Campaign budget template: the full line-item expense list every political campaign should plan for

A campaign budget template is a spreadsheet that lists every expense your campaign will pay, by category and by month, next to the money you plan to raise. The standard planning rule is to put at least 70% of the total into communicating with voters and hold the other 30% for staff and overhead, as The Campaign Workshop lays out. The expense list below covers 12 categories and more than 90 line items. It includes the costs first-time campaigns forget: online processing fees of 3.95% on ActBlue and 3.94% on WinRed at its normal rate, and the 7.65% employer payroll tax on staff wages (IRS).

What is a campaign budget?

A campaign budget is the written plan for how a campaign will spend money between today and Election Day, tied to a fundraising plan that pays for it. Every line should answer one question: how does this dollar help us reach the voters we need to win? So start with the vote goal, not the bank balance, and price the contacts it takes to reach the voters you need. Our companion guide on how to build a political campaign budget walks through that math.

A complete template has three tabs:

1. The line-item budget, with every expense, its unit cost and its total.
2. The monthly cash flow, showing when each dollar must be committed and when it actually leaves the bank.
3. The fundraising plan, showing where the money comes from by month (call time, events, online, PACs, the candidate).

If the cash flow and fundraising tabs do not meet in the same month, the budget is fiction.

How to set up a political campaign budget template in Excel or Google Sheets

Google Sheets has the edge over Excel for most campaigns because the manager, treasurer and finance director all see the same version. Build the line-item tab with these columns:

Then work it in this order:

1. Set the win number and the universe of voters you need to contact.
2. List every line item below, even the ones at $0, so every omission is a choice.
3. Replace guesses with written quotes.
4. Mark each line fixed (compliance, software, payroll) or scalable (mail pieces, canvass weeks, ad flights). Scalable lines are what you add or cut as money moves.
5. Build a must-have budget and a full budget, and add from the full list in a set order as fundraising lands.
6. Review budget against actuals every week.

The full campaign expense list, line by line

1. Staff and payroll

• Campaign manager
• Field director and field organizers
• Finance director or call-time manager
• Communications director or press secretary
• Digital director
• Scheduler, driver or candidate aide
• Employer payroll taxes: 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare, with Social Security applying to the first $184,500 of wages in 2026 (IRS Publication 15)
• Payroll service fees
• State unemployment insurance and workers' compensation (rules vary by state)
• Phone, mileage and health stipends
• Candidate salary, if permitted (see the rules section below)

2. Consultants and professional services

• General consultant or strategist retainer
• Media consultant (production fees plus any commission on buys)
• Mail consultant
• Digital consultant or agency
• Paid field vendor
• Fundraising consultant (retainer, commission or both)
• Pollster
• Win bonuses written into consultant contracts

Read every contract; see how to hire a political consultant.

3. Research and data

• Benchmark poll
• Tracking or brushfire polls
• Focus groups or message testing
• Voter file access, through your state party or a commercial vendor
• Voter contact software licenses
• Targeting and modeling
• Opposition research and self-research
• Data entry and list cleanup

A 2016 Nashville Ledger report put a congressional benchmark poll at about $30,000 for a 20-minute survey, and a serious congressional polling program near $100,000. Get current quotes.

4. Field program

• Paid canvasser wages
• Canvass team leads and field managers
• Canvassing app licenses and phones or tablets
• Walk literature and door hangers
• Canvasser mileage, parking and transit
• Canvasser gear: clipboards, battery packs, rain gear, shirts
• Volunteer recruitment and training events
• Phone bank dialer
• Relational organizing app
• Voter registration materials, where your plan includes registration

Most campaigns start paid canvassing too late, then try to buy in four weeks what needed ten. See what paid canvassing costs and how many doors per hour to expect.

