The Charity Commission listening to complaints about perceived political activity can in some cases add “a deterrent” factor to charities campaigning, a recent All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) heard.
Suhan Rajkumar, senior associate at Bates Wells, was speaking at an APPG on campaigning with confidence, about the rules around charity campaigning and how charities can successfully navigate these rules.
He told the APPG “the Charity Commission as regulator thinks charities should campaign with respect and tolerance”.
Speaking to Civil Society afterward, Rajkumar noted that the regulator says charities should, for example, “avoid using inflammatory rhetoric”, and campaign in a way which upholds the reputation of the charity sector.
Rajkumar said for charities campaigning on some issues, for example campaigning against a policy proposal which is antithetical to their charitable purposes, they might only “reasonably” campaign in a way that could be seen as “intolerant or aggressive, or at least emotive”.
“The approach will be different for each charity depending on the nature of an issue and the views of its key stakeholders,” he said.
He said: “The Charity Commission does recognise that charities can, for example, use emotive and controversial language [in key guidance CC9], but I think that can get lost in repeated calls for charities to model a better kind of public discourse.”
“The relatively simple [legal] framework, that charities can campaign in furtherance of their charitable objects as long as they are not established for a political purpose and not being party political, is often overlooked by critics, including parts of the media, whether deliberately or otherwise.”
At the APPG, the lawyer added that Orlando Fraser, chair of the Commission, has repeatedly “defended” charities’ right to campaign “which is really, really helpful”.
He said this is in contrast to recent calls from the former chair, Baroness Stowell, for larger charities to keep out of “contentious debates”.
Rajkumar said the Commission does listen to complaints about perceived political activity in its role as independent regulator but in many cases – such as the National Trust, Care4Calais, and the Runnymede Trust – found no breach of charity law.
He described its willingness to consider such complaints as “really unhelpful”.
“Just the fact that it gives weight to complaints which might have their own political motivations, and says charities need to think about their reputation and think about the risk of these complaints, adds a deterrent factor to charities to campaign which goes beyond the core legal framework.”
Charity Commission: ‘We have a duty to assess all concerns raised with us’
On emotive rhetoric, a Charity Commission spokesperson said: “Our chair has been clear on his view that charities hold a unique position in which they can model a better public discourse amidst what can often be a divisive and hostile landscape. However, this is not to say that charities are expected to shy away from campaigning or from engaging on emotive topics.
“Our guidance on campaigning and our new social media guidance makes clear that trustees should consider any risks arising from their charity’s engagement activities and the impact on the charity, and how they can mitigate these. Our guidance also reminds trustees that they should be able to justify that decisions they make are in their charity’s best interests and in furtherance of their purposes.”
On giving weight to politically-motivated complaints, the regulator said: “We have a duty to assess all concerns raised with us, which are reviewed against our published risk and regulatory framework to help us determine what, if any, further action is required. Our assessments are about dispelling incorrect notions of wrongdoing as much as they are about uncovering misconduct and/or mismanagement.
“As a fair, balanced and independent regulator, we will not be influenced by the political views of complainants, nor will we stop charities from furthering their purposes in line with the law set down by parliament.”
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