What happens when I give to a draft fund?

Draft funds let grassroots communities persuade a specific person to run for office by gathering a pot of grassroots money and supporter names to be sent to that person if they file to run for office. In this way, small-dollar donors can try to “draft” a candidate, and if that person runs for office they will start their campaign with clear grassroots support (and money). Draft funds are a concrete way to encourage women, people of color, and folks from other underrepresented communities to run for office! 

When you give to a draft fund, we’ll hold your donation in escrow until the potential candidate named by the fund makes their decision. If they decide to run for office, they’ll receive all of the money in the fund within 10 days of their FEC filing. If they do not run for office, the money will go to a different recipient specified on the contribution form — most often the group managing that particular draft fund. All of this will be noted on the contribution form and accessible to the donor at the time of giving.

Please note there can be multiple draft funds created by different groups for the same potential candidate. Additionally, if you give to a draft fund and the potential candidate does file for office, your contribution will count toward your contribution limit for that specific campaign.

Draft funds are different than nominee funds on ActBlue: Nominee funds go to whichever candidate wins a specified Democratic primary and becomes the Democratic nominee, while draft funds are a persuasion tool to encourage a specific candidate to run for a specific office. 

ActBlue does not run draft fund efforts, endorse the potential candidates they name, or ever receive money raised into draft funds. We pass along the funds according to the draft fund language visible to donors when contributing. We report all federal contributions to the FEC, including all draft fund disbursements.

As a nonprofit, we use tips from donors to pay our bills. We don’t profit from any of the contributions we process, including draft funds. You can add an optional tip for us on the contribution form when you enter your credit card information.