5. Broadcast, cable and streaming

• TV ad production: scripting, shoot, edit, color and sound
• Broadcast airtime
• Cable and satellite airtime
• Connected TV and streaming
• Radio production and airtime
• Media buying fees or commission
• Ad clearance and legal review

Political ad spending and reservations for the 2025 to 2026 cycle hit a record $11.21 billion in late October 2026, passing the entire 2023 to 2024 presidential cycle, according to AdImpact figures reported by TheWrap. AdImpact's June 2026 updated projection put $2.6 billion of that cycle on connected TV, its fastest-growing media type (AdImpact). Budget production and airtime separately, and see what a political TV ad costs.

6. Digital and content

• Website design, hosting and domain
• Email platform
• Paid social ads
• Search ads
• Programmatic display and pre-roll video
• Digital ad creative: video cutdowns, graphics, copy versions
• Social media management and content
• Photography and video shoots: candidate portraits, b-roll, testimonials

Shoot photo and video early; one planned production day feeds the website, mail, ads and social for months. See political digital advertising and campaign video production cost.

7. Mail, texting and phones

• Mail design
• Printing
• Postage
• Mail house, list processing and address hygiene
• Peer-to-peer texting platform and per-message costs
• Texting registration and carrier fees
• Automated calls or IVR surveys
• Live phone calls

Design, printing and postage carry different deadlines. For unit costs, see political direct mail and texting.

8. Fundraising costs

• Online processing fees: 3.95% per contribution on ActBlue; 3.94% at the normal rate and 3.2% on high-dollar pages ($500 minimum) on WinRed
• Card processing for offline gifts
• Fundraising events: venue, food, invitations
• Call time tools and donor research
• Fundraising consultant fees
• Donor prospecting mail and email list acquisition
• Thank-you notes and postage

Budget processing fees as a percentage of projected online revenue: $75,000 raised online at 3.95% means about $2,960 in fees. For events, see how to host a political fundraiser.

9. Compliance, legal and banking

• Treasurer or compliance firm
• Compliance and reporting software
• Ballot qualifying or filing fees, where your state charges them
• Legal counsel: ballot access, contracts, disclaimers, recounts
• Bank fees and check stock
• General liability insurance for the office and events

Federal committees must obtain and keep a receipt, invoice or cancelled check for each disbursement over $200 (11 CFR 102.9).

10. Office and operations

• Office rent, deposit, utilities and internet
• Furniture, printers and equipment
• Phones and phone plans
• Workspace software and file storage
• Office supplies
• Candidate travel, mileage and lodging
• Staff travel
• Volunteer food

11. Visibility and events

• Yard signs and stakes
• Large signs and banners
• Palm cards, stickers and buttons
• T-shirts
• Parade entries, festival booths and sponsorships
• Launch event and rallies: venue, stage, sound, permits
• Event photography and video

The Campaign Workshop advises counting signs as visibility, not voter contact, so keep them out of the 70%. For larger events, see how to organize a concert or rally.

12. GOTV, Election Day and after

• GOTV canvass and chase staff
• GOTV texting and calls
• Poll greeters and sample ballots, where state law allows
• Election Day volunteer food and supplies
• Poll watcher training and election lawyers
• Election night event
• Final reports and compliance close-out
• Debt retirement
• Thank-you mail to donors and volunteers
• Contingency reserve

See the get-out-the-vote plan.

Political campaign budget breakdown: how much goes where

The anchor is the 70/30 split. At least 70% of spending goes to voter communication, and staff, rent, software and other operating costs share the rest, per The Campaign Workshop. Our planning ranges for a contested down-ballot race:

A citywide race in a major media market may put half its voter contact into broadcast and streaming. A state house district in that market usually cannot buy TV efficiently, so mail, doors and digital carry the load.

Campaign budget example: a sample $150,000 state house budget

This political campaign budget sample is for a contested state house race raising $150,000, half online. The figures are illustrative, built to show the math, not vendor quotes.

Payroll tax and processing fees together come to about $5,000 here, and both are missing from most first drafts. The reserve is small on purpose: release it into GOTV in the final two weeks if the race stays quiet.

