The largest of the more than 2,300 individual contributors to Don't Amend to date remains Wordperfect co-founder Bruce Bastian, who added $25,000 to his contributions to Don't Amend since the last filing deadline, bringing his total contributions to $339,500.

It's common for national donors to fund local efforts on national causes, such as gay marriage initiatives or education vouchers, said Ron Hrebenar, University of Utah political science department chairman and Hinckley Institute of Politics interim director.

For example, the Alexandria, Va.,-based All Children Matter has pumped some $254,500 into Parents for Choice in Education, which supports tuition tax credits and vouchers.

However, Utah is one of 11 states deciding on a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, and it's not considered to be a close race here, where polls have consistently shown more than 60 percent support for the measure.

"Money goes where it thinks it can have an impact," Hrebenar said.

However, he said based on past races, "it's always been my impression that a lot of money seems to flow in during the last period, right before the election . . . after the last reporting deadline."

Marriage Education Initiatives hasn't reported its finances to the State Office of Elections, director Amy Naccarato said. The corporation has met the $750 minimum, but Naccarato said she'd need to know more about the corporation before she could say if it's required to report its expenditures. When a new corporation doesn't report, it's usually because of ignorance of the law, and it will receive a letter informing it that it needs to report.

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Contributing: Jennifer Toomer-Cook

E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com