The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "donations" ...
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Data Ideas for Congressional Coverage
Thorough tips and advice on how and where to look for information regarding congressmen in areas such as staff members, salaries, owned properties, received donations, etc.
Tags: congress; senate; congressman; senator; fec; legistorm; opensecrets; legislative bills; sopr; senate office of public records
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Ten Things to Look For Next Month - Midyear campaign finance filings
This list looks at what to look for in the midyear filings for both campaign finance and lobbying. From largest contributors and opponents' fundraising to new registrations and issues in the news.
Tags: campaign finance; lobbying; PAC; donations; contributions; political action committees
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Tracing Money In Federal Politics
Campbell details how to track federal campaign finance information. He identified the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as the "fountainheads of federal campaign data." Campbell gives an overview of the type of information available on these sites. And recommends searching the FEC site whenever you are backgrounding an individual.
Tags: campaign finance; federal elections; Federal Election Commission; FEC; Internal Revenue Service; IRS; backgrounding; money in politics; political contributions; campaign donations; donors
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Tracing Money in California Politics
Campbell details how to trace campaign finance information for the state of California, \"the ATM of national politics.\" The tipsheet aids in navigating information on the Secretary of State website, identifies the different ways you can search for candidates (since the 2000 primary), how to download the info into excel.
Tags: campaign finance; California; politics; donors; Secretary of State; money in politics; political contributions; campaign donations
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Campaign Finance Workshop
This Power Point presentation covers everything reporters need to know about campaign finance. It begins with an explanation of why campaign finance deserves a place in every news organization. Then, the author offers several examples of quality campaign finance investigations. Finally, the tipsheet explains new campaign finance laws and offers a list of resources for reporters covering the subject.
Tags: campaign donations; federal government; fundraising; elections; politicians; voting
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Covering Campaign Finance and Money in Politics
This tipsheet offers usable definitions and clear examples of various terms associated with campaign finance, like 527 groups, issue ads and reporting schedule.
Tags: election cycle; opensecrets.org; FEC; campaign donations
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Waiting in the Lobby...Using Cal-Access to explore the intersection of policy, politics and money
Palmer explains how to use Cal-Access (the California Secretary of State's website) to uncover the policy agenda of campaign contributors. Palmer includes lots of screen shots and walks you through each stage of the internet investigation.
Tags: campaign finance; campaign donations; FEC; state government; elections
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PACs and 527s; hard money, soft money
This in-depth tipsheet explores the nuances of federal election laws. Palmer discusses the differences between hard money and soft money, and how to find good investigative stories in each category. The tipsheet includes lots of screen shots to show how campaign finance information is available online.
Tags: PACs; campaign donations; federal elections; election cycle; expenditures; campaign laws; FEC; McCain-Feingold Bill; Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
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Tracking Political Influence
This very dense tipsheet is full of resources for investigating how businesses influence both the federal and state government. It discusses lobbying, campaign donations and other ways of influencing lawmakers, such as giving gifts. The tipsheet references a lot of websites that will be useful in this sort of journalism.
Tags: business; corporate fraud; campaign fundraising; campaign donations; backgrounding; state government; county government
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CAR Investigations into Politics
This tipsheet offers six suggestions of political stories that use CAR. For example, Salant suggests examining PAC contributions to new lawmakers, to see if donations from particular industries increase once the freshman lawmaker has a seat (and a voice) on a congressional committee. Salant also suggests checking expenditures to see where campaign money is being spent.
Tags: politics; elections; campaign finance; CAR; voting