Cash for Candidates series: How the biggest political donors spent $52m

More than $52 million has been donated to political parties since 1996 by major donors. Photo / Alex Cairns

More than $52 million has been donated to political parties since 1996 by major donors whose contributions are above the threshold for public declaration.

A BusinessDesk analysis of donations found they have come from 538 individuals, businesses, trusts and non-profit organisations.

The average donation is about $47,000, according to the new Cash for Candidates series.

The National party has been the biggest beneficiary, accounting for 28 per cent of total donations, or $14.4m.

Labour has taken in $9.2m and Act $6.1m.

While National and Act typically draw donations from wealthy individuals, Labour has the unions and has benefitted from wealthy benefactors over the years.

The Greens’ major donors are its own MPs, who have to donate a proportion of their parliamentary income back to the party.

Although the focus of this series is on the big-money donors, most of the big five parties still receive a greater share of their money from donations that do not meet the $15,000 declaration threshold.

Between 2011 and 2022, National took in $20m in smaller donations, almost three times as much as it received from big-money donors.

Read the BusinessDesk investigation here and here.