Nearly three-quarters of charities steer clear of political campaigning, new research has found.
Latest figures from the Third Sector Trends study, published today by Durham University, found that 73 per cent of charities agreed or strongly agreed that they “steer clear of political issues”.
The research is based on responses from about 6,000 voluntary sector organisations last year in the latest wave of the study, which has been running since 2008.
The report says respondents might have thought the survey was asking about party politics when asked about political issues.
Charities are allowed to campaign and engage in political debate, providing it aligns with their mission and does not veer into direct support for a particular party.
“The likelihood is that survey respondents equated ‘political issues’ with ‘party political issues’ when they answered this question, because the propensity of TSOs to ‘steer well clear of political issues’ does not necessarily diminish their willingness to influence local and public policy by ‘campaigning’, ‘participating in relevant consultation meetings’ or ‘influencing stakeholders behind the scenes’,” it says.
Researchers found that 79 per cent of respondents said they still engaged in “campaigning, participating in formal public consultations or debates or lobbying behind the scenes to effect changes in local social and public policy”.
The research found that 67.1 per cent of charities that “tend to steer well clear of political issues” said they still “try to go to relevant meetings/events which relate to [their] kind of work”.
Tony Chapman, director of policy and practice at St Chad’s College and author of the report, said: “The evidence is clear – three-quarters of charities steer clear of political issues, but it doesn’t necessarily signal an unwillingness to influence local social and public policy in other ways.
“Indeed, among the charities that avoid ‘politics’, 38 per cent of organisations campaign, 67 per cent attend relevant policy meetings and events, and 35 per cent work behind the scenes to influence policy.
“This shows that a blunt focus on politics alone completely misses the point that many charities are committed to the idea of influencing social and public policy at the local level.”
Orlando Fraser, chair of the Charity Commission, warned charities last month that the regulator would be “robust” in handling charities that ignore guidance on campaigning.
Speaking at the Muslim Charities Forum’s first national convention, 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.
“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.”