Missouri Ethics Commission

Campaign Finance Electronic Filing System

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Updated May, 2014

• No contribution of cash in an amount of more than one hundred dollars shall be made by or accepted from any single contributor for any election; candidate and candidate committees cannot accept cash contributions that aggregate (total) more than $100 per person per election cycle.
• Except for Petty Cash, each expenditure of more than $50 shall be drawn from the committee’s bank account.
• No contribution may be made or accepted in a fictitious or in any manner to conceal the identity of the actual source of the contribution.
• No contribution may be accepted from any out-of-state committee unless that committee has filed the proper registration and/or reports as required by law.

Contributions Received (§130.011(11) RSMo):

A contribution is defined as a payment, gift, loan, advance, deposit, or donation of money or anything of value for the purpose of supporting or opposing the nomination or election of any candidate for public office or the qualification, passage or defeat of any ballot measure, or for the support of any committee supporting or opposing candidates or ballot measures or for paying debts or obligations of any candidate or committee previously incurred for the above purposes. A contribution of anything of value shall be deemed to have a money value equivalent to the fair market value.

• Contribution includes, but is not limited to:
  1. A candidate's own money or property used in support of the person's candidacy other than expense of the candidate's food, lodging, travel, and payment of any fee necessary to the filing for public office;
  2. Payment by any person, other than a candidate or committee, to compensate another person for services rendered to that candidate or committee;
  3. Receipts from the sale of goods and services, including the sale of advertising space in a brochure, booklet, program or pamphlet of a candidate or committee and the sale of tickets or political merchandise;
  4. Receipts from fund-raising events including testimonial affairs;
  5. Any loan, guarantee of a loan, cancellation or forgiveness of a loan or debt or other obligation by a third party, or payment of a loan or debt or other obligation by a third party if the loan or debt or other obligation was contracted, used, or intended, in whole or in part, for use in an election campaign or used or intended for the payment of such debts or obligations of a candidate or committee previously incurred, or which was made or received by a committee;
  6. Funds received by a committee which are transferred to such committee from another committee or other source, except funds received by a candidate committee as a transfer of funds from another candidate committee controlled by the same candidate but such transfer shall be included in the disclosure reports;
  7. Facilities, office space or equipment supplied by any person to a candidate or committee without charge or at reduced charges, except gratuitous space for meeting purposes which is made available regularly to the public, including other candidates or committees, on an equal basis for similar purposes on the same conditions;
  8. The direct or indirect payment by any person, other than a connected organization, of the costs of establishing, administering, or maintaining a committee, including legal, accounting and computer services, fund raising and solicitation of contributions for a committee;
• Contribution does not include:
  1. Ordinary home hospitality or services provided without compensation by individuals volunteering their time in support of or in opposition to a candidate, committee or ballot measure, nor the necessary and ordinary personal expenses of such volunteers incidental to the performance of voluntary activities, so long as no compensation is directly or indirectly asked or given;
  2. An offer or tender of a contribution which is expressly and unconditionally rejected and returned to the donor within ten business days after receipt or transmitted to the state treasurer;
  3. Interest earned on deposit of committee funds;
  4. The costs incurred by any connected organization listed pursuant to subdivision (4) of subsection 5 of section 130.021 for establishing, administering or maintaining a committee, or for the solicitation of contributions to a committee which solicitation is solely directed or related to the members, officers, directors, employees or security holders of the connected organization;

Itemized Contributions:

• §130.041.1(3) RSMo – Report to include a separate listing by name and address and employer, or occupation if self-employed or notation of retirement, of each person from whom the committee received contributions in money or any other thing of value, aggregating more than one hundred dollars, together with the date and amount of each such contribution.
• §130.011(11) (18) RSMo – Includes any contribution (monetary or in-kind) received from a committee regardless of the amount and from any person or entity exceeding $100 (including any contribution aggregating more than $100 from a single contributor during the election cycle or calendar year)
• Each itemized contribution must include:
  1. Name and address of contributor
  2. Employer or if self-employed, indicate occupation, if retired indicate retired
  3. Date received
  4. Amount received
  5. Aggregate amount received (including current contribution)
  6. Type of contribution (monetary or in-kind)

Non-Itemized Contributions by Category:

Certain types of contributions received can be totaled together (grouped by category) and reported as non-itemized contributions, including:

• Total anonymous contributions received ($25 or less per contributor and not through a fund-raiser) during the reporting period
  1. §130.031.4 RSMo – No anonymous contribution of more than twenty-five dollars shall be made by any person, and no anonymous contribution of more than twenty-five dollars shall be accepted by any candidate or committee. If any anonymous contribution of more than twenty-five dollars is received, it shall be returned immediately to the contributor, if the contributor’s identity can be ascertained, and if the contributor’s identity cannot be ascertained, the candidate, committee treasurer or deputy treasurer shall immediately transmit that portion of the contributions which exceeds twenty-five dollars to the state treasurer and it shall escheat to the state.
  2. §130.031.5 RSMo – The maximum aggregate amount of anonymous contributions which shall be accepted in any calendar year by any committee shall be the greater of five hundred dollars or one percent of the aggregate amount of all contributions received by that committee in the same calendar year. If any anonymous contribution is received which causes the aggregate total of anonymous contributions to exceed the foregoing limitation, it shall be returned immediately to the contributor, if the contributor's identity can be ascertained, and, if the contributor's identity cannot be ascertained, the committee treasurer, deputy treasurer or candidate shall immediately transmit the anonymous contribution to the state treasurer to escheat to the state.
  3. §130.031.6 RSMo - Notwithstanding the above, contributions from individuals whose names and addresses cannot be ascertained which are received from a fund-raising activity or event, such as defined in section 130.011, shall not be deemed anonymous contributions, provided the certain conditions are met (See statute for further information)
• Total monetary contributions received ($100 or less per contributor) from persons whose name, address, and employer, or, if self-employed, occupation, is included in committee records, but do not meet the reporting requirements for an itemized contribution
• Total in-kind contributions received (fair market value (FMV) is $100 or less per contributor) from persons whose name, address, and employer, or, if self-employed, occupation, is included in committee records, but do not meet the reporting requirements for an itemized contribution