City Council race". A report by the Brennan Center found that "by pumping up the value of small contributions, the New York City system gives [candidates] an incentive to reach out to their own constituents rather than focusing all their attention on wealthy out-of-district donors, leading them to attract more diverse donors into the political process". Programs of this type incentivize candidates to "fuse fundraising with voter outreach" and incentivize political engagement by communities that can afford only modest contributions. Candidates may then have more an incentive to reach out to their constituents rather than devoting their energy to financing their campaigns. The Election Law Journal found that matching funds through a multiplier has increased the proportional role of small donors as well as the number of small donors. The programs have also helped to shift the demographic and class profile of those who give. Finally, besides diluting the power of major givers, these programs led candidates to reach out and engage a more representative set of constituents during fundraising. There is some dispute regarding the impact of matching funds programs like the one implemented in New York City. For example, "after implementing the public matching funds program in NYC, [the] most recent mayoral election of 2009 witnessed the lowest voter turnout it's had since the 1960s". Others argue that the matching funds system benefits candidates with higher name recognition, especially if they are tied to a measure of popular support. Some have suggested that public funding actually has a negative effect on the perceptions the public has of the government, perhaps because public funding programs do not meet "the expectations set by reformers". Private matching of contributions When campaigns say they will match political contributions, it is not clear how they can legally do that, given campaign contribution limits. Matching does not show up on Federal Election Commission reports, because each individual donor is listed separately with only the total dollar amount given for the donor. Campaign finance attorneys have said there is nothing in election law that prohibits campaigns from making false claims about their matching donor schemes; some experts have said that the claims of matching funds are outright lies. It is a "marketing gimmick", Richard Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California-Irvine, said in 2013. See also Corporate donations Payroll giving Volunteer grant References External links Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF) information and