Fred Smith has also given donations through his campaign.

The Friends of Fred Smith committee, formed for his first Senate run in 2002 and closed in 2007, gave $100,400 in donations to other Republican candidates.

The biggest beneficiaries were the N.C. Senate Republican Committee, which received a total of $41,800 in 2004, and the Johnston County Republican Party, which received a total of $7,000 that year.

Smith's committee also gave $4,000 apiece in 2004 to several Republican Senate candidates, both successful—Jim Jacumin, Harris Blake and Neal Hunt—and unsuccessful—Margaret Carpenter, Harold Frazier, Harry Brown, Chuck Tyson, Tony Moore, James Testa, and Jack Swann.

Also that year, he gave $2,000 to Senate candidates Beverly Moore and Dennis Nielsen and state Auditor Les Merritt; $1,000 to John Odoom and Ron Toppin; $1,000 apiece to Rep. David Lewis, a Johnston County commissioner candidate and a judicial candidate; $500 to a school board candidate; and $100 to the N.C. New Majority Republican Council.