Interactive chart: Who donated to the NDP and Liberals last election?

Campaign finance reports released yesterday by Elections BC show that the NDP raised more money than the Liberals for the last election.

The NDP raised 9.3 million for the election, compared to the 8.3 million raised by the incumbent Liberals, who went on to secure a fourth straight majority government on May 14.

However, that’s just one story contained within the information released by Elections BC. Here are a few more.

(Note: To view the charts on your cell phone, flip it horizontally)

1. The NDP get more money from trade unions; the Liberals get more from corporations.

Here are the fundraising figures that will figure prominently in many stories. Like most elections, the NDP drastically outpaced the Liberals when it came to trade unions donations, while the Liberals received many more dollars from corporations.

2. The NDP’s gains came primarily from individuals and corporations.

The Liberals’ fundraising in this election had much the same breakdown as in the 2009 provincial election. However, the NDP saw more than 80% of their gain from 2009 come from individuals and corporations. Money from trade unions did rise from $2.05 million to $2.49 million however.

3. Donations from corporations and trade unions make up the majority of fundraising for both major parties.

Both the Liberals and NDP parties received less than 50% of their election money from individuals. However, not every party was in the same boat…

4. The Greens get most of their money from individual donors.

That being said…

5. The two major parties dwarf all others when it comes to donations.

There may have been 17 parties running in the last election, but the NDP and Liberals received over 98% of all money donated to political parties for the election.

6. The Liberals may have been out fundraised, but they still got the larger donations.

When it came to donations over $10,000, the Liberals still dominated, getting 143 people or organizations to give amounts that large, compared to 98 for the NDP.

7. A number of companies hedged their bets by donating to both parties.

There’s no rule saying you can only donate to one party, and many businesses took advantage of that. We’ve selected a few of them as examples.

8. And finally, the list of the 10 largest donors to each party.

The ten largest donors to the NDP in the last election were all trade unions, while nine of the ten largest donors to the Liberals were corporations. Interestingly, the two largest total donations were from mining companies to the Liberals—$222,400 from Teck Resources Limited and a subsidiary, and $200,000 from Goldcorp.