The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has called for charities to be able to register “advancing debate for the public benefit” as their charitable purpose.
In response to questions over its own charitable status, the IEA said there was some “regulatory ambiguity” for think tanks such as itself.
It suggested that allowing “advancing debate for the public benefit” as a new charitable object could provide a “long-term-solution” and “support free expression and the quality of public discourse”.
The IEA said it was “something that is particularly relevant in this age of polarisation, no platforming, and cancel culture”.
An additional object
At the moment, charities in England and Wales must officially have one of 12 charitable purposes – including relief of poverty, advancement of education and promotion of the efficiency of emergency services – or “any other purpose” recognised by the regulator.
Most think tanks, including the IEA, have a charitable object to “advance education for the public benefit”.
Andy Mayer, chief operating officer and company secretary of the IEA, called for “advancing debate for the public benefit” to be either made a separate charitable purpose or recognised under “any other purpose”, which could fit think tanks’ activities better.
Its comments came in response to a blog by former Charity Commission board member Andrew Purkis, who suggested the regulator should reconsider the IEA’s charitable status as he believes it fails to fulfil its advancement of education charitable purpose and engages in political activity.
“[The IEA] constantly infringes the Commission's own definition of what charitable education must be,” he wrote.
The think tank dismissed Purkis’ arguments, saying he was “simply and repetitively wrong” on the issue of the its charity status “and has been told so repeatedly by the regulator”.
Regulatory alert ‘poor’
The IEA also criticised the Charity Commission’s guidance for charitable think tanks, which warns such organisations to remain “politically neutral”.
Published in 2018 after ordering the IEA to remove a report about Brexit from its website because it was “not sufficiently balanced”, the Commission published a regulatory alert warning that campaigning activity “must further or support the charity’s objects and must not be party political”.
Mayer said: “Sector guidance rushed out without consultation in 2018 remains poor.”
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