We have a semi-large (and growing) grassroots organization, and we would like to concentrate our financial donations through a single donation entity.
Mostly what we want to do is set up a common can for everyone to donate to, and then one every so often (year, six months, quarter, whatever) vote on who we want to give to, and how much. We think this is a more effective way to use our resources to affect the political process than each of us donating separately.
My question is this: Step by step, how does one go about setting up a Political Action Committee (PAC)? Or do we even need to do that? Is there an easier way to go about this?
- What are the legal requirements in terms of registering with federal and state election committees to handle pooled donations from multiple individuals?
- What types of information do we have to collect?
- What are our software or online options for helping with this?
- Anything else we should know before getting into this?
Again, I know ideally we would pay a consultant for this advice, but we are just a tadpole now, and maybe if some consultant helps us grow now, we can someday be a big frog that can afford to do some hiring.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.