Major firms agree to disclose political gifts.

Corporate political contributions are generally a far smaller item on activists' radar screens than environmental or governance issues. But a group of activists has garnered agreements from at least three major corporations to disclose and have their directors oversee "soft money" political contributions made with corporate funds.

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Pepsico Inc., The Coca-Cola Co. and Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to the request by the Washington-based Center for Political Accountability (CPA), environmental investment firm Green Century Capital Management and the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Detroit. The three companies join Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough Corp., which adopted political transparency and accountability policies during the 2005 shareholder resolution season.

Under the policies, all soft money political contributions will be reviewed at the board level on an annual basis. In addition, each company will post a complete list of corporate political contributions on its website and disclose the guidelines and the rationale for their political giving.

The dollars at stake aren't earth-shaking; in the 2004 election cycle, companies contributed about $75 million in soft money at the federal level. According to the CPA, however, some of the contributions have gone to political activities that conflict with a company's publicly stated policies and practices or are unrelated to its core business.

Current campaign finance law allows corporations to make donations in many states and to political committees commonly known as 527s, but not to federal candidates. However, companies aren't required to disclose political contributions made with corporate funds, leaving institutional investors and individual shareholders in the dark about the use of company resources for political activities, the activists say.