SELF
Total Donated
$673,590,882
Contributions
3,006,850
Unique Donors
117,055
Top Employer
SELF
Filers who entered the four-letter employer/occupation value SELF account for $673.6M in itemized federal contributions, per FEC.gov aggregates on LobbyVault. That rollup is 3,006,850 contributions from 117,055 donors. SELF is a self-reported FEC string, not a NAICS industry, and it is shorter than SELF-EMPLOYED or SELF EMPLOYED — three different stored values, three different totals. This page is only the bare word SELF.
Key figures
- The FEC string SELF accounts for $673.6M in itemized gifts.
- 117,055 donors produced 3,006,850 contribution lines.
- SELF is not merged with SELF-EMPLOYED or SELF EMPLOYED.
- The label is self-reported FEC text, not a NAICS industry.
A truncated workplace answer
Contribution forms leave little space. Some donors type SELF instead of a trade, a shop name, or SELF-EMPLOYED. Committees report the characters they received. LobbyVault therefore ranks SELF as its own industry key even though a reader might call it an abbreviation of self-employment.
The $673.6M total must not be added, on this page, to the hyphenated or spaced self-employed rows. Doing that in a notebook is optional. The FEC file keeps the strings apart, and so does LobbyVault.
Receipt volume under a four-letter label
117,055 donors generated 3,006,850 SELF contribution lines. The receipt-to-donor gap is wide, consistent with repeat itemized giving. The aggregate does not say whether those donors also appear under CONSULTANT, CONTRACTOR, or a DBA name in other years.
SELF sits near ATTORNEY in headline dollars ($673.6M versus the attorney row's own total) but the underlying populations are different self-descriptions. Dollar proximity in a ranked table is not a social similarity score.
Full analysis: The FEC string SELF: $673.6M in itemized gifts →
Questions
- How much federal money is labeled SELF on FEC forms?
- The SELF string totals $673.6M in itemized individual receipts on LobbyVault, from 3,006,850 contributions and 117,055 donors. SELF-EMPLOYED and SELF EMPLOYED are different strings with different totals. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.
- Is SELF just shorthand for self-employed?
- Sometimes a donor meant that, but the FEC stores literal text. LobbyVault does not recode SELF into SELF-EMPLOYED. The $673.6M figure is only the four-letter value. It is not a NAICS sector. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.
- How many unique SELF donors are there?
- LobbyVault counts 117,055 donors and 3,006,850 contribution lines. Repeat gifts explain the larger receipt count. The donor figure is not a Census count of sole proprietors. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.
- Does this include people who named their own company?
- Usually no. A typed company name becomes a different industry key. SELF is the rows where that word is the grouped label. Check occupation pages if the second field is more specific. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC 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.