Campaign cash flow: when each line item gets paid

A cash flow plan says when each dollar goes out. Campaign spending is back-loaded, and many vendors want deposits before work starts.

The campaign that knows its October commitments in July can raise toward them. The one that finds them in October cuts a mail piece.

Campaign finance rules that change your budget

Federal rules are below. State and local candidates follow state campaign finance law, so check with your state election office or ethics commission before opening the account.

• A person running for the U.S. House, Senate or president becomes a candidate after raising or spending more than $5,000, and must file a Statement of Candidacy within 15 days. The principal campaign committee then files its Statement of Organization within 10 days of being designated (FEC Form 2 instructions).
• For the 2025 to 2026 cycle, the individual limit to a federal candidate was $3,500 per election, up from $3,300 (Wiley). Limits are indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years (Brownstein), so expect new figures for the 2027 to 2028 cycle early in 2027.
• Campaign funds cannot go to personal use. Federal candidates may draw a salary, capped at the lesser of 50% of a U.S. House member's minimum salary and their average earned income over their five most recent earning years before candidacy, paid at a daily rate, under rules the FEC adopted in December 2023 (Elias Law Group; Federal Register).

Mistakes that break campaign budgets

• Leaving out processing fees and payroll taxes, which grow with success.
• Putting a full staff on payroll in February, months before there is voter contact for them to run.
• Starting paid canvassing after Labor Day, when recruiting and training still take weeks.
• Booking media late in a record-spending cycle.
• Using a generic marketing template with no rows for compliance, GOTV or voter files.
• Comparing budget to actuals only at the quarterly filing.

Frequently asked questions

What is a campaign budget?

A campaign budget is a line-item plan for every dollar a campaign will spend, organized by category and month and matched to a fundraising plan. It starts from the votes you need and the voters you have to reach.

How do I make a political campaign budget template in Excel?

Create a tab with columns for category, line item, quantity, unit cost, total, commit date, pay date, vendor, status and actual. Set total to quantity times unit cost, then add cash flow and fundraising tabs.

What percentage of a campaign budget should go to voter contact?

The standard rule is at least 70%, with 30% covering staff and operating costs. Mail, field, digital, broadcast, texting and GOTV count as voter contact. Signs, rent and software do not.

What should be on a campaign expense list?

Twelve categories: staff and payroll, consultants, research and data, field, broadcast and streaming, digital, mail and texting, fundraising costs, compliance and legal, office and operations, visibility and events, and GOTV through post-election.

Can a candidate pay themselves from campaign funds?

Federal candidates can draw a limited salary under FEC rules, capped at the lesser of 50% of a House member's minimum salary and their recent average earned income. Personal use of campaign money is prohibited. State rules differ.

How much should a campaign keep in reserve?

A planning range of 3% to 5% covers most down-ballot races. Release it into GOTV in the final two weeks if it is not needed.

Can I use a free marketing budget template for a campaign?

You can borrow the layout, but you will have to add the rows a campaign needs: compliance, voter file, processing fees, disclaimers, GOTV and close-out.

How Leo Operations approaches this

Leo Operations is a national field, media and creative firm founded in 2019 by Rodriquez Wright II and headquartered in Nashville. Rod has done campaign work since 2012, including managing Glenn Funk's 2022 Nashville DA re-election and serving as Tennessee State Organizing Director for Mike Bloomberg's 2020 presidential campaign. Our field programs have knocked more than 650,000 doors. We have served more than 40 campaigns, officials and causes, with campaign, ballot and organizing work in 25 states.

We build budgets from the vote goal backward, pricing the paid canvass, the video and ads, the website, digital and mail against the universe of voters a campaign actually has to reach, then laying those costs into a cash flow the fundraising plan can carry. We run field and produce media ourselves, so the numbers come from real shift math.

If you are planning a campaign, email us your race, your election date and your fundraising goal, and we will tell you honestly what it takes.