Getting Started

The Campaign Finance Board oversees candidates running for municipal office in New York City: mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president and City Council.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about running for office, the Candidate Services Unit is available to help! Contact us by email at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 409-1800, during normal business hours, Monday through Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

If you are considering running for office for the first time, we recommend attending the New to the CFB training. This training covers the expectations and demands of running for city office. Sign up here!

Registering with the CFB

Before raising or spending money, you must complete the following steps.

1. Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS.
   
   EINs are assigned to corporations, partnerships, political committees, and other entities for tax filing and reporting purposes. Obtaining an EIN is mandatory for registering a committee and opening a bank account. You may apply for and obtain an EIN directly from the Internal Revenue Service website or by calling (800) 829-1040 for assistance.
   
   If you have previously run for an elected office, you must register a new committee and obtain a new EIN for each election cycle. Your committee name should include the first and/or last name of the candidate.
   
   
2. Open a bank account in your committee’s name.
   
   Ask the bank if they provides deposit slips and images of both the front and back of canceled committee checks. This is a CFB requirement. Review additional information about banking requirements and choosing a bank.
   
   Note: If the bank requires documentation from the CFB confirming your campaign’s registration to open a bank account, you can proceed with the next step, which is registering with the CFB. Once the CFB has accepted your campaign’s registration, your assigned Candidate Services liaison will send you a letter confirming your campaign’s registration for the election cycle, which you can provide to your bank. Please keep in mind that you will need to update your registration in the CFB Portal to disclose your bank account information, and this addition will require the candidate and treasurer to complete the LexisNexis identity verification process.
   
   
3. Register your committee with the CFB
   
   Register your committee through the CFB Portal. See the CFB Portal User Guide for step-by-step registration instructions. If you would like to be a participant in the Matching Funds Program, your campaign must indicate its decision on its registration in the Portal.
   
   Once your registration has been accepted, you will receive an email from your assigned Candidate Services liaison. This email will be sent to the email addresses on your campaign’s registration and may include login credentials for C-SMART, the CFB’s web-based application which campaigns must use to enter financial transactions, maintain contributors’ information, and submit disclosure statements to the CFB.
   
   To register with the CFB, you must disclose your committee’s bank account information, including account number. If your bank is unable to open an account without official documentation from the CFB that you have registered or intend to register your committee, you may submit a completed registration without the bank account information. The CFB will process your registration, confirm your registration via email, and add you to the registered Candidate List. You must then open a bank account and provide your bank account information to the CFB within 15 business days or before the end of the current disclosure period, whichever is sooner. You will provide this information via the CFB Portal. You will not receive the welcome email with login credentials for C‑SMART until you complete this step. Program participants who fail to provide bank account information and a voided committee check are ineligible for public funds.
   
   Once you have completed the steps above, you are ready to begin fundraising and campaigning.

Next Steps

1. Attend CFB Trainings
   
   The candidate, treasurer, or campaign manager must complete both a Compliance and a C‑SMART training. Compliance trainings cover campaign finance law and CFB rules. C‑SMART trainings provide an overview of the CFB’s web-based application, which campaigns must use to track and disclose financial activity.
   
   The CFB also offers a New to the CFB training that is geared toward first-time candidates, treasurers, and campaign staff. This training is optional and will cover an overview of some expectations and demands of running for a CFB-covered office. Attend this training prior to the Compliance and C‑SMART trainings.
   
   Note: All trainings are open to the public, even if you have not yet registered your campaign with the CFB.
   
   View the training calendar and sign up for a training
   
   
2. Contact your Candidate Services Liaison
   
   You will be assigned a liaison to assist your campaign throughout the election cycle once your committee is registered with the CFB. Your liaison can help answer questions about compliance and will remind you of important deadlines and filing requirements.
   
   
3. Set up a Contribute account
   
   Contribute is a fundraising platform created by the CFB to simplify the process of collecting credit card contributions online while meeting the CFB’s reporting and recordkeeping requirements. While optional, this platform allows you to easily collect credit card contributions, set up fundraising events to more easily track and report contributions raised, and transfer contribution data directly to C-SMART. Refer to the FAQs for Campaigns for instructions on signing up for Contribute.

For assistance, please contact us by email at [email protected].