While President Donald Trump continues to gather funds to shape his influence for the next midterm elections and beyond, he has decided to allocate a small, though significant, portion to his Vice President.

Many of Trump’s recent appeals for funds, including the donation link on his official site, guide donors to allocate 5% of their contributions to Vice President JD Vance’s PAC, Working for Ohio.

The setup netted the former Ohio senator’s committee $245,000 in May and June alone, according to a campaign finance disclosure.

This setup is beneficial for a vice president who dedicates a significant portion of his political efforts towards fundraising for the Republican National Committee, where he holds the position of finance chair, as well as other entities associated with Trump. Moreover, this arrangement provides Vance’s political committee with access to vital data on active Trump donors—a resource that could prove advantageous in any future presidential run, especially as Vance’s PAC had previously been less active.

The arrangement was discreetly established in the spring after Trump appointed Vance to his finance role within the RNC, according to two individuals familiar with the plan who spoke to NBC News. The purpose was to ensure that Vance’s committee had enough funds to cover staffing and other operational costs, as his fundraising efforts are largely directed toward the national party.

At just 41, Vance is seen as a leading figure in the potentially competitive race for the Republican nomination in 2028. This makes any political step he takes garner significant attention. The individuals aware of the fundraising arrangement stated that Trump’s approval of it should not be interpreted as an endorsement of a Vance candidacy but rather as a measure to keep Vance’s political activities viable while his focus remains elsewhere.

Last month, Trump, when questioned by a reporter at the White House, acknowledged that he considers Vance his “most likely” successor, although he has refrained from giving outright endorsements of his vice president. Trump also mentioned that Secretary of State Marco Rubio “might team up with JD in some capacity.”

“It’s too early obviously to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point,” Trump added, referring to Vance.

Even without a full-throated endorsement, Trump has positioned Vance well. In addition to making him the first sitting vice president to serve as the RNC’s finance chair, a role that keeps him connected to the party’s top donors, Trump has also deputized Vance as a key spokesperson for the administration’s priorities.

While the fundraising agreement is not explicitly about 2028, it does offer Vance some advantages. Vance’s team can use the funds to pay advisers and stage events that promote him, and the arrangement gives Vance’s political orbit more insight into Trump’s current world of small-dollar donors.

Meanwhile, Working for Ohio will not be expected to pick up the tab for Vance’s travel to rally for midterm candidates in 2026, the people familiar with the arrangement said. Those costs will be covered by whichever entity is responsible for the event, which is standard practice for political travel.

Trump did not have a donation-sharing arrangement during his first term with his first vice president, Mike Pence, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Pence, who was the first sitting vice president to form a separate political arm, paid for his personal political travel out of his leadership PAC. But, unlike Vance, who must tend to the RNC’s fundraising, Pence was able to actively raise cash for his committee.

Trump, a prolific fundraiser, raises money for a variety of different “joint fundraising committees,” federal campaign finance vehicles that can serve as central hubs, taking in donations and then doling out money to different smaller committees. Trump’s joint fundraising committees allocate the dollars across different groups according to the Trump orbit’s wishes and campaign finance limits.

One of those joint fundraising committees is Trump National Committee JFC Inc., which currently splits up donations between Trump’s own leadership PAC, Never Surrender, the RNC and Vance’s Working for Ohio. Currently, 77.5% of all money raised to the joint fundraising committee goes to Trump’s group, 17.5% to the RNC and 5% to Vance’s group. Trump’s political team can alter that allocation formula at any time.

The money from Trump’s group has helped replenish Working for Ohio’s coffers, which had been drawn down to about $16,000 in cash on hand and listed more than $100,000 in debts at the end of 2024. The agreement kicked in in May, FEC records show, and sent Vance’s committee slightly more than $245,000 over two months. (The most recent publicly available reports only cover activity through June.)

Vance’s committee spent about $16,000 through the first half of 2025, FEC records show, with most of the money going toward compliance and fundraising consulting and retiring some of the debts. The committee still lists a $96,000 debt related to strategic consulting.

The political team that helped Vance win his 2022 Senate campaign in Ohio — and stayed close to him after Trump picked him as his running mate last year — remains intact. And some of Vance’s advisers are already engaged in key midterm races. For example, his chief strategist, Andy Surabian, is working on Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s bid for governor in South Carolina, which is traditionally placed early on the presidential caucus and primary calendar.

Those close to Vance, and Vance himself, have emphasized that his focus is on the White House’s agenda and the 2026 midterms — and that his own political future depends on how successful Trump and Republicans are in the meantime.

“My attitude is,” Vance said in an interview with NBC News in May, “if I do end up running in 2028, I’m not entitled to it.”