Serious Money offers a detailed analysis of the relationship between fundraising methods and contributing decisions in presidential nomination campaigns, specifically 1988 and 1992. Brown, Powell, and Wilcox explore the fundamental differences between direct mail solicitation and personal solicitation networks, and how candidate resources dictate the use of unique methods of solicitation.

Candidate resources analyzed include home-state power bases, access to national party networks and the national legislative agenda, congressional office, social identity, and ideological proximity. With respect to contributing decisions, the book focuses on the three fundamental sources of the decision to contribute: the purposive, solidary, and material motives of contributors.

1. The research is based largely upon newly conducted surveys of contributors to presidential candidates in 1992 and 1988, on a panel study of the 1988 contributors designed to examine campaign targeting decisions and contributing behavior during the 1992 election cycle, and on interviews with campaign fundraising professionals.