Just after U.S. President Donald Trump retook office on Jan. 20, 2025, posts appeared on social media platforms like Facebook, X and Reddit claiming to provide a list of companies and brands that donated to “Trump and Project 2025.” Project 2025 was a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term published in 2023.
The social media posts urged readers not to support these companies and brands, and to share the list around. Many Snopes readers wrote in asking us if the list was real and accurate.
(X user @TheAfrocentricI)
A working knowledge of campaign finance laws is necessary to fully assess the claim. However, to put it simply, Snopes found that on the whole, the list was inaccurate and unreliable. Many of the companies on the list did primarily support Republican candidates and causes, while others did not.
Companies can’t donate directly to campaigns, but there are workarounds
First, U.S. campaign finance laws block companies from directly donating any money to political campaigns. As such, it doesn’t make sense to say that a “company” donated to Trump — at least not directly. Additionally, the post clearly implies that Trump plans to use the agenda proposed in Project 2025, and the companies on the list are therefore supporting that agenda by donating to Republican causes. Donating to “Project 2025” itself doesn’t make sense because it’s a document produced by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, not a PAC or campaign.
But there are plenty of ways that companies wishing to influence an election get around the law banning direct contributions. The most common is through Political Action Committees, or PACs, which became popular after the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision that lifted restrictions on corporate spending on elections.
Companies can set up connected organizations called Separate Segregated Funds to allow them to donate small amounts to campaigns, but the real money is in Super PACs, which have no contribution limits and can receive donations from companies, but are not allowed to directly spend money on campaigns. (In practice, however, Super PACs work closely with campaigns.)
All campaign contributions, including those to PACs, are required by law to be reported to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and that information is publicly available. In order to make the numbers for corporate spending even easier to access, the nonprofit organization OpenSecrets collects and republishes data from the FEC, allowing anyone to view political donations and lobbying efforts made by individual companies.
Where did the list come from?
Snopes was unable to pinpoint the exact origin of the list being shared on social media.
Some posts showed it as a screenshot of a post on DemocratsAbroad.org, the official website for the Democratic Party Committee Abroad. However, there was no evidence of such a post on the Democrats Abroad website.
Sharon Manitta, a spokesperson for Democrats Abroad, said in an email that the list originated from outside the organization, and the post containing the list was removed “after examination of the document.” According to Manitta, it was published by “a simple mistake,” and she didn’t know where it came from.
Simplifying the list
The original list urged a boycott of 119 different entities. While some names on the list were standalone companies, like Perdue Farms or McDonald’s, it also featured a host of subsidiary companies, brand names and a few sports franchises.
As a result, the first step in fact-checking whether the list was true was figuring out who actually owns each brand or company. For instance, Star Furniture, Geico, Helzberg Diamonds, Dairy Queen, Brooks Running, Fruit of the Loom, Spalding and Dudley are all owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company owned by Warren Buffett.
Several chain restaurants on the list, like Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins (and its sister chain Dunkin’ Donuts), Buffalo Wild Wings, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky’s, Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, are all owned by the venture capital firm Roark Capital.
The clothing company Hanes owns several brands on the list, including Bali, Leggs, Maidenform and Playtex.
Four General Motors brands (Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick) appeared on the list separately, as did several different beer brands owned by MolsonCoors (Miller, Milwaukee’s Best, Molson and Coors).
But there were even more problems with the list.
Some entities didn’t make any sense — Snopes couldn’t identify what companies “Young Brands,” “Horizon Bank,” and “Rail Vac” were. It was also unclear whether “Sonoco,” a packing products company, was meant to be “Sunoco,” the gas station chain. Other entries didn’t have any campaign donation history on OpenSecrets, like Old Dutch Foods or Alamo and Enterprise Car Rentals.
Finally, a few of the companies on the list had folded in recent years, like Fry’s Electronics and Dean Foods.
Already, there were red flags that the list was inaccurate. Investigating the donation history of the companies and their owners revealed that while some of the companies on the list did donate to Trump, others did not.
Who donated? Who didn’t?
Snopes used the OpenSecrets database to look at the companies’ donation history in the three most recent presidential elections. Under the “totals” tab, donations were broken down by which political party the donations went to.
Overall, the entities on the list could be divided into the following groups:
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Donated primarily to Trump and other Republican campaigns without donating much to Democratic campaigns in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
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Donated primarily to Trump and other Republican campaigns in 2016, 2020 or 2024, while donating a roughly equal amount to Democrats in the other years.
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Donated roughly equal amounts to both Republican and Democratic campaigns in all years.
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Donated primarily to Democratic candidates in 2016, 2020 and/or 2024 while donating a roughly equal amount to Republicans in the other years.
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Did not donate much to political campaigns at all.
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Did not have any publicly available record of campaign contributions.
Since some companies on the list massively supported Republican causes while others massively supported Democratic causes, the list was falsely described as showing companies that “donated to Trump and Project 2025.”
