Why Robust Social Media Policies Are Essential for Charities
In today’s digital landscape, a charity’s reputation can be damaged in moments. Social media offers opportunities for engagement, visibility, and impact, but it also carries risks – particularly when content is shared without proper oversight or governance.
A Charity Commission inquiry from last year provides a useful reminder of how quickly governance gaps – particularly around social media oversight – can escalate into regulatory action. In that case, a charity whose objects centred on Islamic education and community harmony faced scrutiny after a video shared on its social media account was assessed as potentially supportive of a proscribed organisation. The situation highlighted weaknesses in internal controls and a lack of proper content review procedures.
You can read the full inquiry report here – Charity Inquiry: Al-Manar Centre Trust – GOV.UK
Social media policies help charities to:
1. Protect Their Reputation
An ill‑judged post can undo years of trust‑building. With digital content spreading rapidly and widely, trustees must ensure posts are carefully vetted and aligned with charitable objects.
2. Comply With Legal and Regulatory Duties
Trustees have a duty to safeguard the charity from being used to support or appear to support unlawful activity. Effective policies demonstrate diligence and can significantly reduce exposure to regulatory action.
3. Maintain Consistency of Messaging
Clear guidelines prevent individual volunteers, staff, or trustees from sharing personal interpretations of the charity’s mission that may not reflect its agreed position.
4. Manage Delegation and Accountability
If responsibility for social media is delegated, trustees must still retain oversight. Policies should set out approval processes, escalation routes, and regular monitoring procedures.
5. Respond Swiftly When Things Go Wrong
Policies should include crisis management steps, ensuring that inappropriate material is swiftly removed, reported, and addressed.
Social Media Policies Should Include:
Charities of all sizes should have a written social media policy tailored to their operations. Core elements typically include:
- Clear roles and responsibilities: who can post, who can approve, and who monitors activity.
- Content guidelines: what can and cannot be shared, including rules on political content, controversial material, and third‑party resources.
- Risk assessment procedures: including extra caution for sensitive or external content.
- Moderation rules: especially when the charity allows public comments or interactions.
- Training requirements: to ensure staff and trustees understand their obligations.
- Escalation and incident response processes: so issues can be addressed promptly.
Key Takeaways for Trustees
Trustees must ensure that social media is treated with the same seriousness as any other governance area and that policies are detailed, practical, and actually implemented.
As the Commission’s Head of Compliance Visits and Inspections, Joshua Farbridge, emphasised:
“A charity’s reputation can be severely damaged in an instant through reckless use of social media… there is no excuse for failing to properly review content before it is shared by a charity.”
If you would like assistance drafting or reviewing a social media policy for your charity, please do get in touch with a member of our team.
