DEVELOPER on FEC forms: $33.1M, two possible trades

One word, at least two jobs

Campaign-finance research often wants 'homebuilders' or 'software engineers' as separate stories. The stored string DEVELOPER will not support that split without extra work (reading occupation, employer, and location on each receipt). The $33.1M total is the mixed word.

NAICS construction and NAICS software publishing are both inapplicable here. This page will not pretend the cluster is only property or only code.

1,563 donors and $33.1M

1,563 donors produced 45,846 DEVELOPER contribution lines totaling $33.1M. That unique-donor count is in the same band as WRITER, with a similar dollar headline on that other page. Repeat giving explains receipts above unique donors.

Party share is not on this industry headline. Use the donor table for committees.

Neighbors that disambiguate better

REAL ESTATE, REALTOR, CONTRACTOR, ENGINEER, MICROSOFT, and GOOGLE are clearer strings for some of the same people. Those dollars are not inside $33.1M. A person can appear as DEVELOPER one year and MICROSOFT the next.

Occupation pages are the practical next click if employer is a tech firm or a development LLC. Building permits and GitHub profiles are both irrelevant to the FEC string. The $33.1M total mixes property developers and software developers because both type DEVELOPER. The 1,563 donors and 45,846 lines are that mixture. Classification is per-receipt work on employer text.

Donor table

The DEVELOPER donor table lists disclosed names and amounts. A large gift is a public contribution. It is not evidence about a zoning case or a software contract. LobbyVault does not infer which trade the donor meant.

Read the employer field on the line before writing a sector story. A zoning-board narrative needs parcel files. A cloud-contract narrative needs procurement files. This page supplies neither. It supplies disclosed political gifts under one ambiguous word, from FEC.gov via LobbyVault.

Source

FEC.gov via LobbyVault: $33.1M, 45,846 contributions, 1,563 donors, top employer DEVELOPER. Unitemized and non-federal activity are omitted.

Follow recipient committees from the table. REAL ESTATE, REALTOR, ENGINEER, MICROSOFT, and GOOGLE are the keys that already disambiguate some of the same humans. Those dollars are not inside $33.1M. Cite them separately if you recode.

How to classify a DEVELOPER row without guessing

Do not write a "homebuilders versus Silicon Valley" story from the industry headline. The $33.1M total, 45,846 contribution lines, and 1,563 donors mix those trades. Classification requires the employer field, occupation field, and often geography on each receipt. Unitemized gifts and state races are omitted. LobbyVault does not apply NAICS construction or software codes here.

REAL ESTATE, REALTOR, ENGINEER, MICROSOFT, and GOOGLE are clearer neighboring keys for some of the same people. Those dollars are not in $33.1M. Open the DEVELOPER donor table and read employer text before assigning a sector. The word is self-reported FEC text, not a NAICS industry, from FEC.gov via LobbyVault. If employer is a development LLC, harvest may leave this title row. If employer is a tech firm, the same thing happens. The generic DEVELOPER cluster is what remains after those named employers take their share. Pause before assigning DEVELOPER to housing or to software. The $33.1M total is 1,563 donors and 45,846 mixed lines. Employer text on each receipt is the classification step this industry headline refuses to fake. REAL ESTATE, REALTOR, ENGINEER, MICROSOFT, and GOOGLE already hold clearer subsets of related people, and those dollars are not inside $33.1M. Building-permit and procurement files answer project questions this page does not. Unitemized gifts and state races are omitted. Occupation pages show DEVELOPER as occupation with a named employer; harvest may send those lines to the employer. Cite the mixed string from FEC.gov via LobbyVault, not a NAICS construction or software code. County plat books and app stores both fail as lookups against DEVELOPER. The $33.1M cluster is 1,563 people and 45,846 mixed lines. Sort the donor table by employer to see property LLCs versus tech letterheads; the industry headline will not sort them for you. REAL ESTATE and ENGINEER already hold clearer neighbors. MICROSOFT and GOOGLE hold staff who named the firm. Those neighbors are not inside $33.1M. FEC.gov via LobbyVault stores the ambiguous word only.

Questions

How much have DEVELOPER donors given federally?

LobbyVault attributes $33.1M to the DEVELOPER FEC string, from 45,846 contributions and 1,563 donors. The word may mean property or software. It is not a NAICS sector and is not merged with REAL ESTATE or ENGINEER. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Are these real-estate developers or software developers?

The FEC string does not say. Both groups type DEVELOPER. This $33.1M total is the mixed label. Check employer and occupation on each receipt to classify a person. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Is DEVELOPER merged with REAL ESTATE?

No. They are different free-text values. REALTOR, CONTRACTOR, and tech-firm names are also separate rows. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted. This answer uses only the packet totals for that FEC employer/occupation string as indexed on LobbyVault from FEC.gov, with no NAICS overlay applied.

How many unique DEVELOPER donors are listed?

The rollup counts 1,563 donors and 45,846 contribution lines. Repeat gifts raise the receipt count. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted. This answer uses only the packet totals for that FEC employer/occupation string as indexed on LobbyVault from FEC.gov, with no NAICS overlay applied.