Policies, profits, networks, or duty? Donors’ motivations for contributing to parties and interest groups

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding variation in donors’ motivations for contributing to parties, interest groups, and candidates is increasingly important for fundraising success in an era in which joint fundraising committees and online bundling platforms provide expanded opportunities for collaborative fundraising efforts. However, the motivations of party and interest group contributors remain understudied. Using questions from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of 2016 in a series of logistic models, I investigate donors’ self-reported motives for contributing to parties, interest groups, and congressional candidates. I find party and interest group donors share a distinct desire to socially network with other donors whereas donors to House and Senate candidates respectively seek to influence public policy and to help their businesses. Civic duty is the only joint motivation underlying candidate and party contributing; otherwise, motivations for contributing to congressional candidates versus parties and interest groups are found to be distinct from one another.