Top Contributors, federal election data for Bernie Sanders, 2020 cycle

This page shows contributions grouped by contributor to the candidate's campaign committee plus any super PACs or hybrid PACs working on his or her behalf

This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2020 cycle. The money came from the organizations' PACs; their individual members, employees or owners; and those individuals' immediate families. At the federal level, the organizations themselves did not donate, as they are prohibited by law from doing so. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Contributor Total
Alphabet Inc $963,943
University of California $903,237
Amazon.com $781,837
Apple Inc $480,498
US Postal Service $438,076
Microsoft Corp $430,804
City of New York, NY $397,513
Kaiser Permanente $313,574
AT&T Inc $298,156
US Army $290,892
US Air Force $286,519
Walmart Inc $271,790
State of California $263,087
US Dept of Defense $247,397
Facebook Inc $240,915
US Government $239,081
US Dept of Veterans Affairs $228,427
United Parcel Service $221,358
Walt Disney Co $217,162
IBM Corp $214,977

Why (and How) We Use Donors' Employer/Occupation Information

Corporations themselves cannot donate to candidates at the federal level but federal candidates can get contributions from corporate PACs, employees and owners as well as their immediate families. At the state level, corporations and unions can give directly to campaigns in many jurisdictions.

Under federal law, all contributions over $200 must be itemized and the donor's occupation and employer must be requested and disclosed, if provided. State requirements related to itemization thresholds and employment disclosures vary.

Where available, OpenSecrets uses that employer/occupation information to identify the donor's economic interest. We do this in two ways:

  • First, we apply a code to the contribution, identifying the industry. Totals for industries (and larger economic sectors) can be seen in each candidate and race profile, and in the Industry Profile section of the OpenSecrets website.
  • Second, we standardize the name of the donor's employer. If enough contributions came in from people connected with that same employer, the organization's name winds up on the Top Contributors list.

It is impossible to know either the economic interest that made each individual contribution possible or the motivation for each individual giver. However, the patterns of contributions provide critical information for voters, researchers and others. That is why Congress and many states have mandated that candidates, political parties and political committees request employer information from contributors and publicly report it when the contributor provides it.

In some cases, a cluster of contributions from people associated with the same organization may indicate a concerted effort by that organization to "bundle" contributions to the candidate. In other cases, the reason for the contributions may be completely unrelated to the organization.

Showing these clusters of contributions from people associated with particular organizations provides a valuable — and unique — way of understanding where candidates are getting their financial support. Knowing those groups is also useful after the election, as issues come before Congress, presidential administrations and state governments that may affect those organizations or their industries.

NOTE: Federal-level numbers are for the 2020 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on 03/22/21.

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