UK Charity Commission Delays Release of New Guidance re: Political activity
The UK Charity Commission delayed final approval of new guidance on the extent to which UK charities may engage in policital and campaign activities. The Commission delayed final approval only because some members wanted to “wordsmith” the document to better convey the commission’s intended meaning. It seems clear though that the UK approach is vastly different from the approach in the United States. IRC 501(c)(3) very clearly frowns on charities taking positions on issues that are the subject of legislative action and, of course, entirely prohibit campaign activities. Compare that approach to the summarized approach in the UK Charity Commission’s revised guidance:
To be a charity an organisation must have exclusively charitable purposes whichare for the public benefit. An organisation will not be charitable if its purposes arepolitical.
•
Campaigning and political activities are legitimate and valuable activities for charities to undertake.
•
A charity is free to become involved in campaigning and in political activities where this involvement will further or support its charitable purposes. Aside from political campaigning, a charity can legitimately further
its purposes through campaigning activity alone. Political campaigning, or political activities, however, as defined in this guidance, can be undertaken by a charity only in the context of supporting its charitable purposes.
•
There may be situations where carrying out political activity is the best way for trustees to support the charity’s purposes. A charity may choose to focus most, or all, of its resources on political activity for a period. The key issue for charity trustees is the need to ensure that this activity is not, and does not become, the reason for the charity’s existence.
•
Charities can campaign for a change in the law or policy where such change would support the charity’s purposes. However a charity cannot exist for a political purpose, which is any purpose directed at furthering the interests of any political party, or securing or opposing a change in the law or policy either in this country or abroad.
•
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.
•
A charity may give its support to specific policies advocated by political parties if it would help achieve its charitable purposes. However, 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 (in this context we mean personal or party political views).
•
As with any decision they make, when considering campaigning and political activity charity trustees must carefully weigh up the possible benefits against the costs and risks in deciding whether the campaign is likely to be an effective way of furthering or supporting the charity’s purposes.
•
When campaigning, charity trustees must comply not only with charity law, but other civil and criminal laws that may apply. Where applicable they should also comply with the Code of the Advertising Standards Authority.
The UK Charities Commission was established by the UK Charities Act of 2006, the full text of which can be obtained via the prior link.