Founder political money in the 2012 FEC cycle

How the Founder × 2012 join is built

LobbyVault intersects self-reported occupation with FEC two-year cycle. For FOUNDER in 2012, the dollar cell is $1,499,246. The line cell is 500 contributions. The person cell is 259 donors. Those three figures describe one filter applied to FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates. They are not three independent studies, and they are not a fourth total created by adding the occupation hub to the cycle hub.

The occupation hub Founder donations still holds $62,143,456 across the extract. The cycle hub 2012 election cycle covers every occupation in 2012, not only Founder. This ties page exists because a reader asked for both filters at once. All FEC ties is the directory of those intersections. All occupations remains the inventory of other strings that were not recoded into FOUNDER.

The Founder occupation total on this extract

The occupation-wide total for FOUNDER on this extract is $62,143,456 ($62.1 million). That figure includes every indexed cycle for the same string, not only 2012. $1,499,246 is the 2012 slice (2.4%). FOUNDER is a title people type on Schedule A occupation. LobbyVault does not merge it with CO-FOUNDER, FOUNDER/CEO, FOUNDER AND CEO, or ENTREPRENEUR. Those strings are other keys. The label is not a census of people who started companies, and it is not a NAICS entrepreneurship roll-up.

Do not treat $62,143,456 as a labor-market size. It is disclosed itemized receipts whose occupation field matched FOUNDER. People who never itemized, who used another spelling, or who left occupation blank are outside $62,143,456. The 2012 cell is a further filter on that already-narrow set. Open Founder donations for names and committees on the occupation hub rather than inventing a workforce count from 259.

What the 2012 FEC cycle covers on this join

The 2012 value is the FEC two-year election cycle that closes on the 2012 federal election calendar. It is a reporting window on individual contribution records, not a single Election Day total and not a count of offices on the ballot. Receipts dated inside that cycle window stay here; receipts dated in another even-year cycle sit on that other join. Inside that window, Founder accounts for $1,499,246 on 500 contributions from 259 donors.

The cycle hub 2012 election cycle includes every occupation string, including labels that are not FOUNDER. This page is the Founder subset of that hub. Adding this cell to other occupation–2012 cells would rebuild a cycle total only if every occupation key were included — which this packet does not list. Do not treat $1,499,246 as a share of all 2012 receipts; that denominator is not in the facts.

Contribution rows versus unique Founder donors in 2012

500 contributions and 259 donors describe different units. A row is an itemized receipt line. A donor is a unique person inside this occupation–cycle filter as LobbyVault matches names. 500 divided by 259 is the mean lines per donor in this cell; $1,499,246 divided by 259 is about $5,789 per donor; $1,499,246 divided by 500 is about $2,998 per line. Means are not medians. Large gifts pull the mean up. The packet does not publish a median.

Name matching can split one person into two donor keys or merge two people into one. 259 is therefore an index count, not a guaranteed civil roster of Founder workers. Do not convert 259 into an employment statistic. Do not convert $5,789 into a statement about what a typical Founder contributed in 2012.

What this Founder–2012 page is not

This page is not a claim that donations fund federal spending. FEC individual contributions and USAspending awards are different datasets. The join here is occupation × cycle inside FEC.gov only. It is not a ranking of occupations, not medical or political advice, and not a statement that Founder as a profession acted in concert in 2012.

Occupation labels are filer-entered. Typos, abbreviations, and bilingual titles all create extra keys. FOUNDER is a title people type on Schedule A occupation. LobbyVault does not merge it with CO-FOUNDER, FOUNDER/CEO, FOUNDER AND CEO, or ENTREPRENEUR. Those strings are other keys. The label is not a census of people who started companies, and it is not a NAICS entrepreneurship roll-up. Cite FEC.gov via LobbyVault. For the live occupation table use Founder donations; for the live cycle table use 2012 election cycle; for peer strings use all occupations; for other joins use all FEC ties.

Questions

How much did Founder filers give in the 2012 FEC cycle?

Itemized individual contributions with occupation FOUNDER total $1,499,246 in the 2012 FEC cycle. LobbyVault counts 500 contributions and 259 unique donors in that cell. The occupation-wide total for the same string on this extract is $62,143,456, so 2012 is 2.4% of that roll-up. Figures come from FEC.gov aggregates. Labels are filer-entered.

Is $1,499,246 the full Founder occupation total?

No. $1,499,246 is the 2012 slice only. The occupation hub still shows $62,143,456 across the extract. This page is a join: occupation string plus even-year cycle. It is not a restatement of Founder donations and not a restatement of 2012 election cycle. Adding other cycles here would invent dollars the packet does not list.

How many Founder donors are in the 2012 cell?

The join lists 259 unique donors and 500 contribution lines for FOUNDER in 2012. A person can give more than once, so lines exceed donors. About $5,789 per donor and $2,998 per line are means from $1,499,246, not medians and not typical gifts. Name matching can split or merge people. This is not a job-census headcount.

Does Founder include nearby job titles in 2012?

No. The filter is the exact occupation string FOUNDER as filers typed it. Nearby titles stay on other keys listed under all occupations. The string is not a NAICS code, not a BLS occupation, and not a PAC. See Founder donations for this key’s all-cycle table and all FEC ties for other joins. Cite FEC.gov.