Stronger enforcement, a new product, and straight answers ahead of the midterms
The midterms are less than three months away, and giving is surging, but so is something else: noise. Donors are navigating more fundraising appeals, more claims about where their money and data go, and more bad actors trying to exploit their generosity than at any point since we adopted our updated Account Use Policy last August.
When we updated our policy last year, this was the time period we envisioned – the season where everything related to the mid-term elections are ramping up. Every quarter, we share what we’ve done to reinforce donor trust, and in Q2 2026, we took our commitment one step further: We launched a new feature that makes trust visible right on the contribution form, and direct answers to the most common questions donors are asking about their information before the midterms.
Protecting Every Dollar Given
Since the start of Q2, our team:
- Permanently removed 7 entities from the platform
- Brought 18 organizations into compliance through outreach and education
- Actively monitored 84 organizations
These numbers represent the same approach we’ve taken from day one: Education first, escalation when needed, and removal when an organization shows it won’t operate appropriately on our platform.
A New Feature for Donors: Candidate Badging
When a contribution form says “Support [Candidate Name]“, donors might reasonably assume donations go to that candidate’s campaign. In nearly all cases it does, but sometimes that form belongs to a PAC or an outside group supporting that candidate. The question then might be how much of the gift reaches the campaign itself.
Now, we’re making this even more clear to donors. For ActBlue Express users, contribution forms benefiting a verified candidate committee now display a “Candidate Badge”, confirming your money is going directly to the campaign. No fine print to parse, no guesswork.
Setting the Record Straight on Your Data
Protecting donors is also about correcting misinformation, and lately there’s been plenty about what happens to donor data after giving. So let’s be direct:
- ActBlue does not sell your contact information to third parties. Ever. No exceptions. This policy has been consistent since our founding in 2004.
- We don’t send fundraising texts and emails. When you donate, your information goes only to the specific campaign or organization you gave to, as required for receipts and FEC reporting. If you’re getting outreach, it’s coming directly from the entity, not from ActBlue.
- You’re in control. Replying STOP to opt out of texts or using the unsubscribe link in emails from any organization puts you in control. Providing a phone number when you donate is always optional. And if a message misuses our platform to deceive or spam donors like you, report it. Those organizations are subject to the same enforcement outlined above.
Our full Privacy Policy covers this in more detail, and we’ll keep answering these questions as often as they arise, because trust in where your information goes is just as important as trust in where your money goes.
Building Trust for the Elections Ahead
Every policy we enforce and every feature we build traces back to one principle: donor trust is the foundation the entire small-dollar ecosystem is rooted in.
As ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones puts it: “Every dollar given through our platform represents someone’s belief that they can make a difference. Our job is to earn that trust every single day, through the policies we enforce and the tools we build.”
We expect the giving momentum that defined the first half of 2026 to only accelerate as we head into the fall midterms. We’re building the safeguards to make sure it translates into Democratic wins and majorities this November. But we’re not doing this work alone.
Enforcement has always been a collective effort between our team, our donors, and the ecosystem. If something feels off, a misleading solicitation, a suspicious fundraising ask, or a pattern of behavior from a PAC that doesn’t sit right, here’s how to report it. For quicker, form-specific concerns, “Report a Form” is available directly on ActBlue Express.
A significant share of our enforcement actions start exactly this way: a donor saw something and said something. And we took action, because we’re in this together.
NOTE: To keep you informed about our progress, we’re committed to full transparency. We’ll continue to publish quarterly enforcement updates on this blog, sharing data on our actions, trends we’re seeing, and how our standards are evolving. You deserve to see the work we’re doing to protect your trust, and we’re committed to showing you, not just telling you.
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ActBlue is a safe and secure multi-service platform that enables millions of Americans to participate at a grassroots level in the most fundamental pillar of our society: elections. It’s our priority to ensure that donors’ contributions and personal information are protected. ActBlue does not sell donor data or information. Ever.
If you believe in what ActBlue does and want to make sure this infrastructure stays strong, independent, and ready for November, please consider leaving a tip when you make your next contribution. Tips go to fund the massive technical infrastructure, fraud prevention, and cybersecurity required to process billions of dollars for thousands of Democratic candidates safely. When you leave a tip, you are ensuring that a local school board candidate or a grassroots organizer has access to the same technology as a national campaign.
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