Brennan Center for Justice

The Brennan Center has pioneered a clear, simple proposal — consistent with all Supreme Court rulings — to counter special interest spending: small donor public financing. Under our plan, small donations are matched and multiplied to help re-direct candidates’ attention from moneyed interests to ordinary citizens. A $50 donation in a five-to-one matching system, for example, is worth $300 to the candidate.

Harnessing new breakthroughs in small donor fundraising, along with a multiple matching fund system, this innovative reform — used successfully in New York City and elsewhere — would magnify the role of average voters in elections. In New York, the Center is working with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other reform advocates to push a voluntary public funding system for campaigns and robust disclosure of political donors. Read more on New York public financing.