Who Funds The Chamber Of Commerce? HuffPost Readers Respond

HuffPost readers responded to our request for more information about the companies and organizations which fund and support the Chamber of Commerce, which has been outspoken in its opposition to health care reform, climate change legislation and financial reform.

For the following list, we chose to also include Chamber affiliates, such as the Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, the National Chamber Litigation Center, National Chamber Foundation, the Center for International Private Enterprise and the Business Civic Leadership Center. In addition, the corporate affiliations of the Chamber's leadership and board of directors have been highlighted.

The Chamber's board of directors includes executives from the following companies and organizations:

3M
48hourprint.com (Boston, MA)
A.O. Smith Corporation (Milwaukee, WI)
Accenture
AEGON N.V., Retired
AGCO Corporation (Duluth, GA)
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Alcoa, Inc.
Alpha Technologies, Inc.
American Medical Association
American Water Works Company
Amway
Anheuser-Busch Companies
Arnel & Affiliates (Costa Mesa, CA)
AT&T
Authentix, Inc. (Addison, TX)
Awkard & Associates
Buffalo Supply Inc. (Lafayette, CO)
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation
CAIVIS Acquisition Corp.
Cargill
Caterpillar Inc.
CNL Financial Group, Inc.
COMSYS Information Technology Services (Gaithersburg, MD)
Con-way Inc.
ConocoPhillips
Constangy, Brooks & Smith LLC (Macon, GA)
Cumberland Foreside (ME)
CUNA Mutual Group
CVS Caremark Corporation
Deere & Company
Deloitte LLP
DonahueFavret Contractors Holding Company (Mandeville, LA)
Duke Energy Corp.
Eastman Kodak Company
Edward Jones
Emerson
Entergy Services, Inc.
FACES Day Spa
FedEx Express
Fluor Corporation
Fox Entertainment Group
HARM GROUP LLC (Naples, FL)
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.
High Companies
HPA Strategies
Hutchison Advisors
Ingram Industries (Nashville, TN)
International Bancshares Corporation
International Merchants, L.L.C.
Human Genome Sciences, Inc.
Hawk Corporation (Cleveland, OH)
KCI Technologies, Inc. (Sparks, MD)
Kimberly-Clark
Kirby Financial, LLC (Sioux Falls, SD)
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Leading Authorities, Inc.
Lockheed Martin
Massey Energy Company
Melaleuca, Inc. (Idaho Falls, ID)
Memphis Chemical & Janitorial Supply Company
MI Industries
Mindover Corp. (Canyon Lake, TX)
Mountain Plains Equity Group, Inc.
My Chef Catering (Naperville, IL)
Nana Development Corporation (Anchorage, AK)
National Association of Chain Drug Stores
National Black Chamber of Commerce
Navistar, Inc.
New York Life Insurance Company
Norfolk Southern
Nortex Holdings, Inc. (Providence, RI)
Oldcastle, Inc. (Atlanta, GA)
Paper and Chemical Supply Company
Peabody Energy
PEPCO Holdings Inc.
PERMAC Industries
Pfizer Inc.
Pool Corporation
Quam-Nichols Company, Inc.
Rolls-Royce North America
RPM International, Inc.
Ruan Transportation Management Systems
Ryder System, Inc.
Siemens Corporation
Silgan Holdings (Shelburne, VT)
Southern Company
J.R.'s Stockyards Inn
Spencer Stuart
Stanwich Group LLC
State Farm Insurance Companies
Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. (McLean, VA)
Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (Fort Worth, TX)
Telcom Ventures, L.L.C.
The Carlyle Group
The Charles Schwab Corporation
The Coaching Group, LLC
The Dow Chemical Company
The Robertson Foundation
Tramco, Inc. (Wichita, KS)
UniGroup, Inc. (Fenton, MO)
United Parcel Service
US Airways
VAST Solutions, LLC (Tuskegee, AL)
Vulcan Materials Company (Birmingham, AL)
Walker Information (Indianapolis, IN)
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
Xerox

The National Chamber Foundation's board of directors includes executives from the following companies and organizations:

