Reported Data
Schedule A – Direct Contributions Over $100
Organizations report contributions made to them on Schedule A. Transparency USA and Virginia both report these as basic positive contributions.
Schedule B – In-Kind Contributions Over $100
In-kind contributions are non-cash contributions of goods or services in which no money changed hands. Virginia counts in-kind contributions as both a contribution to an organization, and an expenditure by the organization. Presumably, these are meant to offset each other, since no money was exchanged.
Transparency USA reports in-kind contributions only as contributions since it benefits the organization and not the contributor. In-kind notes are included on individual contribution detail pages.
Schedule C – Bank Interest, Refunded Expenditures & Rebates
Schedule C reports non-contribution cash received by the campaign, described by Virginia as bank interest, refunded expenditures and rebates. Virginia reports this cash in its own category, but includes them with contributions (or total receipts) in some of their report summaries.
The reports do not provide enough information to determine if cash in Schedule C is interest or a refund, so Transparency USA reports them all as negative expenditures, since refunds and returns are most common, and displaying it as a contribution from a financial institution would be misleading.
Refund Example:
- A PAC reports a $1000 expenditure on Schedule D to donate to a candidate.
- The candidate refuses to accept the donation, and returns it to the PAC.
- The PAC then reports a $1000 item on Schedule C.
- Virginia’s reports inflate the PAC’s receipts and expenditures by $1000, which is not incorrect, but also unclear.
- Transparency USA reports negate each other with regard to the organizations total expenditures.
Interest Example:
- A PAC reports receiving $100 in interest from a bank account on Schedule C.
- Virginia reports this as a receipt, and summarizes it as a contribution.
- Transparency USA reports a -$100 expenditure.
Schedule D – Expenditures
Organizations report money spent or donated on Schedule D. Transparency USA and Virginia both report these as basic positive expenditures.
Schedule E – Loans
Organizations report loans received and repaid on Schedule E. Virginia classifies loans received and repaid in their own category. Transparency USA regards loan payments as expenditures, and we track loans received separately.
Schedule G – Statement of Funds
Organizations report un-itemized cash and in-kind contributions $100 or less, among totals from other schedules, on Schedule G. These are two individual line items that report the sum of all small cash and in-kind contributions. These are reported just like larger cash contributions (Schedule A) and in-kind contributions (Schedule B), except that they are all rolled into one record per report.
Party Information
Transparency USA displays the current party affiliation for active candidates and officeholders. The party information displayed may not be accurate:
- For candidates who are not actively running for or serving in state-level office
- When accessing candidate or officeholder data from previous election cycles
Party affiliation for active candidates and officeholders is provided by Ballotpedia.