The last time you filled up your cart at Walmart or checked your balance with your account at Bank of America you were likely making a decision based on the cost benefits and convenience of doing business.  You probably weren’t thinking, “I’m supporting the ‘official Hillary Clinton think tank’ today,” but you were.

These companies are just two of many that you’ll likely recognize which were listed last week in the Center for American Progress’s (CAP) release of their 2014 corporate donors.  This marks the second year that CAP has publicly released the names of its major corporate donors and throughout the list, you’ll find household names like CVS, Wells Fargo, PepsiCo, and Mars Incorporated.

These corporate relationships with CAP should disturb conservatives for a number of reasons.  After all, this is an organization established to promote issues that appear on every liberal wish list imaginable, ranging from Obamacare to the carbon tax to sweeping new restrictions on firearms. They also have been criticized for promoting anti-Israel language on their affiliated web sites. If you need any additional proof of CAP’s left-leaning nature and influence, look no further than the administration of our current president. While soon leaving to join Hillary Clinton’s team, John Podesta, the founder of CAP, has relied on the organization while serving as a senior advisor to President Obama.  In fact, the president even thanked CAP “for giving me a lot of good policy ideas, but also giving me a lot of staff.”

Recently, further light has been shed on CAP’s close ties to Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations. Just last week, The Washington Free Beacon’s Lachlan Markay compiled a report on other significant CAP donors who are some of Clinton’s top funders and recent reports have speculated that Podesta himself will be running Clinton’s nascent presidential campaign.

The corporate money that funds CAP directly supports an overtly liberal agenda. Conservatives should take notices and contact companies like Apple, CitiGroup, Google, Mars, Microsoft, Walmart, Bank of America, Daimler, Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo, Time Warner, Visa, American Express, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Coca-Cola, CVS, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, Pearson, PG&E, Samsung, Starbucks, and Wells Fargo and ask some simple questions:

•      Why did your company give to the Center for American Progress?
•      What issues or values does the Center for American Progress share with your company?
•      Will your company continue donating to this partisan/liberal group in 2015?

Voters who hold politicians accountable with their votes on Election Day deserve to know how and why their dollars are funding a political agenda that does not align with their values. The corporations that continue to fund CAP should explain the reasons behind their support for such a partisan organization.

Conservatives should ask for some accountability for the dollars they spend with these companies and figure out why such a liberal outlet receives so much corporate money.  Perhaps it will prompt a serious, and long overdue, dialogue between conservatives and CAP corporate sponsors about the openly liberal agenda CAP promotes.

In the meantime, conservatives can continue making a difference every day through the power of the purse by spending their hard-earned dollars with companies that do not actively oppose their values. The first step in winning this long battle is letting your fellow conservatives know which companies willingly fund liberal organizations; the second step is holding those same companies accountable.
Chris Walker is the Executive Director of 2nd Vote, the conservative shopper’s app. To find out more, download the free app or visit 2ndVote.com.