Business donations in the 2012 FEC cycle

A placeholder title in 2012

BUSINESS plus cycle 2012 equals $1,591,127. Business owner, businessman, and entrepreneur are other keys if those extra words appear. This join does not recode the one-word placeholder into a small-business census.

Parent hubs: Business donations and the 2012 election cycle. All FEC ties keeps the one-word Business cell distinct from owner and CEO titles.

The occupation hub for Business lists $18.6 million ($18,619,893) under the exact string BUSINESS. The 2012 election-cycle hub is a different cut: every occupation that filed in 2012, not only this label. This ties page is the cell where those two filters meet. All occupations and All FEC ties keep sibling joins in the same directory so a reader can move without mixing totals.

Party, committee, and employer breakdowns for Business in 2012 are not fields in this packet. Do not infer a partisan split from $1.6 million. The occupation page and the 2012 cycle page are the next clicks for named committees and other cuts.

Why BUSINESS is a noisy bucket

$18.6 million ($18,619,893) under BUSINESS is a pile of identical strings, not a Chamber of Commerce roster. People who wrote business owner or self employed (if those strings exist) split off. This page does not stitch those variants together.

The 2012 slice is 8.5% of that noisy bucket. A noisy bucket still has a real disclosure total: $1.6 million in this cell.

Amended individual contribution reports can move $1,591,127. A later harvest of the same occupation string can move $18,619,893. Rewrite only the sentence whose source moved. Live Business donations and the live 2012 election cycle pages are the tables; this prose is a packet snapshot.

Itemized individual contributions are the only receipt class in this cell. Unitemized gifts below the itemization threshold, in-kind goods, and bundled contributions without this occupation string are outside $1,591,127. If a later harvest revises 1,164 or 529, revise the volume sentence and leave the occupation rollup ($18,619,893) unchanged unless that rollup moved too.

529 donors behind the placeholder

529 donors and 1,164 receipts — about 2.2 lines per donor. Mean per donor about $3,008; mean per receipt about $1,367. A 529-donor presidential-year file can be top-heavy. No median.

Because the word is vague, the mean says even less than usual about a typical filer. $1.6 million is still the correct citation for this key in 2012.

1,164 is a receipt count. 529 is a distinct-donor count inside this occupation-cycle cell. Neither figure is a headcount of everyone who works in the field named by the string. People who left the occupation blank, used a nearby spelling, or listed a more specific title are not in $1.6 million.

Do not upgrade Business to an industry

Cite $1,591,127 as Business in 2012, a filer-entered occupation word. Cite $18,619,893 as that word’s occupation total. Do not call either figure small-business giving or Chamber PAC money.

FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates. All occupations lists neighboring owner and executive titles.

Dividing $1,591,127 by 1,164 receipts yields about $1,367 per line. Dividing by 529 donors yields about $3,008 per person in the cell. Those ratios are arithmetic on two harvested integers. They are not medians, not typical gifts, and not a claim about income.

Not a firm census

Business does not mean incorporated, employer, or Main Street. It means the occupation box said BUSINESS. Filers who wrote owner or CEO are outside $1.6 million if those are different strings.

No party split, no ranking of industries. 1,164 receipts and 529 donors are the volume facts.

FEC.gov individual contribution files carry the occupation as the filer typed it. This join does not recode BUSINESS into a Bureau of Labor Statistics title, a NAICS code, or a medical-board specialty. If a researcher needs those crosswalks, they start from the raw string and do the mapping themselves.

Questions

How much did Business-occupation filers donate in 2012?

Filers who listed Business itemized $1,591,127 in FEC individual contributions in 2012, from 1,164 receipts and 529 donors. That is 8.5% of $18,619,893 under BUSINESS. Business owner and entrepreneur are other keys when those extra words appear on the form.

Is Business a small-business total?

No. It is one occupation string stored as typed on FEC.gov. It is not firm size, not NAICS, and not a Chamber roster. The occupation rollup is $18.6 million; the 2012 overlap is $1.6 million. Figures are FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates. Business in 2012 is $1,591,127 on 1,164 receipts from 529 donors.

Does this include business PACs?

No. $1,591,127 is individual contributions tagged Business. Trade-association and corporate PACs file as committees. See Business donations or the 2012 cycle hub for committee names. Party is not a field in this packet. Figures are FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates. Business in 2012 is $1,591,127 on 1,164 receipts from 529 donors.

What two tables does this page join?

The Business occupation hub ($18.6 million) and the 2012 election cycle. The overlap is $1,591,127 from 529 donors. All FEC ties lists other occupation-cycle cells. All occupations lists neighboring titles. Figures are FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates. Business in 2012 is $1,591,127 on 1,164 receipts from 529 donors.