Reynolds American Inc. and Noble Energy Inc. have joined agrowing number of companies disclosing their contributions to tradeassociations and other nonprofit groups that legally can keep theirdonors from public view.

A study to be released today reports that 84 of the 195 largestcorporations in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index have agreed toreveal their contributions to trade associations, an increase from70 companies a year earlier. In addition, 51 companies, up from 31,have said they would disclose donations to other nonprofits.

Even as some groups fight efforts to make their donors public,companies are coming forward on their own, according to the reportby the Center for Political Accountability and the University ofPennsylvania Wharton School's Zicklin Center for Business EthicsResearch.

“Companies say this is just good governance,” said Bruce Freed,president of the Washington-based accountability center, whichencourages companies to disclose their political spending.

A spokeswoman for Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Reynolds,Jane Seccombe, said the company's disclosure policy evolved fromdiscussions with a shareholder she declined to identify. Theshareholder wanted “greater transparency,” she said.

Noble Energy is committed to doing “business with integrity andtransparency and applies this commitment to its stakeholderinteractions and public disclosures,” Arnold Johnson, theHouston-based company's general counsel, said in an e-mailedstatement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering whether tomove ahead on a proposed rule requiring all publicly tradedcorporations to reveal their political spending.

Spending by trade and other nonprofit groups on campaigns hasincreased since the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decisionin January 2010 removed limits on independent corporate and unionspending.

Such expenditures grew to $311 million in 2012 — 85 percent onbehalf of Republicans — from $69 million in 2008, according to theCenter for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research groupthat tracks campaign expenditures.

Senate Republicans have blocked legislation requiring all groupsspending money on campaigns to identify their donors. The FederalElection Commission, which has three Democratic and threeRepublican members, has deadlocked along party lines on whether toconsider requiring such disclosure.

Boycott Threat

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business lobby,also opposes rules that would force it to disclosecontributors.

“The idea here is to bring these companies' political spending —which is free speech — out into the open so they can be targetedfor harassment and boycotts,” Chamber President Tom Donohue said ina Sept. 10 speech in Stamford, Connecticut.

Donohue has been joined by National Association of ManufacturersPresident Jay Timmons and Business Roundtable President John Englerin urging companies to resist pressure to disclose theircontributions.

“The ultimate plan” by advocates of greater disclosure, thethree said in an April letter, is “to intimidate companies intowithdrawing from political engagement.”

Because of voluntary corporate disclosures and filings bynonprofits with the Internal Revenue Service, more of the chamber'sdonors are being publicly identified. They include Noble Energy,which gave $82,500 last year, and Reynolds American, whichcontributed $45,000, according to information posted on bothcompanies' websites.

Donating $3 million to the chamber, Internal Revenue Servicefilings show, was Arlington, Virginia-based Freedom Partners, anonprofit linked to billionaire energy executives Charles and DavidKoch.

The chamber spent $35.7 million on the 2012 elections primarilyin support of Republicans, according to the Center for ResponsivePolitics.

Freedom Partners' president, Marc Short, has been the Kochs'Washington liaison, according to the center. Board members includeRichard Fink, executive vice president of Wichita, Kansas-basedKoch Industries Inc., and Kevin Gentry, a vice president of Koch'slobbying arm, according to Freedom Partners' website.

The group also gave $1.2 million to the National Association ofManufacturers and $2.5 million to the National Federation ofIndependent Business, a trade group representing smallbusinesses.

Ad Spending

“If there is outside support that is aligned with the positionsthat we already have, those positions that our members haveapproved, then we will take advantage of that,” said Jean Card,NFIB's vice president of media and communications.

Freedom Partners contributed $32 million to another Koch- linkedgroup, Americans for Prosperity, which is running ads againstPresident Barack Obama's health-care law. AFP, which received$50,000 from Reynolds American, spent $36.4 million on behalf ofRepublicans in 2012, according to the Center for ResponsivePolitics.

Freed of the Center for Political Accountability said disclosuremay keep companies from funding nonprofits whose politicalactivities could anger consumers. Target Corp. faced a boycott bygay-rights groups in 2010 after donating $150,000 to a businessgroup backing a gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota who opposedsame-sex marriage.

“Target was viewed by companies as a reason for them to adoptserious disclosure and accountability policies,” Freed said.Companies can say, “we'd like to give but it's going to bedisclosed. That's a reason that they're not going to give.”

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