Of the companies on the list, the following donated primarily to Trump and other Republican campaigns without donating much to Democratic campaigns in 2016, 2020 and 2024:
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American Securities (Conair and Cuisinart)
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Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team (owned by Ken Kendrick, who did donate)
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Ashley Furniture
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Auto Zone
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Cincinnati Financial Insurance
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Dean Foods (before it went bankrupt)
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Discount Tire
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ExxonMobil
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Flowers Foods (Wonder Bread)
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Hendrick Motorsports
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J. M. Smucker Company (Smucker, Folger’s and the defunct Big Heart Pet Brands)
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Hanes Brands (Hanes, Bali, Leggs, Maidenform, Playtex)
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Hobby Lobby
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Koch Industries (Vanity Fair Paper Products is owned by Georgia Pacific)
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Las Vegas Sands Resorts
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Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe
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MolsonCoors (Miller, Milwaukee’s Best, Molson, Coors)
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Motorola Solutions (Motorola split in two in 2011. Lenovo owns the other half and did not donate.)
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MyPillow (owned by Mike Lindell)
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Public Storage Self Storage
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Publix Super Markets
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Roark Capital (Carl’s Jr, Hardee’s, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Baskin Robbins, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky’s)
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Sycamore Partners (Soma Intimates)
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Tampa Bay Bucaneers football team (owned by the Glazer family, who did donate)
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TRT Holdings (Omni Hotels)
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Wynn Resorts
The following companies donated largely to Trump and other Republican candidates in some, but not all years:
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Ace Hardware in 2020
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Allegiant Airlines in 2016
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Bacardi (and Grey Goose) in 2016
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Berkshire Hathaway (Star Furniture, Geico, Helzberg Diamonds, Dairy Queen, Brooks Running, Fruit of the Loom, Spalding, Dudley) in 2016
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Blue Bell Creameries in 2016 and 2020
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Chiquita Brands in 2016
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EchoStar (Boost Mobile) in 2020
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Genuine Parts Company (NAPA Auto Parts) in 2016
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GNC in 2016 and 2020
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Keller Williams Realty in 2024
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Land O’ Lakes in 2016
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Los Angeles Angels baseball team (owned by Arte Moreno, who did not donate) in 2020 and 2024
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McDonald’s in 2016 and 2020
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Norwegian Cruise Lines in 2016 and 2020
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New Orleans Saints football team (owned by Gayle Benson, who did not donate) in 2016
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Papa John’s in 2016 and 2024
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Perdue Farms in 2016 and 2020
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Sanofi USA (Act Flouride) in 2016
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Slumberland Furniture in 2016 and 2020
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Spectrum Brands (Stanley and Black & Decker appliances, George Foreman Grill, Toast Master toaster) in 2016
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Tractor Supply Company in 2024
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Tyson Foods (Jimmy Dean Foods) in 2020 and 2024
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Urban Outfitters in 2016
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Walmart in 2016
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Wendy’s in 2016
The remaining companies on the list either donated roughly equally to both major parties (e.g., Garmin), donated primarily to Democratic candidates (e.g., LL Bean), didn’t appear to donate much to political campaigns in general (e.g., the New York Yankees, except when they were campaigning for a new stadium), or had no record of campaign donations on OpenSecrets (e.g., Enterprise and Alamo Rental Cars).
Sources:
221 and 179. Citizens United Explained | Brennan Center for Justice. 14 Jan. 2025, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained.
“Campaign Finance Data.” FEC.Gov, https://www.fec.gov/data/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
Constantz,Bloomberg, Jo. “1-800-Flowers Founder Says Speedy Election Call Saved Christmas.” Fortune, https://fortune.com/2024/11/07/1-800-flowers-founder-speedy-election-call-saved-christmas-jim-mccann-trump/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
“Democrats Abroad.” Democrats Abroad, https://www.democratsabroad.org/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
“HanesBrands Inc.” Hanes, https://www.hanes.com/corporate. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
Hollister, Sean. “Fry’s Electronics Is Shutting Its Doors for Good.” The Verge, 24 Feb. 2021, https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2021/2/24/22298616/frys-electronics-going-out-of-business.
Ibrahim, Aleksandra Wrona, Nur. “The Facts About Project 2025: The Pro-Trump Proposal To ‘Reshape America.'” Snopes, 11 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//news/2024/07/11/project-2025-explained/.
“Limits on Contributions Made to Candidates by the SSF.” FEC.Gov, https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements-ssf-or-connected-organization/limits-contributions-made-candidates-by-ssf/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
“Our Brands – Brands.” Molson Coors, https://www.molsoncoors.com/brands/our-brands. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
Press, Associated. “Motorola to Officially Split into Two Firms Tuesday.” CNBC, 3 Jan. 2011, https://www.cnbc.com/2011/01/03/motorola-to-officially-split-into-two-firms-tuesday.html.
Roark :: Current Investments. https://www.roarkcapital.com/portfolio#s2_Restaurant_and_Food. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
Valinsky, Jordan. “America’s Largest Milk Producer Files for Bankruptcy | CNN Business.” CNN, 12 Nov. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/12/business/dean-foods-bankruptcy/index.html.
View the Entire Portfolio of GM Brands | General Motors. https://www.gm.com/public/us/en/gm/home/gm-brands.html. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
“Who Can and Can’t Contribute.” FEC.Gov, https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate-taking-receipts/who-can-and-cant-contribute/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/subs/sublinks.html. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.