Cycle-over-Cycle Trend
| Cycle | Total | Contributions | Donors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | $110,611 | 170 | 122 |
| 1982 | $65,360 | 65 | 34 |
| 1984 | $59,280 | 72 | 31 |
| 1986 | $28,775 | 31 | 24 |
| 1988 | $30,225 | 33 | 17 |
| 1990 | $31,150 | 52 | 25 |
| 1992 | $77,578 | 85 | 29 |
| 1994 | $41,150 | 66 | 28 |
| 1996 | $86,784 | 97 | 30 |
| 1998 | $43,650 | 47 | 16 |
| 2000 | $78,600 | 66 | 26 |
| 2002 | $41,959 | 51 | 17 |
| 2004 | $66,994 | 76 | 31 |
| 2006 | $56,460 | 51 | 19 |
| 2008 | $109,830 | 120 | 28 |
| 2010 | $59,272 | 86 | 25 |
| 2012 | $100,346 | 132 | 22 |
| 2014 | $75,209 | 117 | 20 |
Top Donors
| # | Name | Total | Contributions | City / State | Occupation | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LEIGHTON, MARY MORRIS | $4,550 | 7 | SOUTH BEND, IN | — | 1980 |
| 2 | BOSWELL, BRUCE L | $4,250 | 6 | FORTH WORTH, TX | — | 1980 |
| 3 | BRIX, PETER J | $4,050 | 7 | PORTLAND, OR | — | 1980 |
| 4 | DAVIS, PONCET JR | $3,500 | 4 | SHEFFIELD, AL | — | 1980 |
| 5 | KAPLAN, BERNARD B | $2,250 | 3 | WEST HARTFORD, CT | — | 1980 |
| 6 | AIKMAN, WILLIAM H | $2,000 | 2 | MIDLAND, TX | — | 1980 |
| 7 | HAYNES, WILLIAM J | $2,000 | 2 | CHICAGO, IL | — | 1980 |
| 8 | ALREK, A B | $2,000 | 2 | VICTORIA, TX | — | 1980 |
| 9 | CASADY, KENT | $2,000 | 2 | SAN DIEGO, CA | — | 1980 |
| 10 | LASHER, MARY | $2,000 | 2 | NEW YORK, NY | — | 1980 |
| 11 | BERNER, EDGAR F | $2,000 | 2 | SAN DIEGO, CA | — | 1980 |
| 12 | BARRON, DON M | $2,000 | 3 | FARMERVILLE, LA | — | 1980 |
| 13 | GRAVOIS, JAMES | $1,800 | 2 | VACHERIE, LA | — | 1980 |
| 14 | GOSSARD, BILL | $1,750 | 4 | CRAIG, CO | — | 1980 |
| 15 | CHILCOTE, M L | $1,500 | 2 | EL CAJON, CA | — | 1980 |
| 16 | KELLY, ROBERT L COL | $1,500 | 2 | PARADISE VALLEY, AZ | — | 1980 |
| 17 | BEASLEY, E B | $1,375 | 2 | KINGWOOD, TX | — | 1980 |
| 18 | MARSHALL, ARCH B MR | $1,350 | 2 | HOUSTON, TX | — | 1980 |
| 19 | KRUTZSCH, AUGUST | $1,200 | 2 | SAN DIEGO, CA | — | 1980 |
| 20 | HERMAN, MICHAEL | $1,019 | 2 | — | — | 1980 |
| 21 | BROWN, ROWLAND W | $1,000 | 1 | COLUMBUS, OH | — | 1980 |
| 22 | BICTOR, G ROGER | $1,000 | 1 | BELLEVUE, WA | — | 1980 |
| 23 | BROEDER, WILLIAM | $1,000 | 1 | MIAMI, FL | — | 1980 |
| 24 | DISALLE, DANIEL | $1,000 | 1 | MAUMEE, OH | — | 1980 |
| 25 | CHALMERS, J | $1,000 | 1 | JACKSONVILLE, FL | — | 1980 |
| 26 | GOLDBERG, ROBERT A | $1,000 | 1 | WELLESLEY, MA | — | 1980 |
| 27 | COLLINS, GROVER | $1,000 | 1 | LOS ANGELES, CA | — | 1980 |
| 28 | GOOD, JEFF MR | $1,000 | 1 | FT SUMNER, NM | — | 1980 |
| 29 | HANCE, SAM J | $1,000 | 1 | LAFAYETTE, LA | — | 1980 |
| 30 | BUCK, WILLIAM P DR | $1,000 | 1 | BIRMINGHAM, AL | — | 1980 |
| 31 | CARBONI, DAVID | $1,000 | 1 | FRAMINGHAM, MA | — | 1980 |
| 32 | HALEY, FRED C | $1,000 | 1 | CANTON, GA | — | 1980 |
