Statement of Contributions Received - Form 31-A

The Statement of Contributions lists all money received except interest income, loans, refunds or prior expenditures that are returned to the committee [R.C. 3517.10(B), (D)].

Every contributor's name, address and amount contributed must be listed except contributions of $25 or less received at specific fund-raising events. The treasurer must still keep records of these contributions even if they are not required in the report.

Political parties are exempt from listing contributor addresses.

If a contribution is received via periodic payroll deduction, the committee may list the aggregate dollar amount received during the reporting period in the Amount field. As the date received, the committee may use the date range of the pay period or the date of the last pay period in which the contribution was received.

The State block should be completed with the U.S. Post Office's standard two-letter abbreviation. For example, Ohio would appear as OH.

The Date block should be completed with six digits. For example, March 9, 2005, would appear as 03 09 05.

The date of a contribution is the date that an agent of the committee receives the contribution. It is not the date of deposit or the date on the check.

A complete street address including a zip code must be provided. The form in which the contribution is received must be indicated, such as check, cash or money order. Cash means currency or coin.

A contribution received from a statewide PAC must list its registration number. A contribution from a Federal PAC may include the Federal PAC registration number. The registration number block may also be used to list that a contribution was received from a political contributing entity (PCE) or local PAC, neither of which have a registration number.

Legal professional associations and other professional associations that have incorporated and limited liability corporations are not “corporations” under R.C. 3599.03 and are not prohibited from contributing to partisan elections [OEC Adv. No. 96-03].

For reporting purposes, these entities are considered unincorporated associations or, if applicable, partnerships. If a contribution is received from a partnership, unincorporated business or unincorporated
association, the name of the person making the contribution as well as the company name must be provided.

You should not list the names of two contributors in the Full Name of the Contributor field. Each contribution received from individuals must be attributed to a single person. When a check has more than one individual listed on it, ask who the actual contributor is or list the person who signed the check. (O.A.C. 111-5- 21)

Contributors may not remain anonymous by request. If a contributor does not want to be identified, the contribution should not be made. However, if an anonymous contribution is received, efforts must be made by the committee to identify the contributor.

If the efforts are unsuccessful, the contribution should have an explanation of the circumstances that caused it to be anonymous and a description of the efforts made to determine the contributor's identity. This information should appear in the address portion of the contribution page entry. If fund-raising events are held during a reporting period, the total amount of contributions received during each event is transferred to this form from the Statement of Contributions for a Social or Fund-Raising Event. If public officeholders receive employee contributions, other than at a fund-raising event, the total should be transferred to this form from the Contributors in Officeholder's Employ form. A transfer is done by placing the words “Total contributions from Form no. 31-E,” or “Total employee contributions,” as appropriate to the situation, in one of the lines marked Full Name of Contributor.

The total of all the Statement of Contributions pages should appear on line two of the cover page. The Employer/Occupation/Labor Organization block must be used by statewide or general assembly candidates when they have received individual contributions greater than $100. If the contributor is self-employed, the occupation and the name of the individual's business, if any, rather than the employer, should be provided. However, all filers may use the block for contributions received in any amount from a partnership or unincorporated business when the name of the person as well as the business is required to be provided.