527 Explorer
Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars flow through political organizations known as 527s. These organizations are not regulated by the Federal Election Commission and are not subject to FEC-style restrictions on who can contribute or how much they can give, though donations are not tax deductible. These groups are spending more and more, topping $1 billion in 2022. Use our database to explore who funds these organizations and how they’re spending the money.
For example: Republican Governors Association, D.C. or Bloomberg
Activity by State
States and territories with the highest total contributions to organizations located there over the last two years of available data.
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District of Columbia
109 recently active organizations
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$860M |
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Massachusetts
23 recently active organizations
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$480M |
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California
108 recently active organizations
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$110M |
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Virginia
43 recently active organizations
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$69M |
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New Jersey
27 recently active organizations
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$58M |
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New York
38 recently active organizations
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$34M |
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Illinois
24 recently active organizations
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$28M |
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North Carolina
37 recently active organizations
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$20M |
Largest Organizations
Organizations that received the highest total contributions in the last two years of available data.
All States and Territories
About This Data
What is a 527?
A 527 is a nonprofit formed under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which grants tax-exempt status to organizations whose primary purpose is attempting to influence the election of one or more people to public office at the national, state or local level. But contributions to these organizations are not considered tax-deductible, unlike gifts to charities.
What organizations are in the 527 Explorer?This database covers tax-exempt political organizations organized under Section 527, excluding organizations that are regulated by the Federal Election Commission (like federal PACs are); that expect to receive less than $25,000 in annual contributions; that are nonpolitical nonprofits, like charities; or that are political committees for a state or local candidate or a political party. An organization’s state is taken from the address reported on its most recent form 8871.
What organizations report itemized contributions and expenditures?Tax-exempt political organizations, other than qualified state or local political organizations, that have filed for tax-exempt status with the IRS under Section 527 must file Form 8872 to disclose any expenditures made or contributions received. A qualified state or local political organization is one whose political activities relate solely to state or local public office and that routinely files publicly available reports with one or more states. For state-by-state information on tax-exempt political organizations and their filings, see the IRS’ listings.
Note: Only electronic filings are included in this data. While many organizations filed electronically before 2020, electronic filing for all organizations was only required beginning in January 2020. Therefore, some contributions and expenditures made prior to 2020 may not be reflected in this data.
Note: We make a best-effort attempt to not display street-level addresses for payments labeled as "salary."
How are the totals calculated?An organization’s total contributions and expenditures are calculated by summing up the most recent report filed for each reporting period. However, organizations sometimes file reports for overlapping dates or reports that duplicate data. For any date range, the most recently filed report is marked. Duplicate contributions or expenditures (ones that have the exact same name, amount and date but show up in multiple reports) have been removed from the calculated totals.