In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a type of organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation.

Citizens United v.

Federal Election Commission 558 U.S. 310 (2010) is a U.S. constitutional law and corporate law case dealing with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations.

The United States Supreme Court held (5–4) on 21 January 2010 that freedom of speech prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation.

The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations.

Campaign finance refers to all funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referenda.

Political parties, charitable organizations, and political action committees (in the United States) are vehicles used in aggregating funds to keep campaigns alive.

"Political finance" is also popular terminology, and is used internationally for its comprehensiveness.

Campaign finance deals with "the costs of democracy", a term coined by G.

Alexander Heard for his famous analysis of campaign finance in the U.S.

A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a political movement) is one which uses the people in a given district as the basis for a political or economic movement.

Grassroots movements and organizations utilize collective action from the local level to effect change at the local, regional, national, or international level.

Grassroots movements are associated with bottom-up, rather than top-down decision making, and are sometimes considered more natural or spontaneous than more traditional power structures.

Grassroots movements, using self-organization, encourages community members to contribute by taking responsibility and action for their community.

Grassroots movements utilize a variety of strategies from fundraising and registering voters, to simply encouraging political conversation.

Goals of specific movements vary, but the movements are consistent in their focus on increasing mass participation in politics.

These political movements may begin as small and at the local level, but grassroots politics as Cornel West contends are necessary in shaping progressive politics as they bring public attention to regional political concerns.

The Reform Party of the United States of America (RPUSA), generally known as the Reform Party USA or the Reform Party, is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot.