The Center for Political Accountability recently published this 10-page guide to corporate political spending. The guide suggests solutions to 5 common challenges that arise from contributions to political candidates, trade associations, and other third-party groups.

The purpose of the Guide is to help safeguard companies as they make political spending decisions in today’s charged environment.

Today members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) announced they had sent letters to members of the Business Roundtable urging them to align political spending with their state core values, to mitigate both reputational risks to the company, and broader risks to democracy.

Corporations increasingly face risk from their political spending, and that risk is heightened when they have not charted where funds will actually go.

“The whole issue of dark money and soliciting dark money presents a real crisis in our political system today and poses a real risk to companies,” said Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability, a Washington, D.C., group that pushes companies to disclose more about their financing of political efforts. “At this point,…

Bud Light. Disney. Goya. Coca-Cola. Delta. The one thing these companies all have in common is they have all found themselves in the crosshairs of American politics.

Coca-Cola and UPS investors are among those rejecting abortion bids. Growing Awareness of risks from political, lobbying donations.

Donations have helped utilities increase electricity prices, hinder solar schemes and helped elect sympathetic legislators…

Blue-chip companies gave to Republican group funneling money to lawmakers who overturned abortion-ban veto in North Carolina.

As the 2024 election cycle begins in earnest, companies must act on their fiduciary responsibility to more closely monitor their political spending and the accompanying risk.

Annual meetings kicked off with a bang this year as companies and their executives confronted increasingly thorny questions from both liberal and conservative stakeholders…

More than $37m has already been spent in an election that will this month determine control of Wisconsin’s supreme court, easily making it the most expensive judicial contest in US history.

Your March 13 editorial (“Out of the darkness“) tying the recent Larry Householder guilty verdict to the perils that companies face from “dark money” political spending hit the bullseye.

A sordid chapter in Ohio’s political and corporate history came to a close as former Republican House Speaker Larry Householder and former state GOP chairman Matt Borges were convicted last Thursday, March 9, in federal court on racketeering-conspiracy charges.

“FirstEnergy is the poster child of the risks and damage a company faces from ill-considered political spending,” said Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability.

Action range from full disclosure to bans on corporate money in politics.

‘Interplay between government institutions and businesses engaging in both policy and politics is rightfully being scrutinized in ways not seen for generations,’ says IBM’s Christopher Padilla.

At least 10 major corporations made substantial donations “directly or indirectly” to the re-election campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis, with three of them giving more than $2 million and are now touting their promotion of Black History Month.

The 2024 election cycle will likely see record campaign spending and companies will find themselves ever more intensely scrutinized for the way they engage in politics.

Companies such as Amazon, Disney and Walmart funded Florida governor who has imposed curbs on teaching about race in school.

According to a new survey and related report from The Conference Board, 78% of US companies characterized the current political environment as “extremely challenging” or “very challenging” for companies—and 20% more described the environment as merely “challenging.” That totals 98%.

Consumers’ Research, bolstered by millions in donations and the Republican takeover of the House, targets Wall Street’s evaluation of climate risks.

In the USA, political spending and corporate lobbying are well-established as legitimate business activities that give companies the means to have their interest heard by politicians and governments. At the same time, it is an area that – when not managed appropriately – can expose these companies to heightened business, reputational and legal risks.

US firms face heightened scrutiny of their political spending. Issuers will be thrust further into the political divide heightened from a resolution calling on them to require and disclose reports from trade associations and political action committees they fund detailing exactly where their money goes.

Shareholders, consumer groups and lawmakers seeking more details, better oversight of corporate political outlays…

Shareholder proposals targeting political spending are poised to ramp up in this year’s proxy season, pressing companies to unveil if their sometimes tightly-guarded stances on issues line up with their donations.

The American Bar Association released on Dec. 19, 2022, a video filmed at last September’s Business Law Section Annual Meeting.

In Pennsylvania’s crucial elections this month, Outback Steakhouse’s attempt to back a pro-business candidate went over like a week-old Bloomin’ Onion.

A number of companies, highly sensitized to any misalignment between their political contributions and their public statements, determined to suspend or discontinue some or all of their political donations

Spending misalignment is raising investors’ ire.

Some candidates continue to deny the results of the 2020 presidential elections…

Since 2015, Centene has given more than $26 million to state political campaigns.

The Center for Political Accountability (CPA) and the University of Pennsylvania’s Zicklin Center for Governance and Business Ethics 2022 CPA-Zicklin Index revealed a “dramatic gap” in spending.

Why ‘everyone’s playing gotcha with political spending.’

CME Group also an outlier as growing number of S&P 500 companies publish more information

In the wake of the 2020 presidential election and riot at the Capitol, corporate giants have looked more closely at their political contributions and become more transparent about where the money goes.

Dramatic Gap in Political Disclosure and Accountability Between S&P 500 and Smaller Companies 

First Hard Look at Business’ Stake in Democracy, How Their Corporate Political Spending Puts It All At Risk & How Companies Can Best Respond