The plain facts speak for themselves, without puffery or spin.

CPA notched a strong year in 2018. Our campaign for corporate political spending disclosure and accountability keeps making a deep impact. In 2018 we have achieved new gains and marked new milestones, despite headwinds. And when it came to forecasting, we hit the bulls-eye with our report about an explosive risk facing politically active companies in a polarized election year.

Here are the facts:

Public corporations embracing disclosure and accountability of their political spending held fast despite countervailing pressures from Washington, according to the 2018 CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability, published in October. This buttressed the finding of an Iowa Law Review article of late 2017 that corporate political disclosure and accountability had become the norm.

CPA’s landmark “Collision Course” report broke new ground by warning of “The Risks Companies Face When Their Political Spending and Core Values Conflict, and How to Address Them,” and the report garnered serious attention in media and corporate governance circles and executive suites. 

The average vote for CPA’s political disclosure resolution topped 34%, a jump of five percentage points from last year’s average. The resolution also was among the top vote-getters for social resolutions. 

Mutual fund support for CPA’s model resolution jumped eight percentage points, from 45 percent in 2017 to 53 percent in 2018. This was the greatest increase in backing by the largest funds since the Center began tracking institutional investor votes a decade ago.

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We’re pleased that the facts spell out CPA’s continuing success and impact in 2018, and we anticipate further important achievements in the year ahead.

Philadelphia Inquirer Calls Out Big 3 Institutional Investors’ Records on Corporate Political Disclosure

 

Earlier this month the Philadelphia Inquirer declared Vanguard “no friend to shareholders seeking more details on firms' political spending.” Reporting on CPA’s 2018 Mutual Fund Analysis, the Inquirer highlighted the abysmal record of the Big 3 Institutional investors on political spending resolutions.

“Both Vanguard and Fidelity had zero percent support for the resolution while BlackRock had 4.1 percent support" it said. "…In contrast to those three money managers, firms such as PIMCO, Morgan Stanley and Lazard showed 100 percent support when their funds voted on the political spending resolution this year.”

Vanguard defended its record, saying that its “investment stewardship activities are not driven by any political, social, or environmental agendas.” However, this is at odds with a recent law review article and the 2018 CPA-Zicklin Index findings that corporate political disclosure is becoming the norm. 

The article noted the overall trend for corporate political disclosure and accountability, despite the continued refusal of the Big 3 to support it with their proxy votes. 

“Among 46 large asset managers, support for the resolution rose eight points this year -- from 45 percent in 2017, to 53 percent in 2018." the Inquirer wrote.

Read the full Inquirer story here.

 

Responsible Investor magazine’s annual U.S. conference focused on corporate political disclosure for this first time with a panel moderated by CPA president Bruce Freed. Held in New York, the program brought together a wide range of investors and leaders involved in ESG.
 
Other panel members were AFSCME’s John Keenan, who spoke about lobbying disclosure, and 50/50 Climate Project’s Kimberly Gladman, who discussed the limits of disclosure and the need to address behavioral change.
 

 

CPA In the News

 

When the Corporate Counsel website – part of Law.com – recently carried an article on the growing regulatory clout wielded by state attorneys general, CPA was quoted about the risks that companies face when they make political donations in a polarized political environment.
 
Reporter Sue Reisinger detailed hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate donations to Republican and Democratic state attorneys general associations, then wrapped up her article by noting that such donations are not risk-free.
 
“It’s like nitroglycerin, when you shake the bottle you never know when it might explode,” CPA’s Freed told Corporate Counsel about these political payments. “If companies do spend on campaigns,” Freed added, “they need to do so much more carefully and with strict policies in place, rigorous board oversight and full transparency.” The article also mentioned CPA’s “Collision Course” report (see Founder’s Column).
 

TrackYourCompany.org Update Imminent

CPA’s comprehensive database on corporate political spending, TrackYourCompany.org, will include all 2017 corporate spending data by early January.

TrackYourCompany.org is the only database which provides a broad picture of the corporate political spending of the S&P 500 companies. Derived from voluntary political spending disclosure reports and the CPA-Zicklin Index on Corporate Political Disclosure, it presents the data in a central location and enables users to search and sort voluntarily as well as publicly disclosed contributions.

Used by journalists and academics as well as investors, TrackYourCompany.org shines a light on hundreds of millions of dollars in previously hidden money given by companies to trade associations, 527 political committees and “social welfare” organizations, also known as 501(c)(4)s.

CPA will announce when the 2017 data is live.​