)(i) Contributions from a single source aggregating over $200 per cycle (authorized committees) or per calendar year (PACs + party committees) must be itemized on Schedule A with donor name, address, employer, occupation, date, and amount. Below threshold: reported in unitemized aggregate. |
| Disbursement itemization | $200 (aggregate) | itemize | 52 USC §30104(b)(5); 11 CFR §104.3(b)(3)(i) Operating expenditures aggregating over $200 per cycle/year to a single payee must be itemized on Schedule B with payee, address, date, amount, and purpose. Below threshold: unitemized aggregate. |
| Lobbyist bundling | $23,500 (aggregate) | file form | 52 USC §30104(i); 11 CFR §104.22 Authorized committees, leadership PACs, and party committees must disclose bundled contributions from registered lobbyists or lobbyist/registrant PACs that aggregate over the threshold during the reporting period. BCRA-indexed amount; check FEC for current cycle figure (2025: $23,500). |
| Monthly filer election (advisory) | $50,000 (per calendar year) | file form | 11 CFR §104.5(c) PACs and party committees may file monthly OR quarterly on Form 3X. Monthly filing is elected for the cycle in writing; in election years, monthly filers also file pre-general (12 days before) and post-general (30 days after). The $50,000 figure here marks the practical threshold at which committees typically opt into monthly for cash-flow visibility — purely advisory, not statutory. |
| PAC registration trigger | $1,000 (per calendar year) | register | 52 USC §30101(4)(A); 11 CFR §100.5(a) A group that receives $1,000 OR makes $1,000 in expenditures in a calendar year becomes a "political committee" under FECA and must register with the FEC on Form 1 within 10 days. Bright-line trigger for non-connected PACs and most independent groups. |
| Public-communication disclaimer | $10,000 (single contribution) | disclose | 52 USC §30120; 11 CFR §110.11 Public communications paid for by a person other than a candidate, authorized committee, or party committee must include a disclaimer (stand-by-your-ad). The $10,000 threshold here is the IE-mandated disclaimer trigger paired with the Form 24 notice. |