A charity guide to election campaigning

Under current rules the next general election in the UK must take place by 17 December 2024, five years after the last time the nation went to the polls.

During election time, charities are urged to continue campaigning around political issues that benefit their mission and communities. But there is a complex set of rules around elections that charities must follow.

On top of that, campaigning is set to take place amid an atmosphere of increasing hostility from right wing media and politicians about their work.

Here we outline the latest evidence around charities’ attitudes to campaigning and the laws they need to adhere to ensure they can continue promoting their causes, even when the nation is preparing to vote.  

Charities and attitudes to campaigning

Charity trustees are keen to see their senior figures take part in public discussions around politics, according to a survey in 2023 by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, which supports charities rights around campaigning and lobbying.

Almost nine in ten trustees want to see charity chief executives engage in wider public discourse in this way.

Just under seven in ten specially want to see charity leaders to use their own experience of “society wide challenges like equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)” in this conversation.

But one in five trustees concede thattheir charity is interpreting the boundaries of legitimate campaigning too narrowly. One in six trustees believe their charity is “too risk averse” in its campaigning amid political hostility.

One trustee told the Foundation that “the risk of an ill-informed public and media backlash seems much higher than it used to be”.

Another 2023 survey by the Foundation found that seven in ten charity campaigners believe politicians “have become more hostile to campaigning” over the previous 12 months. Three in ten say they have faced criticism or backlash from politicians over their campaigning.

Another piece of research into charity campaigning released in 2023 from the Third Sector Trends in England and Wales survey project, produced by Durham University and the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland., also shines a light into charity attitudes to campaigning.

This found that almost three quarters of charities “steer well clear of political issues” amid “political pressure at a national level on the way charities campaign or lobby”.

Small charities, charities in rural areas, and older organisations are less likely to take part in campaigning, compared to their larger urban and more recently formed counterparts, this research found. Also, four in five micro charities do not take part at all in political campaigning.

Charity Commission rules

The Charity Commission has assured charities of their right to campaign, including during elections, if it is to support their mission.

This is clarified in its campaigning and political activity guidance for charities guidance, known as CC9, as well as its five-minute-guide to campaigning. 

This specifies that charities must not support or oppose a political party or candidate or donate funds to political parties.

But charities can invite candidates and party representatives to campaign events. The regulator advises inviting representatives from “as wide a political spectrum as possible”.

Also in October 2023 the Commission’s chairman Orlando Fraser reiterated in a speech that charities are “free to campaign robustly in furtherance of their purposes”.

However, he added that the regulator “will be robust in holding to account any trustee” that fails “to comply with our guidance, or the law on which it is based”.

In addition charity leaders have the right to express their opinions, according to the regulator’s 2023 published social media guidance, as long as it is via their personal social media accounts and not interpreted as reflecting the views of a charity.

Jay Kenney, Director of Policy and Research at think tank the Directory of Social Change, says it is helpful “to think of ‘political activity’ in terms of ‘small ‘p’ versus large ‘P’”. This means it is fine for charities to engage in the political process but not to support individual politicians and candidates.

Electoral Commission rules

The activities of ‘non-party campaigners’, including charities, as well as unions, pressure groups and think tanks, are regulated by the Electoral Commission.

Through this regulation charities must notify and register with the Commission once they believe their campaigning spending will exceed £10,000.

At the end of 2023 a new code of conduct for non-party campaigners came into force. This updated code highlights that the law requires an imprint to be including on digital material that is part of regulated campaign activities.

This ‘digital imprint’ tells votes who is responsible for publishing and promoting campaign material and means that social media adverts and posts could require an imprint. The Electoral Commission has produced specific guidance on digital imprints.

To coincide with the publication of this code the Charity Commission and Electoral Commission published a blog post highlighting latest advice for charities on engaging in public debate. This offers further clarity on what campaign activity is regulated during election time.