How much have ENTREPRENEUR-listed donors given federally?

LobbyVault attributes $14,889,561 to the ENTREPRENEUR employer string, from 42,576 contributions and 2,517 donors. These are itemized individual receipts, not a NAICS startup sector and not a venture-capital total. Unitemized gifts are omitted. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Is ENTREPRENEUR the same as SELF-EMPLOYED or BUSINESS OWNER?

No. SELF-EMPLOYED and BUSINESS OWNER are separate grouped strings with their own pages. A receipt stamped ENTREPRENEUR is counted only in the $14,889,561 here. LobbyVault does not merge founder-style words into one owner industry. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Does this include every founder who donated?

No. Only itemized federal receipts whose employer text grouped to ENTREPRENEUR are in the total. People who wrote a company name, SELF-EMPLOYED, or INVESTOR are elsewhere. The 2,517 donor count is unique contributors in this string, not a Census self-employment count.

Why are there more contributions than donors?

The 42,576 lines include repeat gifts from the same 2,517 people. Recurring itemized donations raise the receipt count. The FEC field records each itemized transaction, not a once-per-person census. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

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ENTREPRENEUR

Total Donated

$14,889,561

Contributions

42,576

Unique Donors

2,517

Top Employer

ENTREPRENEUR

Contributors who listed ENTREPRENEUR on federal itemized receipts account for $14,889,561, according to FEC.gov aggregates on LobbyVault. The cluster is 42,576 contributions from 2,517 donors. ENTREPRENEUR is a self-reported status word stored in the employer grouping, not a NAICS “new business” sector, and not the same row as SELF-EMPLOYED, BUSINESS OWNER, or SELF. The 2,517 unique donors and 42,576 lines describe a status-word cluster only; unitemized gifts stay outside the $14,889,561.

Key figures

ENTREPRENEUR as FEC employer text totals $14,889,561 from 2,517 donors.
42,576 contribution lines sit under that status word.
SELF-EMPLOYED, BUSINESS OWNER, and INVESTOR are separate FEC keys.
The label is self-reported form text, not a NAICS industry.

A self-description, not a startup census

FEC forms do not classify founders by NAICS. They store the word the filer typed. ENTREPRENEUR is that word. The $14,889,561 total is itemized individual gifts whose grouped employer text matches it. It is not venture-capital deployment, not a count of incorporated startups, and not every founder who wrote the LLC name instead.

People who typed SELF-EMPLOYED, SELF EMPLOYED, BUSINESS OWNER, INVESTOR, or a company legal name sit in other rows. LobbyVault does not recode those variants into ENTREPRENEUR.

2,517 donors and 42,576 lines

2,517 unique donors produced 42,576 ENTREPRENEUR contribution lines totaling $14,889,561. Receipts per donor run near 17 — moderate repeats compared with 60-line payroll names. The packet does not publish a mean gift or a sector split among the businesses those donors may run.

Party share is not on the industry headline. Unitemized gifts never appear. Independent expenditures that lack this individual-employer string are outside the $14,889,561.

Full analysis: ENTREPRENEUR as FEC employer text: $14.9 million →

Questions

How much have ENTREPRENEUR-listed donors given federally?: LobbyVault attributes $14,889,561 to the ENTREPRENEUR employer string, from 42,576 contributions and 2,517 donors. These are itemized individual receipts, not a NAICS startup sector and not a venture-capital total. Unitemized gifts are omitted. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.
Is ENTREPRENEUR the same as SELF-EMPLOYED or BUSINESS OWNER?: No. SELF-EMPLOYED and BUSINESS OWNER are separate grouped strings with their own pages. A receipt stamped ENTREPRENEUR is counted only in the $14,889,561 here. LobbyVault does not merge founder-style words into one owner industry. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.
Does this include every founder who donated?: No. Only itemized federal receipts whose employer text grouped to ENTREPRENEUR are in the total. People who wrote a company name, SELF-EMPLOYED, or INVESTOR are elsewhere. The 2,517 donor count is unique contributors in this string, not a Census self-employment count.
Why are there more contributions than donors?: The 42,576 lines include repeat gifts from the same 2,517 people. Recurring itemized donations raise the receipt count. The FEC field records each itemized transaction, not a once-per-person census. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Industry labels come from FEC employer/occupation self-reports, not NAICS. Data from FEC.gov via LobbyVault.

