VotePulse Platform · Campaign finance

Campaign finance, M-PESA donations and logistics

Campaign money moves fast and in cash-like ways: M-PESA, allowances, printing, fuel, merchandise. VotePulse keeps budgets, requests, approvals and donations in one place, next to the field operation they pay for.

Updated By the VotePulse team

Runs in: Campaign Manager Portal · See it alongside every module →

Where campaign money disappears

In many campaigns the finance system is a treasurer’s notebook and an M-PESA statement. Coordinators ask for money by phone, approvals are verbal and nobody can say what a ward actually cost.

A request-and-approve process, with every shilling tied to a budget line and a person, protects the candidate and makes the campaign easier to steer.

What Campaign finance does

  • Budgets

    Set budgets by category and top them up with a recorded reason.

  • Spending requests and approvals

    Staff request money, approvers approve or decline, and disbursements are recorded.

  • Cash accounts

    Track the campaign’s accounts and every adjustment, with who made it and why.

  • Burn rate

    Average monthly spend over the last three months, from paid and approved expenses.

  • M-PESA donations

    Donations received by M-PESA tracked alongside the budget.

  • Finance questions

    Ask plain questions about the campaign’s finances and get answers from its own records.

  • Vendor marketplace

    Register vendors and their prices, then send priced requests to Finance.

  • Merchandise logistics

    Merchandise requests from ward coordinators go through county approval, warehouse dispatch and GPS-confirmed delivery; purchase orders sync with Finance.

How it works

  1. Set the budget

    Create budget lines for field, communications, events and logistics.

  2. Request and approve

    Coordinators request funds; approvers decide in the portal.

  3. Record and disburse

    Disbursements are recorded against the request and budget.

  4. Watch the burn

    The Command Center shows spend and pending approvals.

What it does not do

We would rather you know the limits before you buy than discover them in the middle of a campaign.

  • The finance module records and approves spending; it does not move money out of your accounts.
  • Figures are zero until you enter real data. Sample data loads only when you choose it.
  • Your campaign remains responsible for complying with campaign-finance law and reporting.

Who uses it

Treasurers and finance leads
Every request, approval and disbursement recorded.
Candidates
Where the money went, by ward and category.
Logistics teams
Merchandise tracked from request to delivery.

Software, or software with our team

Campaign finance is included in VotePulse plans, priced by the office you are contesting — see plans and prices. If you would rather have our team set it up and run it with you, our campaign strategy & operations consultancy is quoted separately.

Frequently asked questions

Can supporters donate by M-PESA?

Yes. Donations received by M-PESA are tracked in the finance module alongside the budget.

Can coordinators request money from the field?

Coordinators request funds and merchandise, and the request goes through approval before anything is disbursed.

Does VotePulse hold campaign money?

No. It records budgets, requests, approvals and donations. The money stays in the campaign’s own accounts.

Related modules and guides

VotePulse is an independent campaign technology and consultancy platform. It is not the IEBC and does not declare official election results.