What is this?
Illinois Sunshine is a tool for browsing political contributions in the state of Illinois.
The data comes from the Illinois State Board of Elections, which has been collecting this data electronically since 1994. We built Illinois Sunshine to give journalists, activists and citizens better access to this data.
Who has to report campaign finance?
Any political committee that exceeds $5,000 in either receipts or expenditures over the period of a year (this is the filing threshold). Once a committee exceeds the filing threshold, they are covered by the Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act (PDF) and are required to report contributions and expenditures accordingly.
What gets reported?
Hover or tap for additional details on how campaign finance is reported.
| Finance Type | Amount | Summary Totals | Itemized Disclosure | Detailed Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions | $0 - $150 | |||
| $150 - $1,000 | ||||
| $1,000+ | ||||
| Non-independent expenditures | $0 - $150 | |||
| $150+ | ||||
| Independent expenditure | $0 - $150 | |||
| $150 - $1,000 | ||||
| $1,000+ |
How is campaign finance disclosed?
The following are campaign disclosure forms required under the Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act:
| Campaign Disclosure Form | Disclosure type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| D-1 Form (Statement of Organization) | Committees | A form providing basic committee information, registering a political committee with the Illinois State Board of Elections. This form is filed after a political committee has exceeded $5,000 in either receipts or expenditures over a year (the filing threshold), at which point they are covered by the Illinois Campaign Disclosure law and thus are required to report contributions and expenditures accordingly. |
| D-1-A Form | Committees | A supplement to the D-1 Form, only required if the political committee indicated is a legislative caucus committee established by 5+ members in the same Senate caucus or 10+ members in the same House of Representatives caucus. |
| D-2 Form (Report of Campaign Contributions and Expenditures) |
Expenditures Contributions |
A form for filing a quarterly report, a final report, or an amendment to a report. These reports include summary totals of a political committee's contributions, expenditures, debts, fund balances, and investments over a given reporting period. |
| Schedule A | Contributions | A form for reporting all itemized contributions to a political committee over $150. These itemized contributions are reported quarterly. |
| Schedule A-1 | Contributions | A form for reporting a contribution of $1,000 or more from a single source. |
| Schedule B | Expenditures | A form for reporting all itemized expenditures from a political committee over $150. These itemized expenditures are reported quarterly. |
| Schedule B-1 | Ind. Expenditures | A form for reporting an independent expenditure of $1,000 or more within 30 days of an election. (An independent expenditure is an expenditure made without coordination between a spender and a candidate.) |
| Schedule B-9 | Ind. Expenditures | A form for reporting all itemized independent expenditures from a political committee over $150. (An independent expenditure is an expenditure made without coordination between a spender and a candidate.) |
| Schedule C | Contributions | A form for reporting all itemized outstanding debts and obligations of a political committee over $150 |
| Schedule I | Contributions | A form for reporting all itemized in-kind contributions to a political committee over $150. |
Data quality
We make available all raw candidate, committee and contribution data from the Illinois State Board of Elections. However, prior to July 1999, when electronic filing was introduced, much of the data is incorrect or missing. Keep this in mind when working with the data.
More resources
Interested in learning more about campaign finance disclosure in Illinois? Here are a few useful resources:
- Official Guide to Campaign Disclosure (PDF)
- Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act (PDF)
- Illinois Campaign Financing Act - Contribution Limits (PDF)
- Campaign Disclosure Glossary
- Frequently Asked Questions about Campaign Disclosure
Team and credits
This is a project by Reform for Illinois (RFI), built by DataMade, and maintained by Smart Software Solutions, Inc.
Contact us
Found a bug or have a suggestion? Contact RFI.