Industry ties

All data ties →

Cycle-over-Cycle Trend

1982 · $31,100 1984 · $29,750 1992 · $27,200 1986 · $18,500 1980 · $13,600 1988 · $10,750 1990 · $6,500 2010 · $3,250 1994 · $3,000 2012 · $2,500

ENTREPRENEUR political contributions by election cycle.
Cycle	Total	Contributions	Donors
1980	$13,600	12	7
1982	$31,100	11	5
1984	$29,750	23	3
1986	$18,500	8	1
1988	$10,750	9	3
1990	$6,500	9	3
1992	$27,200	12	3
1994	$3,000	4	1
1996	$200	1	1
1998	$225	1	1
2000	$500	2	1
2002	$500	1	1
2006	$2,000	1	1
2008	$250	1	1
2010	$3,250	3	1
2012	$2,500	1	1

Top Donors

Top ENTREPRENEUR donors ranked by total donated.
#	Name	Total	Contributions	City / State	Occupation	History
1	FAY, ALBERT B	$10,550	6	HOUSTON, TX	—	1980
2	FLEAGANE, ROBERT	$1,000	1	CADIZ, OH	—	1980
3	HORNE, M S	$750	1	PHOENIX, AZ	—	1980
4	DIAMOND, DON	$600	1	TUCSON, AZ	—	1980
5	EPSTEIN, ELEASA	$500	1	NY, NY	—	1980
6	LEHRMAN, SAMUEL	$250	1	ASPEN, CO	—	1980
7	MCCARRON, THOMAS	$250	1	PORTSMOUTH, NH	—	1980
8	JABEN, GERALD	$200	1	KANSAS CITY, MO	—	1980

Top Recipients

Top political committees that received ENTREPRENEUR donations.
#	Committee	Total	Contributions
1	NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE - CONTRIBUTIONS *C00091009	$51,250	8
2	NRSCC00027466	$18,775	7
3	REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE - CONTRIBUTIONS (AKA REPUBLICAN NATIONAL FINANCE COMMITTEEC00003376	$13,000	6
4	NEAL SIMON FOR U.S. SENATEC00671073	$5,400	1
5	PRESIDENT'S DINNER/AKA 1987 REPUBLICAN SENATE-HOUSE DINNER COMMITTEEC00212860	$3,000	6
6	PRESIDENT'S DINNER/AKA 1985 REPUBLICAN SENATE-HOUSE DINNER COMMITTEEC00193698	$3,000	6
7	HARRY MITCHELL FOR CONGRESSC00421271	$3,000	1
8	PAUL FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEEC00505602	$2,500	1
9	FRIENDS OF ALAN WHEATC00157909	$2,500	1
10	PEOPLE FOR BOSCHWITZ 1990C00128330	$2,000	7
11	ARNOLD FOR SENATE COMMITTEEC00152751	$2,000	1
12	PATTY WEISS FOR CONGRESSC00418863	$2,000	1
13	1979 REPUBLICAN SENATE-HOUSE DINNERC00107276	$2,000	6
14	FRIENDS OF PHIL GRAMM '90C00170712	$2,000	6
15	HATCH ELECTION COMMITTEE INCC00104752	$2,000	6
16	BUSH - QUAYLE '92 PRIMARY COMMITTEE INCC00254912	$2,000	7
17	1981 REPUBLICAN SENATE HOUSE DINNERC00139824	$2,000	6
18	1980 REPUBLICAN SENATE-HOUSE DINNERC00117788	$2,000	6
19	JOHN MCCAIN RE-ELECTION COMMITTEEC00212894	$1,700	1
20	JOHNSTON SENATE COMMITTEEC00077537	$1,500	2
21	PRESIDENT'S DINNER/AKA 1988 REPUB SENATE-HOUSE DINNER CMTEC00221002	$1,500	6
22	PEOPLE FOR PETE (PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE FOR PETE V. DOMENICI)C00076190	$1,500	7
23	STEVENS FOR SENATE COMMITTEEC00028316	$1,500	7
24	REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEEC00003418	$1,275	2
25	THE DESERT CAUCUSC00102368	$1,200	1