The Charity Commission will be “robust” in handling charities that fail to comply with its guidance on campaigning, the chair of the regulator has warned.
In a speech yesterday at the first conference held by the infrastructure body the Muslim Charities Forum, Orlando Fraser spoke about the commission’s commitment to holding people to account if they act unlawfully when campaigning, including involvement in “unlawful extremism”.
Fraser highlighted the need for the commission to be “balanced” in its approach, being both “robust and supportive” where necessary.
“This balance can be particularly important when dealing with charities who break the law over political activity and campaigning, including involvement in unlawful extremism,” he said.
“We will understand, and be sympathetic, to honest and reasonable mistakes, but we will also not fail to deal robustly with those who intentionally, recklessly, abuse their charities for unlawful ends in this area.
“Such activity risks jeopardising the special place in society that charitable organisations hold, and we can’t let that happen.”
The approach is consistent with a speech Fraser made at the Charity Law Association conference earlier this week where he said: “Campaigning by charities must be firmly in furtherance of a charity’s purposes – a charity is not a mouthpiece for the personal views of its chief executive or other staff members, no matter how well intentioned or firmly held those views may be.”
Fraser told the MCF event he wanted the commission to be able to evolve its approach for dealing with threats that “may jeopardise public trust in the sector” by staying aware of the “priorities and concerns” of politicians, the media and the sector at large.
He also spoke about the positive impact that Muslim charities have had in the UK and internationally.
“Muslim charities and those inspired by the Muslim faith have made a vast contribution to the well-being of our country for generations,” he said.
“We see it every year during Ramadan, when Muslims across the world show extraordinary generosity in their donations to charity, with some estimates showing that in the UK alone donors gave over £130m to charity during the holy month.”
Fraser highlighted the importance of Muslim charities’ commitment to international aid as “their faith often opens doors allowing them to work in regions that might otherwise be hard for British charity to reach”.
He also illustrated the importance of attracting new trustees to ensure that boards have a broad range of skills and backgrounds as “many charities are struggling to recruit new trustees”.