News

The year's proxy season kicked off today with the publication of ICCR’s 2019 Proxy Resolutions and Voting Guide. The Guide presents some 250 shareholder proposals that have been filed or co-filed by members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), that address a wide range of ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) issues – on such diverse topics as political spending disclosure, climate change, human rights, diversity & inclusion, immigration, and data privacy.

New General Electric CEO Larry Culp’s emphasis on transparency apparently now extends to the company’s political operations. GE executives just decided to broaden the company’s disclosures of political donations to include trade association dues as well as gifts to “social welfare” nonprofits, a.k.a. 501(c)(4)s, often used to funnel 'dark money' to candidates.

General Electric announced it would become more transparent – starting this month – by disclosing any contributions it makes to so-called social welfare organizations, a category of nonprofit groups that often sponsor campaign outreach and political attack ads. GE agreed to the array of new policies as a result of a shareholder resolution and negotiations with Investor Voice.

General Electric will begin disclosing contributions to 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations and non-tax-deductible contributions to major trade associations, both of which can be spent on elections. The agreement was reached with Investor Voice after filing a proxy proposal on the subject.

For the first time, GE has agreed to robust disclosure of payments made to trade associations and secretive “social welfare” organizations, also known as 501(c)(4) groups – payments that might be used for election-related purposes. Investor Voice filed a shareholder proposal in September that urged the company to embrace greater transparency by disclosing such payments.

In public comments delivered to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor Voice urged the Agency to resist pressure from self-interested corporations and their lobbyists to cripple the shareholder engagement provisions of the proxy process.