Supporters may help a party's or a candidate's financial position not only by making a gift of money but also by providing free or low cost services and goods which would otherwise need to be purchased.
During an election campaign, a wealthy supporter may put a private aircraft or car at the disposal of party leaders or officials. Making houses or apartments available to those working in the campaign will reduce hotel bills. Businesses may make banks of telephones available for teams of canvassers, especially during slack periods such as evenings and weekends when the donors do not require them.
Sympathetic suppliers may discover, accidentally-on-purpose, that they have surplus stocks of pens, newsprint, computers and other useful goods, which are then 'sold' to the party at knock-down prices.
Trade unions, corporations, or other employers may give employees paid leave to enable them to give their services free of charge to a party's election campaign. Alternatively, volunteers may use their vacation entitlements to carry out party activities, while those not in employment may also act as volunteers.
A further technique of providing a gift-in-kind is for a corporation or trade union to commission research, supposedly for its own use, but actually for the purpose of saving a party organisation from having to commission the research itself. The information is then provided to the party, normally on a confidential basis. For instance, if a political party needs to commission a private opinion poll concerning public attitudes to a group of issues and policies, it may reach an agreement with a sympathetic enterprise to include the relevant questions in its regular market research.
In Germany, the governing party has benefited from access to the results of internal survey research commissioned for the Chancellor and for government ministries. Insofar as this has reduced the need for the headquarters of the governing party to commission its own commercial research, this access has served as a form of subsidy-in-kind.
Accountability for In-Kind Contributions
In-kind contributions raise both theoretical and practical problems of accountability. These problems are especially important when it comes to enforcing regulations concerning campaign spending limits, disclosure requirements and restrictions on certain categories of contributions (for instance from corporations, trade unions or foreign donors).
First, it is open to argument how far the provision of volunteer services to a party or to a candidate should be regarded as an in-kind contribution. Certainly, if a professional such as an accountant or lawyer, who normally charges clients on an hourly fee-for-service basis, provides his time for nothing and uses that time to provide his usual professional services, it is possible to put a financial figure on the value of the time and the service that have been donated to the party. But it is rarely possible to calculate the value of volunteer time on a commercial basis. Moreover, it is arguable that participating in campaigns is merely a form of citizenship. It would be absurd - even if it were practical to do so - to attempt to put a value on the efforts of a party supporter to persuade friends and colleagues to vote for a particular party during ordinary conversations.
In addition, the attempt to put a value on volunteer help involves immense practical difficulties.
Other forms of aid-in-kind also lead to regulatory problems. For instance, how is it possible to regulate the costs of local telephone calls made on campaign business from one private home to another?
Draft Only
