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Campaign finance refers to the means by which money is raised for election campaigns. As campaigns have many expenditures, ranging from the cost of travel for the candidate and others to the purchasing of air time for TV advertisements, candidates often spend a great deal of time and effort raising money to finance their cause.

Although the political science literature indicates that most contributors give to support candidates with whom they already in agreement,([1]) it is widely believed that donors expect something in return (such as specific legislation being enacted or defeated) so some have come to equate campaign finance with political corruption and bribery. These views have led some governments to impose restrictions on fundraising sources and techniques in the hope of eliminating perceived undue influence being given to monied interests. Another tactic is for the government, rather than private interests, to provide funding for campaigns.

Democratic countries have differing views on what is legal and what types of donations to political parties and campaigns are acceptable.

Several disciplines, such as economics, public policy, public choice theory, and collective action theory attempt to understand the dynamics of the political processes.

Some democracies rely heavily on private donors to bankroll political campaigns. In these countries, fundraising is often a significant activity for the campaign staff and the candidate, especially in larger and more prominent campaigns. For example, one unscientific survey in the United States found that 23% of candidates for statewide office surveyed spent more than half of their scheduled time raising money, and over half of all candidates surveyed spent at least 1/4 of their time on fundraising.^[1]. The tactics used can include direct mail solicitation, attempts to encourage supporters to contribute via the Internet, direct solicitation from the candidate, and high-priced events specifically for the purpose of fundraising.

Most countries that rely on private donations to fund campaigns require extensive disclosure of donations, frequently including information such as the name, employer and address of donors. This is intended to allow for policing of undue donor influence by other campaigns or by good government groups, while preserving the benefits of private financing, including the right to make donations and to spend money for political speech, and allowing the government to save the expense of funding political speech which some citizens may find odious (see [2]). Supporters of private financing systems believe that, in addition to avoiding government limitations on speech, they foster civic involvement and ensure that a diversity of views are heard.

Other countries choose to use government funding to run campaigns. The mechanisms for this can be quite varied, ranging from direct subsidy of political parties to government matching funds for certain types of private donations (often small donations) and many other systems as well. Supporters of public financing generally believe that the public financing system decreases corruption; in addition, many proponents believe that public financing promotes other values, such as civic participation or greater faith in the political process. Not all public financing is delivered in the form of money; some systems require campaign materials (often air time on television) to be provided at very low rates to the candidates. Critics sometimes complain of the expense of the public financing systems. Libertarian critics of the system argue that government should not subsidize political speech. Other critics argue that public financing, with its emphasis on equalizing money resources, merely exaggerates differences in non-monetary resources.

In many countries, such as Germany and the United States, campaigns are funded by a combination of private and public money.

• Campaign finance in the United States
• Political donations in Australia
• Campaign finance reform
• Clean elections
• Hatch Act of 1939
• Hard money (politics)
• No-bid contract
• Pacific scandal
• Soft money
• Election promise

Ansolabehere, Stephen; John de Figueiredo, James M. Snyder, Jr. (2003). "Why Is There So Little Money in U.S. politics?" (PDF). Journal of Economic Perspectives 17 (1): 105-130. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. 

Will, George. "'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Hypocrisy", The Washington Post, 2005-12-11. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. 

• Ackerman, Bruce and Ian Ayres (February 10, 2004). Voting with Dollars. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10149-X. 
• Alexander, Herbert E. "Campaign Financing in International Perspective" in Michael J. Malbin, ed. (1980). Parties Interest Groups and Campaign Finance Laws. American Enterprise Institute. ISBN 0-8447-2167-0. 
• Birnbaum, Jeffrey (June 6, 2000). The Money Men : The Real Story of Fund-raising's Influence on Political Power in America. Crown. ISBN 0-8129-3119-X. 
• Clawson, Dan ; Alan Neustadtl; Mark Weller (May, 1998). Dollars and Votes: How Business Campaign Contributions Subvert Democracy. Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-626-3. 
• Coate, Steven (2004). Pareto Improving Campaign Finance Policy. American Economic Review. 
• Goodliffe, Jay BYU Syllabus for Money in Politics. Reading List. Retrieved on Fall, 2003. Extensive list of articles on Money in Politics
• Green, Mark (2004). Selling Out: How Big Corporate Money Buys Elections, Rams Through Legislation, and Betrays Our Democracy. Regan Books. ISBN 0-06-073582-1.  New York mayoral candidate who lost to Bloomberg.
• Malbin, Michael J. (March 2006). The Election After Reform: Money, Politics, and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.. ISBN 0-7425-3870-2. 
• John Samples. The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226734507. 
• Smith, Bradley A. (March 1, 2001). Unfree Speech : The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07045-8. 
• Talbot, Stephen (Producer). (1992) The Best Campaign Money Can Buy [TV-Series]. United States: Frontline (PBS Video); Center for Investigative Reporting.
• Ward, Gene. Transparency in Money in Politics: A Comparison of the United States and Canada.  PDF
• Vanberg, Christoph (2005). "One Man, One Dollar?" Examining the equalization argument in support of campaign contribution limits. MPI. 

• Center for Competitive Politics
• More on United States campaign law
• Campaign Finance Institute
• Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding campaign finance
• NEWSMEAT campaign contribution search engine
• PoliticalMoneyLine
• OpenSecrets
• Campaign Money Search
• The National Institute on Money in State Politics
• Institute for Law and Politics at the University of Minnesota Law School