re: Lying?
Funding has come from many other sources, such as Amoco, the Kraft Foundation, and the Procter & Gamble Fund. AEI, unlike some think tanks, has no endowment - something which has led the organization into financial embarrassment in 1985 when its operating budget outstripped its donations by 25 percent (Newsweek, 1984).
Corporate donations are not public, but it is known that during 1997, Philip Morris contributed $100,000 to the Institute [89]; and during 2005, ExxonMobil contributed $252,500 (including an estimated 50% of ExxonMobil's donation to the AEI Brookings "Joint Center".) [90].
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Enterprise_Institute#Funding