Political contributions and lobbying

ExxonMobil believes that registering and voting, keeping informed on political matters, serving in civic bodies, and campaigning and office-holding at local, state, and national levels are important rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a democracy.

Read more in our Political Activities Policy and Guidelines.

Corporate Contributions
Where permitted, the Corporation makes lawful political contributions in the United States to political candidate committees and political parties, associations and other political organizations. These contributions are reported to governing agencies where required by law.

A summary of U.S. corporate political contributions for the past four years is set forth in the table below.

Corporate Contributions (000s)

Download an itemized listing of the 2011 State Corporate Political Contributions
Download an itemized listing of the 2010 State Corporate Political Contribution
Download an itemized listing of the 2009 State Corporate Political Contribution
Download an itemized listing of the 2008 State Corporate Political Contribution

Outside the United States, Canada is the only country in which an ExxonMobil affiliate is authorized to make political contributions. Imperial Oil Limited, a majority-owned Canadian affiliate of the Corporation, makes limited political contributions to political parties, riding associations and candidates. Imperial Oil follows strict guidelines when making these contributions, and all contributions are published by the Chief Electoral Officers of the provincial governments.

ExxonMobil PAC
As with many corporations, ExxonMobil offers certain eligible employees and retiree shareholders an opportunity to participate in the U.S. political process by contributing to a company-sponsored Political Action Committee (PAC). Participation in the PAC is completely voluntary. Political contributions made from the PAC are reported monthly to the Federal Election Commission, and are a matter of public record. Below is a summary of PAC contributions for the past four years. A detailed schedule of ExxonMobil PAC contributions can be accessed on the U.S. Federal Election Commission Web site at http://www.fec.gov.

Review with the Board of Directors
The political contributions of ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil are reviewed on an annual basis with the Board of Directors of the Corporation.

Political Lobbying and Advocacy
ExxonMobil engages in lobbying in the United States at both the Federal and State levels to advocate our positions on issues that affect our Corporation and the energy industry.

ExxonMobil also provides support to a variety of think tanks, trade associations, and coalitions in order to promote informed dialogue and sound public policy on matters pertinent to the Corporation’s interests. These areas include, among others: fiscal policy, international trade matters, energy, environment, labor/pension matters, education, civil justice reform and public health. Some of the support provided to these organizations may be used by the firms for lobbying. ExxonMobil requires these groups to report the portion of dues used for lobbying purposes; these amounts are included in ExxonMobil’s public Lobby Disclosure Act filings.

Lobbying is highly regulated in the United States. ExxonMobil fully complies with regulations by reporting all federal lobbying to the U.S. Congress in a quarterly lobbying disclosure report. In 2011, ExxonMobil reported lobbying expenses totaling $12.7 million in its public Lobby Disclosure Act report. This total figure includes expenses associated with the costs of employee federal lobbying, as well as those portions of payments to trade associations, coalitions and think tanks that are spent on federal lobbying. ExxonMobil's quarterly lobby disclosure reports are public record and can be viewed online at the Senate's public disclosure Web site at http://www.senate.gov (search for "Exxon Mobil" as registrant name).

^{¹Program of Republican State Leadership Committee. Earmarked to association indicated.}

^{²State-level giving includes contributions to candidate committees for governor, lieutenant governor, legislature and attorney general; and caucus/party contributions in California and Virginia.}