five big republican donors poured at least $24 million into groups backing donald trump in recent months, according to campaign-finance disclosures filed late saturday. their donations were part of $30.2 million raised by two pro-trump super pacs over the three months ended september that left the groups with $13 million in the bank at the end of the month. that marked by far the largest hauls of any pro-trump super pacs to date. two other groups backing mr. trump had previously reported raising $16 million through august. in contrast, hillary clinton <u+2019>s allied super pac, priorities usa action, raised $133 million through august, the latest number available, and had $41.4 million in the bank at the end of that month. it is scheduled to report its september fundraising total on thursday. billionaire casino owner sheldon adelson and his wife, miriam, donated $10 million to future45, a super pac backing mr. trump that said it planned to attack mrs. clinton in battleground states. joe ricketts, the billionaire founder of td ameritrade , contributed another $1 million to the super pac, which is a political-action committee that can raise unlimited sums from individuals, companies and unions to spend on campaign activity. an affiliated nonprofit called 45committee that doesn<u+2019>t have to disclose its donors recently aired $7 million in pro-trump ads. bernie marcus, the billionaire co-founder of home depot, gave $5 million to a second pro-trump group, called rebuilding america now. linda mcmahon, co-founder of the wrestling franchise wwe, gave the group $6 million. ms. mcmahon, who had been critical of mr. trump during the primary campaign, calling his comments about women <u+201c>deplorable,<u+201d> later said she would support him. poultry magnate ronald cameron donated another $2 million to rebuilding america now. he had previously donated millions to super pacs backing florida sen. marco rubio and former arkansas gov. mike huckabee during the primaries. meanwhile, the new federal election commission disclosures shed light on mr. trump<u+2019>s unusual fundraising strategy, under which he has relied heavily on the republican national committee for large-dollar fundraising. his joint fund with the republican party, called trump victory, raised $61 million in the third quarter of the 2016, and transferred just $8.6 million to mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign. donors can write checks of up to $450,000 to the fund, but just $2,700 per donor can be transferred to mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign, according to campaign-finance law. a second trump-rnc fund, focused on small-dollar fundraising, raised $150 million in the third quarter and transferred $60 million to mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign. both committees transferred the remaining funds to state parties and the rnc, which is required to earmark a portion of the funds for election recounts and headquarter maintenance. the two funds collectively had $42 million in the bank at the end of september. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s joint democratic party funds had $93 million in the bank. just four donors, including oil billionaire harold hamm, gave the maximum contribution to trump victory in the third quarter. in the second quarter, trump victory raised $25.6 million and transferred just $2.2 million to mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign. the fec disclosures showed that mr. trump<u+2019>s joint rnc funds spent a sizable share of their money on fundraising. trump victory paid $1.8 million<u+2014>its largest category of expenditures<u+2014>to 22 firms for <u+201c>fundraising consulting.<u+201d> and while the trump campaign has touted his success among small donors, records show that fundraising came at a price. trump make america great again spent $41 million on list rental, data management and a mailer program<u+2014>roughly a third of its spending in the third quarter. fundraising among small donors can be an expensive effort, and certain methods aren<u+2019>t considered the most efficient means of raising money. earlier in the cycle, retired neurosurgeon ben carson frequently outraised his republican counterparts, but often spent as much as he raised to do so. by contrast, mrs. clinton<u+2019>s joint funds directed the bulk of their spending to online advertising and spent less than $300,000 on fundraising consulting. over all, the trump and clinton joint funds spent about the same amount in the third quarter, though mrs. clinton<u+2019>s funds raised about $83 million more. the trump-rnc funds<u+2019> spending in some cases often mirrored the trump campaign<u+2019>s. trump make america great again spent $2.3 million on hats and other campaign merchandise. the fund also paid nearly $2 million to the web marketing firm giles parscale, which has earned $12.5 million from the trump campaign. trump victory paid $500,000 to tag air, an airline owned by mr. trump that has been paid $5.6 million by his campaign. write to rebecca ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com
five big gop donors added at least $24 million to trump groups in recent months  - wsj
rebecca ballhaus