Elections

• Campaign finance reform has brought to light the difference between private and public funding. In general, money raised from donors is referred to as private money. Public money refers instead to money provided by the state or federal government at the expense of taxpayers. Many voters do not believe that taxpayer money should be used to assist a candidate in gaining political office, particularly if that candidate has a platform that is contrary to the voter's platform. Privately-funded campaigns typically do affect results of an election however. For example, a more popular and well-known candidate will be able to raise more funds. A lesser-known candidate may not be able to compete at the same level as a result.
  
  

Social Programs

• Private funding for social programs is another hot topic. Organizations like Planned Parenthood for example, function under a combined funding program. They receive donations from those interested in their cause (which is private funding), as well as federal funds from the government. This again creates difficulties among taxpayers who do not want their tax dollars going to a cause they may not support.
  
  Some privately-funded social programs receive no federal or state support. These organizations typically advertise this fact heavily and rely solely on donations from their supporters. An example is a church charity.
  
  

Business

• The business sector commonly sees projects that are privately funded, either through groups of investors, angel investors or by venture capitalists. An investor such as Warren Buffett may have enough funds to launch a company, while other funding comes from groups of investors. An example of this would be Buffett's new privately-funded International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Fuel Bank. This bank, according to Buffett, will enable developing nation's to create nuclear power under control of the IAEA without the concern that they would use technology to create nuclear weapons.
  
  

Other Sectors

• The entertainment world commonly sees projects that are privately funded, either through groups of investors or even one person who provides all the money for a project. Private funding has also enabled more space exploration, outside of federally funded programs such as NASA. Entrepreneurs including Richard Branson and Elon Musk put up their own money to finance the research, development and creation of spacecraft completely separately from government programs. Proponents suggest that private funding in this sector may help increase innovation and encourage the government to allocate more federal funding for space exploration.