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FOUNDER

Total Donated

$62,143,456

Contributions

18,800

Unique Donors

1,729

Donors who listed FOUNDER as occupation account for $62,143,456 in itemized federal receipts in LobbyVault’s FEC.gov bulk index. Those dollars sit on 18,800 contributions from only 1,729 donor records. FOUNDER is a small pool with a very high mean per donor record, stored apart from CO-FOUNDER. In compact form that dollar total is $62.1 million in the LobbyVault index of FEC bulk data.

Key figures

  • FOUNDER occupation itemizations sum to $62,143,456 from 18,800 contributions and 1,729 donors.
  • Mean amounts are about $3,306 per contribution and about $35,942 per donor record.
  • CO-FOUNDER is a separate FEC occupation key.
  • The title is self-reported and is not matched to a company registry.

Few records, large average amounts

1,729 donor records against $62,143,456 is about $35,942 per donor record, among the highest means in this harvest. 18,800 itemizations imply about $3,306 per contribution and about 11 contributions per donor. The stack is thin; the dollars per person are not.

Means of this size move with a heavy tail. The packet has no median. Do not treat about $35,942 as a typical founder check.

CO-FOUNDER is a different occupation page. A person who used both strings across gifts appears in both totals. This overlay cites only $62,143,456, 18,800 contributions, and 1,729 donors.

A title without a company registry

Writing FOUNDER on an FEC form is not proof of a venture-backed startup. Founders of restaurants, agencies, and nonprofits can share the word. Best-efforts collection records the donor’s text, not a Secretary of State officer list or a cap table.

CEO, OWNER, and EXECUTIVE are neighboring titles. Mixed use across gifts splits dollars by the occupation string on each line.

Full analysis: FOUNDER occupation money in FEC itemizations →

Questions

How much have FOUNDER-occupation donors given?
Occupation FOUNDER is attached to $62,143,456 in LobbyVault’s FEC bulk index, from 18,800 contributions and 1,729 donor records. CO-FOUNDER is a separate string. 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; this packet is the harvested occupation key.
Why is the average founder total so high?
$62,143,456 across 1,729 donor records is about $35,942 per record, and about $3,306 per itemization. Those are arithmetic means on a small-volume key. The packet does not include a median. The matching contribution count is 18,800 and the matching donor-record count is 1,729. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.
Is CO-FOUNDER included in FOUNDER?
No. CO-FOUNDER has its own occupation page. This page covers FOUNDER only: $62,143,456, 18,800 contributions, and 1,729 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; this packet is the harvested occupation key.
Does FOUNDER mean a tech startup founder?
Not necessarily. The occupation field is free text. Founders in any sector may use the word. Employer, when filled, is a different column. The matching contribution count is 18,800 and the matching donor-record count is 1,729. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.

Occupation is self-reported on FEC Form 3/3X itemizations. Indexed on LobbyVault from FEC bulk data.

Occupation × state ties

All data ties →