WinRed
For-profit fundraising platform
Formation2019 (age 7)
Key peopleGerrit Lansing
AffiliationsRepublican Party
Websitewinred.com
LocationArlington, VA

WinRed is an American fundraising platform for the Republican Party endorsed by the Republican National Committee (RNC). Launched in 2019, it serves as a conduit for processing online political contributions for Republican candidates and committees.[1][2] As of 2025, it has processed billions of dollars in donations across federal, state, and local campaigns.[3]

WinRed was launched to compete with the Democratic Party's success in online grassroots fundraising through its platform ActBlue.[4] In contrast to ActBlue, which is run independently of the Democratic Party, WinRed is controlled by the Republican Party.[5] During the 2024 election, WinRed processed $1.8 billion in donations from 4.5 million small-dollar donors.[6]

According to the Federal Election Committee, WinRed processed $5.6 billion in contributions from 8.8 million donors across three election cycles.[7] As of 2025, the platform is used by major Republican committees, including the RNC, NRSC, NRCC, and RSLC, as well as thousands of federal and state campaigns.[8][9][10]

History

WinRed is a for-profit fundraising platform built for the American Republican Party.[11][12] The WinRed launch was the first time the GOP had a single website for all of its candidates.[13]

Republican leadership began discussing the possibility of building a competitor to ActBlue within days of the 2018 midterm results. Donald Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Trump’s campaign manager at the time, Brad Parscale, were all personally involved in creating the platform.[14] One of the goals of creating WinRed was to unify the party around a single platform to help shrink the G.O.P. fund-raising gap with ActBlue.[15]

According to Politico, Trump participated in naming the platform, suggesting names including 'ActRed' and 'WinRed' during meetings with political aides and allies such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.[16] WinRed was initially announced as Patriot Pass, with an expected release date of February 2019.[17][18] The name was changed following Robert Kraft's complaints that the name resembled that of his football team, the New England Patriots.[17] The Republican Party, the Trump re-election campaign, and other state-wide and local races across the United States began using the platform in late 2019, with nearly 800 campaigns using it by May 2020.[19] WinRed discloses donor information to the Federal Election Commission.[7]

WinRed merged Revv, a Republican payment processing firm founded in December 2014 by Gerrit Lansing, and DataTrust, the party's voter data repository. Data Trust helped to connect the platform with the party's broader voter data and digital infrastructure.[20] The platform allows one-click donations.[21][22]

At the time of WinRed's launch, Trump publicly endorsed the platform on Twitter, a move intended to encourage its adoption among Republican campaigns and donors.[23] In April 2020, the platform expanded from its previous representation of only federal-level candidates and began supporting state- and local-level races.[24]

In 2020, Republican candidates raised more than $275 million on WinRed, with $142 million raised in June.[25] By this time, more than 90% of Republican House and Senate members were on the platform, and over 1,300 campaigns used it to raise money.[26]

In 2021, Trump's political operation moved its merchandise and fundraising activities to WinRed as part of efforts to rebuild its small-dollar fundraising infrastructure.[27] By 2026, WinRed reported that campaigns using its e-commerce platform had sold more than $250 million in merchandise since the launch of its Zero-Touch Merchandise system in 2019.[28]

Organization

WinRed is an online fundraising platform used by Republican candidates, campaigns, and committees.[29][30][31]

Groups that use WinRed pay a 3.2% credit card processing fee for donations over $500, and 3.94% for all other donation amounts.[32][33]

Federal Election Commission reporting

WinRed reports all contributions processed to federal campaigns to the Federal Election Commission.[7] When a candidate for a federal election raises money through WinRed, WinRed serves as a conduit for election law purposes.[34][35] When donations pass through a conduit such as WinRed or ActBlue donors names and contributions are itemized, reported, and made publicly available on the Internet.[36][37]

By contrast, small donations of up to $200 are not automatically reported to the FEC if they contributed directly to a federal campaign committee.[36][38]

In 2024 the Institute for Free Speech sued the FEC over a discrepancy whereby small donors utilizing conduits WinRed or ActBlue are automatically made public, but same-sized direct donations are not.[37]

Fundraising

WinRed took in US$30 million in its first three months after launch, $100 million in its first six, and $130 million in the first quarter of 2020. (For comparison, ActBlue brought in $141 million in April 2020, compared to $60 million for WinRed.[39])

Donald Trump was the largest beneficiary, with six senators raising at least $1 million each. Lansing, as well as various Republican operatives, attributed some of this success to the effort to impeach Trump at the time. On the day after Trump's first impeachment was announced, the Trump campaign and the RNC received over $5 million.[19][12][24] Lansing reported that Trump had received 52% of overall donations as of May 2020.[40]

WinRed raised over $2 billion over its first 15 months.[41]

There were nearly 31.2 million donations made on WinRed during the 2022 federal elections, worth nearly $1.2 billion.

