2014 donation returns

The Electoral Commission has published the 2014 donation returns. Some interesting aspects:

Donations from Large Donors (over $15,000)

1. Internet $3,500,000
2. Conservatives $2,966,000
3. National $1,084,955
4. Internet Mana $656,227
5. Greens $451,662
6. ACT $322,178
7. Maori $260,252
8. Labour $251,000
9. NZ First $37,618
10. Focus NZ $22,456

So Labour had so few donations from donors who wanted to be named, they were in 8th place behind everyone but NZ First!

However it is different when you include smaller donors between $1,500 and $15,000 also.

Total Donations from donors over $1,500 are:

1. National $3,977,537
2. Internet $3,500,000
3. Conservatives $2,971,000
4. Greens $969,384
5. Labour $939,411
6. ACT $726,187
7. Internet Mana $656,227
8. Maori $420,000
9. NZ First $132,156
10. Mana $31,194
11. Focus NZ $22,880
12. ALCP $9,138

Of interest is that Labour still received fewer donations than the Greens!

So what proportion of a party’s donations over $1,500 come from large donors (over $15,000). They are:

1. Conservatives 100%
2. Internet Mana 100%
3. Internet 100%
4. Focus NZ 90%
5. Maori 62%
6. Greens 47%
7. ACT 44%
8. NZ First 28%
9. Labour 27%
10. National 27%

Both Labour and National get only a quarter of their significant donation income from large donors. The rest comes from medium sized donors.

With National, they also get millions from party members subscriptions which are under $1,500 each. So I suspect that overall less than 20% of their income comes from major donors.

Labour’s major donors were almost all unions. They got $162,000 from unions.