Adelphi Capital, LLC
Affiliated Computer Services
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
America Online
American Apparel & Footwear Association
Anheuser-Busch Companies
Appleton & Associates
Associated Equipment Distributors
AstraZeneca
Cardinal Health System, Inc.
Cisco Systems
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
Domino's Pizza, Inc.
Engineering Systems Solutions (Frederick, MD)
EverFi Inc.
Food Market Institute
Georgetown University Medical Center
Harris Interactive
Heritage Foundation
K & Z Partners, LLC
Kemp Partners
KPMG LLP
Landstar System, Inc.
Leading Authorities, Inc.
Liberty Mutual Group
Lockheed Martin
MacNair Travel Management, Inc. (Alexandria, VA)
ManattJones Global Strategies, LLC
McGuire Woods LLP
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
National Association of Broadcasters
National Roofing Contractors Association
New Jersey Chamber of Commerce
New Media Strategies
New York Private Bank & Trust
Nike, Inc.
Perot Systems
Public Strategies
Ruan Transportation Management Systems (Des Moines, IA)
SAP AG (Newton Square, PA)
Soluciones Estrategicas (Mexico)
Spencer Stuart
Stonebridge International, LLC
Sunrise Senior Living, Inc
Tecta America Corporation (Skokie, IL)
Telcom Ventures, LLC (Alexandria, VA)
The Cambridge Group (Chicago, IL)
The Fairfax Group
The Robertson Foundation
Trailmobile Corporation (Lake Forest, IL)
Tygris Commercial Finance Group
Wells Fargo Bank

Business Civic Leadership Center's current and past corporate sponsors:

Abbott Laboratories
Accenture
Aflac Incorporated
Allstate Corporation
Alpine Banks of Colorado
ARAMARK
Alcatel-Lucent
Alticor
AltruShare Securities, LLC.
American International Group, Inc.
Anheuser-Busch Companies
AOL Time Warner
APCO Worldwide, Inc.
ArvinMeritor, Inc.
AT&T
Bacardi-Martini, Inc.
Banco Popular North America
Bank of America
Baxter International Inc.
Bayer Corporation
BD
Best Buy Co., Inc.
Booz Allen Hamilton
Capital One
Cargill, Inc.
CEMEX Mexico
Chevron Corporation
CHOICES Educational Fund
ChoicePoint Inc.
CIGNA
Citi
Citizens Financial Group/Citizens Charitable Foundation
Community Reinvestment Fund, USA
Computer Associates
ConAgra Foods, Inc.
ConocoPhillips
Creative Associates International, Inc.
Create Hope
CVS/Caremark
Daimler Chrysler
DeHavilland Associates
Deloitte & Touche, LLP
DHL
DirecTV
Discovery Communications, Inc.
Disneyland Resorts
Dominion Resources, Inc.
Dow Chemical Company
Epstein, Becker & Green, P.C.
Entergy
Erickson Retirement
Ernst & Young
ExxonMobil
Fairmount Minerals and Subsidiaries
Fannie Mae
FedEx Corporation
FirstEnergy
Florida, Power & Light
Freddie Mac
General Electric
General Mills, Inc.
General Motors
Genworth Financial
GlaxoSmithKline
Global Business Giving
Green Mountain Coffee
Health Care Service Corporation
Hess Corporation
HSBC - North America
IBM Corporation
ING Foundation
Intel Corporation
International Paper
IPA
JK Group, Inc.
Johnson Controls
JPMorgan Chase
Junior Achievement of the National Captial Area
KeyBank
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
KPMG LLP
Legg Mason
Lockheed Martin
Mainstream GS
Manpower
Marathon Oil Company
Marriott International, Inc.
MassMutual Financial Group
McAfee
McDonald's Corporation
Merck & Co., Inc.
Microsoft Corporation
Miller & Long Concrete Construction, Inc.
Mohawk Fine Papers
Monsanto
Morgan Stanley
Motorola
Office Depot
OmnicomGroup
Oracle
PAETEC
PBS
Pfizer Inc.
Philip Morris USA
Philip Morris Philippines
Polo Ralph Lauren
Progress Energy
Rockwell Collins
Safeway Inc.
Salesforce.com
SAP America Inc.
SBC Communications Inc.
Siemens Corporation
Simon Youth Foundation
Social Enterprise Alliance
Solvay Pharmaceuticals
Sprint Foundation
Standard & Poor's
State Farm Insurance
Symetra Financial
Target
The Boeing Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Home Depot, Inc.
The McGraw-Hill Companies
The PNC Financial Services Group
The Shell Foundation (UK)
The Shell Oil Company (USA)
The Washington Times
Time Warner's Cartoon Network
Topics Education
Toyota
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Steel Kosice, s.r.o.
UN-Habitat
Union Pacific
United Nations Foundation
United Technologies Corporation
Unocal
UPS
Verizon Communications
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Weyerhaeuser Company
Whirlpool
Xerox Foundation

