Risks of Political Giving Primer
“The risk companies face from political spending has reached an all-time high,” said Bruce Freed, the president of the Center for Political Accountability. “It is hitting Code Red.”

“The risk companies face from political spending has reached an all-time high,” said Bruce Freed, the president of the Center for Political Accountability. “It is hitting Code Red.”
“A $100,000 contribution that ends up impacting a handful of state races can flip a state legislature, can flip an AG’s office,” said Jeanne Hanna, CPA’s vice-president of research.
For a host of reasons, both legal and business, public corporations share Congress’ interest in stemming corruption.
A top business school and the Center for Political Accountability are out with a new guide cautioning business leaders that their political donations “are in the crosshairs.”
A small D.C. policy shop, the Center for Political Accountability, is driving a critique of money in politics aimed at spurring new thinking in C-suites and boardrooms.
The 2026 proxy season continued to show strong shareholder support for the Center for Political Accountability’s corporate political disclosure and accountability effort in an increasingly challenging environment.
Freed said boards should consider the reputation consequences of executives’ personal political activity when it overlaps with a company’s business or regulatory interests.
“The concern is not that companies are sponsoring a national celebration. The concern is that this celebration appears to offer access to the president while some of those companies have business before his Administration,”
Rising reputational, legal and shareholder risks are pushing boards to treat political spending as a governance priority.
The U.S. cryptocurrency industry has become one of the most aggressive players in U.S. elections, but its spending has amplified scrutiny and backlash of the industry without delivering clear wins.