This is a democracy-building effort by unpaid volunteers who believe every Clevelander should have the same access and influence as the affluent donor class. We’ve taken information provided in campaign finance reports (available through the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website) and made the data easy to search and aggregate. The goal is to add greater transparency on campaign contributions and expenditures to or on behalf of Cleveland municipal candidates and ballot measures. 

The data comes primarily from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (BOE) campaign finance reports.

This is an all-volunteer operation, and we do not accept contributions.

Thanks for asking! Tell friends, neighbors and family members here in Cleveland, and consider sharing our content on social media.

We encourage you to go the source yourself and check our work! All our data comes from the Cuyahoga County BOE. 

To a City Council candidate from an individual: $1500 annually

To a City Council candidate from a PAC: $3000 annually

To a mayoral candidate from an individual: $5000 annually

To a mayoral candidate from a PAC: $7500 annually

Independent expenditures: Unlimited

Unfortunately, unlike many other cities – including Cincinnati, for example –  the data provided on the City of Cleveland’s website is not easily searchable. In fact, bid tabulations for contracts with the City are still handwritten. Moreover, there are no restrictions on individuals and/or organizations seeking city contracts and/or financial incentives. In other words, if you are seeking a contract with the City, you can send maximum contributions to all the elected leaders in Cleveland considering the deal. 

No. Unlike a number of other cities, Cleveland does not require paid lobbyists to register and report their activity with the city so there is no lobbying data to track.

Mistakes can happen on the website occasionally, so please point out apparent errors as soon as possible by e-mailing [email protected]. To help us investigate further, please include as much supporting evidence as you can. Thanks for helping us keep Follow The Money CLE accurate!