What were the top donors to United Democracy Project in 2024 and how much did each contribute?
Executive summary
United Democracy Project’s largest reported individual donors in the 2024 cycle included WhatsApp co‑founder Jan Koum ($5 million), financier Jonathon Jacobson (about $4.6 million), Home Depot co‑founder Bernard Marcus ($3 million) and GreenSky co‑founder David Zalik ($2 million), a set of seven‑ and six‑figure gifts that FactCheck identified among contributors to the super PAC [1]. OpenSecrets provides a donor database and summary figures for UDP and notes both the group’s large haul and complexities in donor disclosure; the Federal Election Commission maintains UDP’s committee filings [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. The headline donors and dollar amounts
FactCheck’s September 2024 accounting lists Jan Koum as UDP’s largest disclosed donor at $5 million, Jonathon Jacobson giving nearly $4.6 million, Bernard Marcus $3 million and David Zalik $2 million — figures presented as “so far” through the reporting period and drawn from donor disclosures tied to the super PAC [1]. OpenSecrets maintains dedicated donor pages and a “top donors” table for United Democracy Project that tracks the same cycle, while the FEC hosts UDP’s official committee filings [2] [3] [5].
2. How complete are these numbers — caveats on disclosure and totals
The totals reported by outlets vary by cut‑off and source: FactCheck noted UDP had raised about $68.4 million through August of 2024 [1], while OpenSecrets’ PAC profile lists a 2023–2024 cycle total of $87,176,557 in its summary — differences that reflect differing reporting windows, additional late filings and how aggregators count PAC vs. super PAC receipts [4] [2]. OpenSecrets also warns that the outside‑spending group only partially discloses donors in some filings and that employer information for many contributors can be generic or incomplete, a disclosure limitation that matters when interpreting the prominence of particular benefactors [6] [2].
3. The institutional context: UDP, AIPAC and political aims
United Democracy Project is the super PAC affiliated with AIPAC’s political effort; FactCheck describes it as a super PAC launched by the pro‑Israel lobbying group AIPAC, which has funded UDP’s independent expenditures [1]. Reporting from Sludge traced large AIPAC‑linked flows and noted UDP received multiple seven‑figure donations in 2023–24 and spent heavily on media that in many instances did not explicitly mention Israel, underscoring a strategic focus on targeted House primaries and general election influence [7].
4. Alternative readings and implicit agendas
The donor list — dominated by wealthy tech founders and real‑estate/home‑improvement billionaires in the FactCheck snapshot — fits a broader pattern of high‑net‑worth individuals using super PACs to influence primaries and policy priorities, but interpretations diverge: defenders say major gifts reflect shared policy priorities and freedom of political speech; critics highlight that large, concentrated funding can skew candidate selection and messaging toward donor interests [1] [7]. OpenSecrets’ donor tables and the FEC filings provide the raw trail for both critiques and defenses, but OpenSecrets’ note about partial disclosures flags the limits of public visibility into who ultimately funds UDP’s work [2] [6] [5].
5. Where to verify and what remains uncertain
The clearest, attributable numbers for individual contributions cited here come from public reporting compiled by FactCheck and donor tables on OpenSecrets, with the FEC hosting the formal filings [1] [2] [5]. However, because reporting windows differ and OpenSecrets flags partial disclosures by the outside spending group, any list of “top donors” should be read as a snapshot rather than a definitive ledger covering every dollar and donor for the entire 2024 cycle [4] [6].