The Center for International Private Enterprise's board of directors includes executives from the following companies and organizations:

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Alticor, Inc.
Facebook Inc.
Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.
Global USA, Inc.
Intel
International Development Systems, Inc..
Nike Inc.
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Stanwich Group, LLC
The Fairfax Group
The Heritage Foundation
Triple Creek Ranch
University of South Carolina
Westchester Group LLC

Members of AmCham (American Chambers of Commerce Abroad):

Amway
APCO Worldwide
Babycare
Bank of America
Caterpillar
Chang and Cote
China Assoc of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (CAEFI)
Chindex
Coca Cola China
Deloitte
Dow
GPT Group
Healthcare Industry Forum
Insurance Forum
JP Morgan, Beijing
Maryland-China Business Council
MassMedia
McDonald's China
MetLife
Microsoft Greater China Region
Peabody Energy
Pinnacle
Polycom
PriceWaterHouse Coopers
Rockwell
Skadden Arps
SmithKline Beecham
Symantec
Tyco
United Family Hospitals
United Technologies
US-Pacific Rim Intl
Walmart China
Wella Cosmetics
Wushu Federation
Yaolan New Media

Several respondents, including former leaders of local Chambers of Commerce, claimed that they were increasingly being funded by local banks, insurance agents and realtors rather than Main Street retailers and that many local municipalities require small businesses to pay an annual fee to the chamber before validating their business licenses.

In addition, one member emphasized "the need to know who funds the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the purposes of this discussion and effort to make them transparent and accountable," noting that the thousands of local chambers do not necessarily support the national chamber.

And John Coffey, the general manager of Beta Motorsports, a La Habra, California-based company which offers welding and fabrication services and products to race car drivers, was emphatic in his support for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

I fund the chamber to the tune of $360 a year. I'm a small business man and I support what the Chamber is doing. There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses like mine that support both the local and national Chambers of Commerce and its one of the few organizations trying to help the Main Street small business as opposed to Wall St. big business.

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Comments

[RJC]

The Michigan Chamber just recently held it's annual shindig, and the keynote speaker was Glenn Beck. Nuff said! Disgusting

[Acleacius]

Damn good work all involved, keep it up and thanks! :)

[iamjones]

i am not renewing the chamber membership for my small business. when funds get this tight, one really starts to parse out what you NEED versus what you have merely continued to participate in year after year. of all the miscellaneous dues and fees that come across my desk, i consider the chamber membership one of the most useless.

[Caliwoman]

I was in my local chamber, it felt like a shake down. The decent local businesses paid to offer open houses for other local businesses, to share and mingle, then the Chamber staff used the dues we all paid to lobby for the big box retailers to keep down minimum wages and stuff like that. We got nothing for our money, nothing from staff, and many local members weren't even aware of the lobbying going on based on what the national chamber sent the local office and told them to do. Even some members of the national chamber do it as a kind of prestige CEO place to network, and I don't think they were all aware of the lobbying. They should leave, like I did, or shut down the lobby arm of the organization if they want to avoid boycots.

[Soundofthunder]

Here's my favorite name on the list: Accenture

Also known as all that's left of Arthur Andersen after they fraudulently gave Enron clean opinions, then covered up the fraud by shredding documents, as upheld by the SCOTUS.

Yeah, the CoC sure is fighting for the small fry.

[marlainWA]

I thought the Chamber was for small local businesses! Boy was I wrong! I live in a small but tourist town and even worked there for a few months. We mostly sent info on our town and area and we were involved with the local festivals.

But it makes sense to me that they are more to the right. When I knew was when the local Chamber sent out email last year before election to all its members telling them of the republican candidate for governor and when he was coming to town. Never gave any info for other side.

[deepfreezevideo]

National Black Chamber of Commerce??
Wow, talk about a conflict of interest!
Tne NBCC should seriously consider its relationship to the USCC and how it is impacting black owned businesses, and whether it might not be a good idea to leave the USCC.

[BULLBUSTER]

r@cist, are you? must be a lefty

[whitegayrepublican]

Nope just a concerned and observing citizen whose not into being bamboozled but stating a fact worth noting.