According to the Federal Election Commission, WinRed processed $1.8 billion in contributions from 4.5 million donors during the 2024 election cycle.

WinRed is used by President Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns, every 2024 GOP Presidential candidate, major national committees including RNC, NRSC, NRCC, and RSLC, all Republican Senators, 97% of Republican House members, and over 7,000 candidates at all levels.[42][43][44]

In 2025, WinRed raised almost $470 million.[7]

Competitors

As part of party negotiations to launch WinRed, the Victory Pass platform was expected to close. The nonpartisan platform Anedot was not involved in discussions among party leadership.[18]

The first Trump administration sent a cease-and-desist letter to WinRed's rival Anedot.[11] The Republican State Leadership Committee, which oversees the ".gop" top-level internet domain, revoked the domain registration of the "Give.GOP" website, which re-branded and re-launched in July 2019 as "Right.us".[45] The national Republican party has said it will limit national party committee investments and data to federal candidates and state parties who use WinRed.[11]

Criticism

Following the aggressive push for Republican campaigns to use WinRed, many party officials, fundraisers, and campaign operatives criticized the effort.[46] Some critiqued the requirement that campaigns use WinRed, arguing that the effort sidelined older services preferred by campaigns like Anedot or Give.GOP. Others expressed concern about profits, noting that it was unclear who stood to gain from use of the service and comparing the higher fees of WinRed to those of competitors.[11]

Following the 2020 campaign, several Trump donors reported being unknowingly billed for recurring contributions to his campaign, with some having as much as several thousand dollars deducted without their knowledge. The refund patterns were attributed to how campaigns configured WinRed's platform. WinRed's documentation confirms campaigns can choose to "Pre-Select" recurring donations or set "No Default" where donors must actively opt in.[47][48] In addition, unlike ActBlue, WinRed keeps a percentage of refunded contributions.[49] After the release of that report, the National Republican Congressional Committee continued to use the same tactics in their fundraising on WinRed.[50]

In 2022, a judge authorized the continuation of an investigation by several state attorneys general into WinRed's fundraising practices.[51]

In July 2022, WinRed's expense disclosures were challenged by donor watchdog Campaign Legal Center. WinRed reported less than $2,700 in operating expenses since 2019 despite processing over $2.8 billion in donations, an implausibly small cost.[52]

In April 2023, The New York Times reported that WinRed was proposing to increase transaction fees on donations made through its site, citing a decline in contributions the previous year, but the plan had stalled over opposition from Republican leaders.[14]

In November 2023, the conservative O'Keefe Media Group released a video purporting to question a donor as to the authenticity of some donations listed on the Federal Election Commission's website that were made with their own personal details. The subject denied donating the funds listed in the database, which was listed as ~$154,000 over 10,000 separate donations.[53]