| 33 | FAULCONER, VERNON E | $1,000 | 1 | TYLER, TX | — | 1980 |
| 34 | JOUKOWSKY, ARTEMIS | $1,000 | 2 | LARCHMONT, NY | — | 1980 |
| 35 | HARLOW, BRYCE N | $1,000 | 2 | HARPERS FERRY, WV | — | 1980 |
| 36 | LAFLEUR, CEDRIC S | $1,000 | 1 | MORGAN CITY, LA | — | 1980 |
| 37 | KETTMAN, RAY J | $1,000 | 1 | AUBURN, WA | — | 1980 |
| 38 | HALL, A J | $1,000 | 1 | KILLEEN, TX | — | 1980 |
| 39 | HARTSOUGH, H W | $1,000 | 1 | OWENSBORO, KY | — | 1980 |
| 40 | ANDREWS, JIM | $1,000 | 1 | SYLVESTER, GA | — | 1980 |
| 41 | KENNEDY, ARDYTH | $1,000 | 1 | SAN DIEGO, CA | — | 1980 |
| 42 | HART, THOMAS R | $1,000 | 1 | TOLEDO, OH | — | 1980 |
| 43 | D HEMECOURT, ROBERT J | $1,000 | 1 | NEW ORLEANS, LA | — | 1980 |
| 44 | CHRISTIANSON, JOHN | $1,000 | 1 | PALM BEACH, FL | — | 1980 |
| 45 | FORETICH, JOSEPH J | $1,000 | 1 | BATON ROGUE, LA | — | 1980 |
| 46 | DEVAZIER, BRAD | $1,000 | 1 | FORREST CITY, AR | — | 1980 |
| 47 | CROWDER, JAMES F MRS | $1,000 | 1 | NEW ORLEANS, LA | — | 1980 |
| 48 | FISKE, GUY | $1,000 | 1 | ST LOUIS, MO | — | 1980 |
| 49 | BETTS, IRVIN H DR. | $1,000 | 1 | VISALIA, CA | — | 1980 |
| 50 | DOLL, FRANCIS JR | $1,000 | 1 | ST LOUIS, MO | — | 1980 |
Top Recipients
| # | Committee | Total | Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACTBLUEC00401224 | $193,812 | 16 |
| 2 | WINREDC00694323 | $69,696 | 12 |
| 3 | NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (NBAA-PAC)C00319723 | $55,000 | 2 |
| 4 | REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEEC00003418 | $38,418 | 19 |
| 5 | HILLARY VICTORY FUNDC00586537 | $37,675 | 6 |
| 6 | OBAMA FOR AMERICAC00431445 | $37,299 | 11 |
| 7 | DNC SERVICES CORP / DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEEC00010603 | $36,543 | 26 |
| 8 | RNC REPUBLICAN NATIONAL STATE ELECTIONS COMMITTEEC60000015 | $35,863 | 8 |
| 9 | HARRIS VICTORY FUNDC00744946 | $35,054 | 5 |
| 10 | MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN PACC00580100 | $31,058 | 11 |
| 11 | NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE - CONTRIBUTIONS *C00091009 | $25,750 | 26 |
| 12 | MICHAEL WALTZ FOR CONGRESSC00666396 | $22,700 | 3 |
| 13 | DSCCC00042366 | $22,673 | 16 |
| 14 | NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE CONTRIBUTIONSC00002931 | $22,130 | 10 |
| 15 | DCCCC00000935 | $19,975 | 9 |
| 16 | MIKE KELLY FOR CONGRESSC00474189 | $15,900 | 1 |
| 17 | TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEEC00618371 | $15,856 | 11 |
| 18 | LARSON FOR CONGRESSC00330142 | $13,050 | 2 |
| 19 | FIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE PACC00703975 | $12,717 | 10 |
| 20 | OBAMA VICTORY FUND 2012C00494740 | $11,500 | 5 |
| 21 | GEORGIA REPUBLICAN PARTY INC.C00150672 | $10,750 | 1 |
| 22 | PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE IC00107235 | $10,500 | 2 |
| 23 | GW PACC00333427 | $10,200 | 7 |
| 24 | HILLARY FOR AMERICAC00575795 | $10,165 | 6 |
| 25 | HILER FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEEC00122002 | $10,150 | 7 |