Political and Policy‐Oriented Giving After Citizens United: An Update to CRC’s 2017 Analysis

Summary: CRC researchers find that the left-wing advantage in election funding through public policy and “dark money” groups increased in the 2018 elections. In the 2018 election cycle, liberal grantmakers increased their public policy 501(c)(3) giving by nearly 10 percent to $8.1 billion while conservative giving remained stable at $2.2 billion—increasing the imbalance from nearly 3.4 to 1 in 2014 to 3.7 to 1 in 2018. “Dark money” funding through 501(c)(4) groups flipped from a 3.6 to 1 advantage for conservatives to a nearly 2 to 1 ($81 million to $42 million) advantage for liberals.