References

  1. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (January 21, 2019). "Exclusive: GOP reaches landmark agreement to juice small-dollar fundraising". POLITICO. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  2. ^ Levine, Carrie (July 1, 2019). "Red Shift: How Republicans Plan To Catch Democrats In Online Fundraising". NPR. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  3. ^ "committee overview". FEC.gov. January 18, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  4. ^ DeCosta-Klipa, Nik (24 June 109). "Here’s how ActBlue responded to the launch of WinRed". Boston.com. Archived 5 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  5. ^ Kim, Seo-young Silvia & Li, Zhao (2026). "Keep Winning with WinRed? Online Fundraising Platform as the Party’s Public Good". The Journal of Politics. doi:10.1086/735435. ISSN 0022-3816
  6. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (2025-12-05). "Scoop: New fundraising platform ignites MAGA cash clash". Axios
  7. ^ "committee overview". FEC.gov. January 18, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  8. ^ Schwartz, Brian (February 26, 2024). "Trump and his favorite fundraising platform both face donor problems". CNBC. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  9. ^ "What each Republican's top donor hotbeds say about their campaigns". NBC News. August 2, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  10. ^ Levine, Carrie & Overby, Peter (July 1, 2019). "Red shift: How Republicans aim to catch up to Democrats in online fundraising – Center for Public Integrity". Center for Public Integrity. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  11. ^ Crabtree, Susan (16 July 2019). "Backlash Ensues as RNC's WinRed Fundraising Hammer Falls". RealClearPolitics. Archived 19 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  12. ^ Hakim, Danny & Thrush, Glenn (9 March 2020). "How the Trump Campaign Took Over the G.O.P.". The New York Times. Archived 31 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Trump, RNC launch 'WinRed' to compete with Dems' online fundraising machine". Fox News. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  14. ^ Goldmacher, Shane (28 April 2023). "Top Republicans Balk at WinRed's Plan to Charge More for Online Donations". The New York Times
  15. ^ Goldmacher, Shane (April 28, 2023). "Top Republicans Balk at WinRed's Plan to Charge More for Online Donations". ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
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  17. ^ Levine, Carrie & Overby, Peter (1 July 2019). "Red Shift: How Republicans Plan To Catch Democrats In Online Fundraising". NPR. Archived 23 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  18. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (21 January 2019). "Exclusive: GOP reaches landmark agreement to juice small-dollar fundraising". POLITICO. Archived 20 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  19. ^ Pappas, Alex (30 September 2019). "WinRed, new GOP donor platform, reaps impeachment windfall, rakes in millions since probe launch". Fox News. Archived 23 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
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  21. ^ Miller, Zeke (22 January 2019). "GOP unveils fundraising tool to rival Democrats' ActBlue". Associated Press. Archived 7 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  22. ^ GOLDMACHER, SHANE (April 18, 2017). "The $1 million upside for an RNC digital guru". Politico.com. Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  23. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (July 17, 2019). "GOP shuts down fundraising rival". POLITICO. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  24. ^ Bland, Scott (17 April 2020). "Trump-backed online donor platform launches at state level ahead of redistricting". Politico. Archived 2 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  25. ^ Mutnick, Ally (6 July 2020). "WinRed collects record $275M for Republicans in second quarter". POLITICO. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  26. ^ Montellaro, Zach (October 12, 2020). "GOP raises over $620M through WinRed in third quarter". POLITICO. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  27. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (April 7, 2021). "Trump relaunches his fundraising machine after months of quiet". POLITICO. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  28. ^ Greenwood, Max (March 2, 2026). "WinRed Says Campaign Merchandise Sales Have Surpassed $250 Million". Campaigns & Elections. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  29. ^ Slodysko, Brian & Peoples, Steve (May 27, 2025). "Trump wants an investigation of Democrats' fundraising. His own campaign has issues". AP News. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  30. ^ Howard, Andrew & Cheney, Kyle (May 14, 2025). "Dems go after GOP online fundraising after Trump attacks ActBlue". POLITICO. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  31. ^ Giorno, Taylor (June 26, 2025). "Democrats Want to Probe Republican Fundraising Platform WinRed". NOTUS. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  32. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (September 16, 2021). "GOP online donation platform tweaks fees, sending millions more to midterm campaigns". POLITICO. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  33. ^ Baude, Emily (April 1, 2025). "Royce White 2024 U.S. Senate campaign: $1M in 'credit card fees'". KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  34. ^ "Where Does My Donation Go?". WinRed. Retrieved January 18, 2025. According to federal law, these donations are made by individuals and all contribution details are reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Federal Election Commission (FEC), or other necessary state agencies.
  35. ^ "Earmarked contributions". FEC.gov. Archived July 14, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
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  38. ^ Primo, David M. (August 18, 2019). "Personal Data About Small-Donor Democrats Is All Over the Internet". New York Times. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  39. ^ Lee, Michelle Ye Hee. "ActBlue raised $141 million in April, after coronavirus halted fundraising in second half of March, officials say". Archived 2020-06-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-06-19. – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  40. ^ Ye Hee Lee, Michelle (20 May 2020). "ActBlue raised $141 million in April, after coronavirus halted fundraising in second half of March, officials say". The Washington Post. Archived 20 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  41. ^ "WinRed: What You Need to Know", retrieved 2023-07-27
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  43. ^ Piper, Jessica (May 30, 2024). "GOP fundraising site WinRed goes down". POLITICO. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  44. ^ Piper, Jessica (December 8, 2022). "Trump cash haul spiked after 2024 launch". POLITICO. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
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  47. ^ Mori, Shirin & Kelley, Jason (April 9, 2021). "Deceptive Checkboxes Should Not Open Our Checkbooks". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  48. ^ "Access the Advanced Recurring Settings". WinRed Help Center. December 21, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  49. ^ Goldmacher, Shane (3 April 2021). "How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations". The New York Times. Archived 1 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  50. ^ Goldmacher, Shane (7 April 2021). "G.O.P. Group Warns of 'Defector' List If Donors Uncheck Recurring Box". The New York Times. Archived 7 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  51. ^ Goldmacher, Shane (26 January 2022). "Judge Says States Can Investigate WinRed's Fund-Raising Tactics". The New York Times. Archived 10 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
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  53. ^ "It Isn’t Just ActBlue: WinRed Is Taking Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Elderly Idahoans Using Recurring Payments — One Donor Gave Over $478,500 In Just 2 Years". Idaho Tribune. Archived 2024-08-03 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-08-03.