[mancoff]

It's good to open up the doors to see what time honored institutions have morphed into over the years. A new broom sweeps clean and too many organizations have allowed other agendas to creep into what were originally was supported and run by the little guys who needed support. Everything in this country has turned into big business and quid pro quo's and there has never been a better time given all the information at our fingertips, to do some research, get some facts and maybe make some changes. We in this country have relied on listening to others, especially in the media to tell us what we should do and how we should do it without looking at who was telling us and more importantly, why and what is their agenda.

[omeo2013]

Wow. All this time, I thought the Chamber of Commerce was a government institution. I had no idea it was privately funded and operated. So I guess it's just like the Federal Reserve, right?

[ClareP]

So did I. But if they are in fact privately funded and operated, why do they get to name themselves with a name that sounds like a government agency/regulatory body, and why do they have any rights over licensing? If they are private, it should be against the law for them to demand member ship and dues in exchange for approving business licenses. Sounds like organized crime to me.

[BobsNotWorking]

What has given you the idea that the Chamber of Commerce issues business licenses? And, there is no "if" about it. The Chamber of Commerce is in no way a government agency. Not even close. Just think of it as being like the "Rotary Club" only on steroids.

[JiminNC]

So happy to see America's Oldest Brewery not on those lists!!!!

Yuengling

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro - Huffpost Blogger]

amen - pass a porter...

[JiminNC]

Love to share one with you someday bro.

[seanseamour]

They want more of the same savage capitalism that is destroying the fiber of the nation, stop a second and think, then see what companies need boycotting:
Have you ever wondered what would have happened without Reaganomics?
What would have happened without the phenomenal concentration of wealth amongst the few?
How the economy would be without the S&l /Enron/current crisis?
Without the hyper-inflated home values gone bust with the life savings of so many?
With a stronger versus poorer middle class?
I could go on with the legacy of corporate oligarchy that has perverted our institutions, finally the righteous hubris that led us to Iraq for oil..., and now California where the first step in the privatization of Medicare is being quietly attempted through the Republican establishment on favor of Halliburton of all candidates!
Save reform on all fronts the disaster continues, only the blind deny it.

[moongal6]

The partial privatization of Medicare happened in the Republican Medicare Reform Act of 2003.
It is called Medicare Advantage, the largest provider of this insurance is of course, Humana. These private companies who administer this supplemental to Medicare are the companies that are bleeding Medicare dry. These private insurance companies receive 14% higher reimbursement rate than regular Medicare insurers. Medicare Advantage, and Medicare D, drug plan, was the R's free gifts to big Pharma and private insurers. Or, what is called; the MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.
http://pnhp.org

[ClareP]

And they have enough money to run condstant tv commercials promoting their services. "Are you on medicare? Did you know that you are entitled to get X, completely free of charge? Call......­" That pretty much proves that it is a cash cow for them. Time to revoke that.

[ChelseaC]

Moongal,
Fanned and faved.

[GrahamInCanada]

The US Chamber of Commerce is the earliest and most successful astroturf organization of all.

It was founded by the Republican Administration of President Taft under Republican organizer Charles Nagel.

The Democrats need to use their time in power to create the American Chamber of Commerce, for all those companies and businesses fleeing the horror of the republican death grip on the Chamber.

[WalmartSucks]

AMEN van rainey!

Let's get a boycott list going. There are alternatives to these dirtbag dinosaurs.

If the National Chamber choose to foster and support the short-sighted positions of the Chamber then let's not to support them. Buy Coke over Pepsi, Miller over Budweiser, Comcast over AT&T, Walgreens over CVS, and anybody over Fox. Use the post office instead of FedEx or UPS, and bag the account with Schwab and Wells Fargo.

These Chamber elites care only about themselves and to hell with the rest of the America. Since the only thing these greedy buggers understand is money, let's speak with our dollars.

[ClareP]

Don't forget Apple over Microsoft. Apple had the decency to withdraw in protest & to denounce them.

[librul1001]

Any organization that Massey Energy supports is no friend of mine and is not an organization I approve of. Living as I do in WV, Massey is a blight on the land and blight to our souls.

[Doug Flight]

I'll second that sentiment!!

[JTPurcell]

the best answer is to, when you go into a business that has "Member of Chamber of Commerce", tell them that you would be glad to give them your business, but seeing they belong to the "chamber", tell them you won't be able to give your business.

[JoelNH]

Don't get the US Chamber confused with local chambers of commerce in your local town. I don't believe they are related.

[ClareP]

Then they ought to be banned from using the same name.