What Charities need to know ahead of the general election
· Posted on: June 6th 2024 · read
With the announcement of a general election on 04 July 2024, many charities will be considering engaging with political parties insofar as it impacts their causes. Doing so is, however, not without its risks.
The Charity Commission’s Campaigning and political activity guidance for charities (CC9) guidance sets out several associated fundamental points, many of which are rooted in Charity law requirements:
- Charities are organisations established for charitable purposes only, which are for the public benefit, and an organisation will not be charitable if its purposes are political.
- However, campaigning and political activity can be legitimate and valuable activities for charities to undertake.
- Political campaigning, or political activity, must only be undertaken by a charity in the context of supporting the delivery of its charitable purposes.
- Charity trustees must ensure that political activity performed to support the charity’s purpose is not, and does not become, the reason for the charity’s existence.
- Charities cannot exist for a political purpose, which is any purpose directed at furthering the interests of any political party.
- In the political arena, a charity must stress its independence and ensure that any involvement it has with political parties is balanced.
- A charity must not give support or funding to a political party, nor to a candidate or politician. However, a charity may give its support to specific policies advocated by political parties if it would help achieve its charitable purposes.
- Trustees must not allow the charity to be used as a vehicle for the expression of the political views of any individual trustee or staff member.
Upon the announcement of the election, the Charity Commission published a reminder of the existence of the above guidance, which is also summarised in one of the Commission's a 5-minute guides, as well as the specific Charities, Elections and Referendums guidance applicable during the period between the announcement of an election and the date on which the election is held.
In acknowledgement that charities often face increased scrutiny from the media and public during general election campaigning, and are often seen to influence voter behaviour, the Commission also published Campaigning and political activity: general election lessons learned guidance.
This guidance, which is based on the Commission’s insights and casework into campaigning and political activity, is arguably more practical than that detailed above, and addresses the eight key issues detailed below by posing key questions to the reader, a selection of which are also detailed below:
- Supporting or criticising particular policies how will this activity further your charity’s purposes?
- Supporting or criticising a political party or a political candidate have you taken enough mitigating action to ensure that your political activity and campaigning is, and is seen to be, neutral of party politics?
- Political activity and campaigning by a charity trustee or employees have you assessed the risks and potential conflict of interests for a charity employee or trustee running for election?
- Use of charity premises have you made opportunities to hire the premises available to all political parties, and is this being treated as a normal commercial hire and are you charging the charity’s usual rate?
- Visits to charities by prospective candidates when hosting a public meeting or visit, have you invited representatives from as wide a political spectrum as possible (and at least from the mainstream parties)?
- Mis/disinformation what steps can you put in place to ensure that your charity doesn’t share inaccurate information?
- Links with associated non-charitable organisations carrying our political activities and campaigning what steps have you taken to ensure there is a clear distinction between the charity and associated/linked non-charitable organisation?
- Political candidates using information on charities in their campaigns if your charity’s material has been used inappropriately by a political party without your consent, what mitigating actions can you take to manage the potential impact on your perceived political neutrality?
Following the announcement, Charity Commission chair, Orlando Fraiser, released an article on the Commission’s website. He reminded charities of their responsibilities, and the Commission’s associated guidance to help with decision making around political activity and campaigning:
As trustees and charity leaders, you may see this as a critical moment to speak up for the cause you serve, and that is legitimate and healthy for our country. As I’ve said many times, charity campaigning plays an important role in society and the law is clear about the right of charities to campaign in support of their purposes. The Commission is steadfast about that.
However, in order to maintain public confidence in your political campaigning, and trust in charities more broadly, it is crucial that you campaign in a way that is consistent with the legal framework.”
Despite the numerous pieces of guidance and cautionary tone of the Commission’s announcements, sector bodies, including the NCVO and the Charity Finance Group, have encouraged charities to ‘campaign with confidence’, as reported in Civil Society.
