Statement of Contributions Received at a Social or Fund-Raising Event - Form 31-E

The Statement of Contributions for a Social or Fund-Raising Event form is used when a specific event is held on a specific date. It is not uncommon for activity from one event to appear in more than one report because the dates sometimes overlap a reporting deadline [R.C. 3517.10(B)].

The date that the event was held should appear on the line at the top of the page labeled Event Date.

The treasurer is responsible for tracking everything received and expended regardless of whether it must appear within the report. “Passing the hat” or similar practices should not be used unless detailed records are kept. Treasurers are responsible for ensuring that anyone collecting contributions is properly trained to obtain names, addresses, amounts and dates relevant to all contributions. Pursuant to an investigation, the board of elections or secretary of state may request to see an itemized list of all contributors [R.C. 3517.10(D)].

Political parties are exempt from listing contributor addresses.

Ongoing efforts to raise funds, such as continuous sales of T-shirts or cookbooks, are not fund-raising events. All contributions from such methods should appear on the general Statement of Contributions and are not exempt from itemization.

Fund-raising events may not be combined. Each fund-raising event must be reported on its own Statement of Contributions Received at a Social or Fund-Raising Event form and Statement of Expenditures for Social or Fund-Raising Event form.

The names and street address of contributors who give a total of $25 or less at a particular fund-raising event do not have to be itemized in the report. Such an entry should read “Contributors of $25 or less.”

Do not report selling “30 tickets at $10 each.” There is no way to determine how many tickets one person purchased from a statement based on ticket price [R.C. 3517.10(B)(4)(e)].

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.

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, both of which do not have a registration number.

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.

If public officeholders receive employee contributions relative to an event, the total should be transferred to this form from the Contributors in Officeholders' Employ form. In either case, the contribution should be counted only once.

At the bottom of the fund-raising form is a place to summarize the monetary activity of the event. Only one set of these “summary boxes” should be completed per event during a reporting period. Place the total of all the money received relative to that particular event during the reporting period in the first box. The total contributions received during the event should be transferred to the Statement of Contributions Received (Form 31-A) along with the date of the event. The second box should list the total of the money spent on that event during the reporting period.