Occasionally, campaigns receive funds from truly anonymous sources; that is, no one involved in the campaign knows who donated the money. Candidates and committees may retain anonymous contributions up to $500 or 1 percent of the total contributions received in a calendar year, whichever is greater. Campaigns may not use the anonymous contribution provision to avoid identifying contributors.
Once the candidate or committee has received more than $50,000 in total contributions in the current calendar year, the anonymous contribution limits are calculated at 1 percent of total contributions received to date, for the remainder of that calendar year.
Excluded from calculating the 1 percent of the total aggregate contributions received in a calendar year by a candidate or committee are the following:
- Candidate surplus funds or political committee funds carried forward from the last election, and transfers from a registered surplus funds account into a candidate's current campaign account.
- All anonymous contributions received during the current calendar year.
- All miscellaneous receipts including refunds, low-cost fundraisers, sale of goods/services for their fair market value, etc" received during the current calendar year.
If the campaign cannot identify the donor and accepting the anonymous contribution would put the candidate over the limit, the money must be forfeited to the state's general fund. Immediately send a check to PDC payable to the State Treasurer in the amount of the overage, along with an explanation of the circumstances surrounding receipt of excess anonymous funds.