Rent-A-Center, like any other contributor to a charitable organization, wants its donation be used for its intended purpose, not to support a group completely unrelated to the charity's mission.

When a business makes a charitable donation, it expects those dollars to go to charity and not be used to support a political campaign - especially one that would hurt its customers and employees. That's apparently what happened in Ohio when state affiliates of America's Second Harvest endorsed the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, a group intent on ending payday lending in the state.

Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ:RCII), a major contributor to America's Second Harvest, was recently notified of the state level endorsement and reported the incident. America's Second Harvest admitted it was a mistake and a violation of its own rules. The group has asked The Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending to remove its name from the list of endorsing organizations.

The Wall Street Journal wrongly reported this morning that Rent-A-Center threatened to end its financial support of America's Second Harvest unless the endorsement was withdrawn. In reality, the company asked that, if the Ohio food banks were going to be members of the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, then Rent-A-Center wanted its donation to be redirected to the other 49 states "where fighting hunger was their sole purpose."

Rent-A-Center, like any other contributor to a charitable organization, wants its donation be used for its intended purpose, not to support a group completely unrelated to the charity's mission. According to Gus Whitcomb, VP of public affairs for Rent-A-Center, "We made a commitment to help put food on people's tables. We don't want our money spent on anything else." A reasonable request.

Second Harvest's mission is to "feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger." The group does not endorse political candidates or other unrelated issues. Each year, the America's Second Harvest Network provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.

Be careful who you endorse
The endorsement link provided on the Ohio Coalition of Responsible Lending's website leads to ProgressOhio.org. A quick check of Progress Ohio's most popular groups reveals the Coalition for 9/11 Truth whose charter is "breaking the conspiracy of silence surrounding the painful possibility of our own government being complicit in the deaths of 3,000 people on 9/11." Brian P. Rothenberg, who once served as Communications Director for the Ohio Democratic Party, is Executive Director of ProgressOhio.