What BUSINESS donors give in federal races

A vague label with a mid-size dollar stack

$18,619,893 is the occupation-level dollar total. 38,349 is the itemization count. 2,172 is the donor-record count. Mean contribution size is about $485. Mean dollars per donor record are about $8,573. Repeat giving is about 18 itemizations per donor record.

2,172 donor records is a modest pool for an $18.6 million headline, which is why the per-donor mean sits in the high four figures. The per-line mean of about $485 is larger than high-volume clinical strings and smaller than concentrated investor titles.

The packet does not say what kind of business. It only supplies the three BUSINESS facts.

BUSINESS is not owner, executive, or businessman

BUSINESS OWNER, BUSINESS EXECUTIVE, BUSINESSMAN, and ENTREPRENEUR are neighboring occupation keys. This page cites only BUSINESS: $18,619,893, 38,349 contributions, and 2,172 donors. Those other strings stay outside the total unless the bulk extract normalized them to BUSINESS.

Best-efforts collection records the donor’s word. Someone who runs a shop, sits on a board, or works in a family firm may all type BUSINESS. The FEC does not recode that noun into a standard occupational classification.

What the dollars do not measure

$18,619,893 is not small-business PAC money and not an industry total for all employers. Industry pages group employer categories. Occupation BUSINESS will not equal any one industry page dollar for dollar.

Party is not in the occupation column. Open the BUSINESS occupation page for recipient rows rather than reading bloc preference from a generic job word. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $18.6 million.

Occupation versus industry for a generic noun

A donor who listed BUSINESS on some gifts and OWNER on others will appear in both occupation totals for the respective lines. Occupation is stored per transaction. Adding those keys without naming each source total changes the unit from one FEC string to a homemade cluster.

Use the occupations index to see neighboring owner and executive titles as separate keys. Use industry pages for employer-side cuts.

Limits and source

Occupation is free text. Extra words (business consultant, family business) create parallel buckets when they do not normalize to BUSINESS. Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code, so they never enter $18,619,893.

2,172 is a contributor-record count, not a census of firms. Source: FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault from FEC bulk data.

Generic occupation text in the bulk extract

BUSINESS in this extract is $18,619,893 on 38,349 itemizations from 2,172 donor records. About 18 itemizations per donor record is a moderate repeat rate. Mean line size is about $485; mean dollars per donor record are about $8,573. BUSINESS OWNER and BUSINESS EXECUTIVE remain other hubs. ENTREPRENEUR is another neighboring string.

Industry pages should not be added to $18,619,893. The generic noun is not a NAICS code and not a small-business registry. A public-record citation that stays inside the packet is: occupation equals BUSINESS, dollars equal $18,619,893, contributions equal 38,349, donors equal 2,172. Candidate and committee pages hold the recipient side. LobbyVault does not infer motive from the occupation column. Live hub filters may change displayed sums; this file restates harvested packet facts only.

2,172 donor records is a modest pool for an $18.6 million headline, which is why the per-donor mean sits in the high four figures. The packet does not say what kind of business. Extra words such as family business or business consultant create parallel buckets when they do not normalize to BUSINESS. Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code.

Keep BUSINESS on its own line with its own dollar, contribution, and donor facts. The occupations index is the inventory of neighboring owner and executive strings. Compact millions ($18.6 million) are the same headline amount as $18,619,893, rounded to one decimal place. 2,172 is a contributor-record count, not a census of firms and not a unique-person estimate after name matching. Quote occupation equals BUSINESS, then $18,619,893, 38,349 contributions, and 2,172 donors.

Generic nouns like BUSINESS collect owners, employees, and people who used a shorthand for a longer title. That is why $18,619,893 cannot be read as small-business PAC money. Keep the contribution count at 38,349 and the donor-record count at 2,172 in any sentence that quotes the dollars. Exact-string matching is the method. Anything else is a different query.

Questions

How much have BUSINESS donors given in FEC records?

Occupation BUSINESS is attached to $18,619,893 in LobbyVault’s FEC bulk index, from 38,349 contributions and 2,172 donor records. The total is itemized occupation money, not a small-business census. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

Does BUSINESS include business owners?

Only if they typed BUSINESS. BUSINESS OWNER is a separate occupation string unless the bulk extract normalized it to BUSINESS. This page covers BUSINESS: $18,619,893, 38,349 contributions, and 2,172 donors. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

What is the average BUSINESS contribution?

Dividing $18,619,893 by 38,349 itemizations yields about $485 per contribution. Dividing by 2,172 donors yields about $8,573 per donor record. Both are means, not medians. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

Is BUSINESS an industry total?

No. Industry pages group employers. This page is the occupation string BUSINESS: $18,619,893, 38,349 contributions, and 2,172 donors. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total. The live hub may apply cycle filters.