What SELF donors give in federal races

Four letters with a thick itemization stack

$26,946,317, 124,577 itemizations, and 4,508 donor records describe this occupation filter. Mean contribution size is about $216. Mean dollars per donor record is about $5,977. Repeat giving is about 28 itemizations per donor record.

The per-line mean matches the unhyphenated SELF EMPLOYED key in this harvest band, but the donor pool and line count differ. They remain separate strings.

These means are arithmetic. The packet has no median.

SELF is not SELF EMPLOYED

SELF EMPLOYED (space) and SELF-EMPLOYED (hyphen) are neighboring occupation pages. Donors who type only SELF land here. Combining those keys without showing each source total mixes employment-status spellings the bulk file kept apart.

This page cites only $26,946,317, 124,577 contributions, and 4,508 donors. The word does not say whether the person is a contractor, a shopkeeper, or a professional in private practice.

What the occupation column omits

SELF is not a NAICS code and not a trade. Employer text, when present, is a different field. A person who listed SELF on some gifts and OWNER on others will appear in both occupation totals for those lines.

Occupation is stored per transaction. LobbyVault does not infer party from the one-word status.

Industry pages stay on the employer side

Industry tables group employers. Donors who typed SELF can sit in many employer categories. Adding $26,946,317 to an industry total double-counts overlapping itemizations.

Open the SELF occupation page for rows. Use the occupations index to see SELF EMPLOYED and SELF-EMPLOYED as separate keys.

Citation

Name the exact one-word key: SELF itemizations in FEC bulk data indexed on LobbyVault sum to $26,946,317 on 124,577 contributions from 4,508 donor records. Source: FEC Form 3/3X schedules.

Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code. If a brief needs “self-employed as a group,” list SELF, SELF EMPLOYED, and SELF-EMPLOYED as separate lines.

Four letters that are not a trade

SELF in this extract is $26,946,317 on 124,577 itemizations from 4,508 donor records, or $26.9 million in compact millions. Those dollars are itemized activity on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules indexed on LobbyVault from FEC.gov bulk data. Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code, so they never enter the total. Refunds and memo entries follow FEC presentation in the underlying schedules; this guide does not invent a fourth occupation-level fact. Some forms use SELF as a short employer/occupation pair. The occupation extract still stores it as occupation text. This page does not recode it into SELF EMPLOYED. The occupation field is donor-supplied free text, not a NAICS industry code and not a licensing roster.

Arithmetic means on this key are about $216 per contribution and about $5,977 per donor record, with roughly 28 itemizations per donor record. Means are not medians. The packet has no gift-size distribution and no party split. Neighboring strings such as SELF EMPLOYED, SELF-EMPLOYED, and OWNER remain other occupation pages unless the bulk extract normalized them to SELF. Combining those keys without naming each source total changes the unit from one FEC string to a homemade cluster. About 28 lines per donor record among 4,508 records is a status-label cadence close to other self-work keys, with its own dollar total.

Industry pages group employer-side categories and should not be added to $26,946,317. A person who listed SELF on some gifts and a neighboring title on others will appear in both occupation totals for the respective lines, because occupation is stored per transaction. A public-record citation that stays inside the packet is: occupation equals SELF, dollars equal $26,946,317, contributions equal 124,577, donors equal 4,508. Candidate and committee pages hold the recipient side. LobbyVault does not infer motive from the occupation column.

Researchers who need cycle cuts, employer text, or recipient lists should leave this guide and open the live occupation hub. This file restates harvested packet facts only. Compact millions ($26.9 million) are the same headline amount as $26,946,317, rounded to one decimal place. Keep the contribution count and the donor-record count in any sentence that quotes the dollars, so readers can see whether SELF is a high-volume stack, a concentrated pool, or a high-repeat status label. Exact-string matching is the method. Anything else is a different query.

Questions

How much have SELF-occupation donors given in FEC data?

The SELF occupation string is attached to $26,946,317 across 124,577 contributions and 4,508 donor records in LobbyVault’s FEC bulk index. The figure is the one-word key only, not a combined self-employed cluster. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

Is SELF EMPLOYED included in this total?

No. SELF EMPLOYED and SELF-EMPLOYED are separate occupation strings. This page covers SELF only: $26,946,317, 124,577 contributions, and 4,508 donors. Name each key if you add them. 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 SELF contribution?

Dividing $26,946,317 by 124,577 itemizations yields about $216 per contribution. Dividing by 4,508 donors yields about $5,977 per donor record. Both are means, not medians. Repeat giving is about 28 lines per donor record. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

Does SELF tell you the donor’s trade?

No. It is a one-word status label, not a trade or NAICS code. Industry pages are a different cut. Quote 124,577 contributions and 4,508 donor records with the $26,946,317 headline. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.