HELPFUL HINTS FOR
ESTABLISHING A
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
DISCLOSURE DATABASE
Larry Makinson, author of the Follow the Money Handbook , a guide designed to aid reporters with computer-assisted money-in-politics research, has created a structure for setting up a campaign finance database. While intended for journalists, a number of his recommendations can also help agencies with the nuts and bolts of setting up a user-friendly disclosure database.
The handbook is available at no cost by contacting the Center for Responsive Politics.
The basic framework for a campaign finance disclosure database includes the fields listed below. Suggested length of fields and the type of information (character, date, or numeric) that will make up each field also follow.
| Data |
Field Name |
Length |
Field Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contributor's name | Contname | 40 | Character |
| Contributor type | Conttype | 1 | Character |
| Candidate's name | Candname | 20 | Character |
| Contributor's address | Address | 40 | Character |
| Contributor's city | City | 18 | Character |
| Contributor's state | State | 2 | Character |
| Contributor's zip | Zip | 5 | Character |
| Contributor's occupation | Occupation | 30 | Character |
| Contributor's employer | Employer | 40 | Character |
| Contribution date | Date | 8 | Date |
| Amount | Amount | 5 | Numeric |
| PACID | PACID | 9 | Character |
| CONTRIBUTOR TYPES | |||
| P= Political Action Committees | |||
| I= Individuals | |||
| C= Corporation or other business organizations | |||
| L= Labor Union | |||
| R= Republican Party and its affiliates | |||
| D= Democratic Party and its affiliates | |||
| 3= Other political parties |