ActBlue does not endorse individual candidates. The organization is open to Democratic campaigns, candidates, committees, and progressive 5014 organizations. Groups that use ActBlue pay a 3.95% credit card processing fee. As a nonprofit, ActBlue runs its own, separate fundraising program and accepts tips on contributions to pay for its expenses. ActBlue was founded in 2004 by Benjamin Rahn and Matt DeBergalis. In February 2016, ActBlue launched AB Charities, an arm of the organization that makes ActBlue's fundraising tools available to nonprofits. Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns used ActBlue for contributions. 2020 presidential candidateJoe Biden has also used ActBlue for fundraising.
ActBlue reports to the Federal Election Commission all contributors to Federal campaigns, regardless of the amount. When a candidate for a Federal election raises money through ActBlue, ActBlue serves as a conduit for election law purposes. All conduit contributions are itemized and reported. By contrast, there is a $200 threshold for reporting individuals who contribute directly to a candidate committee. Many small donors, whose names would ordinarily be shielded, are thus exposed to the public.
Fundraising
Several records for the year of 2020 were broken in the week following the killing of George Floyd, with over $19 million raised on May 31st, the highest so far that year. On June 1st, that yearly record was again broken with $20 million in donations. Over half of donations in the week following the killing went to charitable causes, including one ActBlue page devoted to a bail fund which raised over $1.5 million dollars from over 20,000 donors. In the 2018 midterms elections, ActBlue raised $1.6 billion for Democratic candidates. According to FEC data, from January 2017 to October 2018Beto O’Rourke had raised $45m through ActBlue for his unsuccessful run against Ted Cruz, 48% of which came from outside Texas. In 2019, ActBlue raised roughly $1 billion for a wide variety of campaigns. The Daily Beast notes that between January and mid-July 2019, ActBlue brought in $420 million, and that "According to the organization, that total came from 3.3 million unique donors and was dispersed to almost 9,000 Democratic campaigns and organizations, with $246 million coming in the second quarter alone." ActBlue raised $19 million in its first three years, from 2004 to 2007. In the 2005-2006 campaign, the site raised $17 million for 1500 Democratic candidates, with $15.5 million going to congressional campaigns. By August 2007, the site had raised $25.5 million.
Related products
In 2019, the Republican Party created a rival platform, WinRed, to counter ActBlue's strength in small-donor fundraising.
