Charity Reputational Issues

• Published date: 16 June 2023
• Law Firm: Withers LLP
• Author: Ms Jo Sanders

In 2020 the Charity Commission said: 'Trustees are under a duty to take steps to protect the charity from undue risk of harm including its assets and people, but that does not equate to protecting its reputation from, and avoiding, adverse criticism at all costs.' This gives rise to a challenge for charities - how to safeguard legitimately the valuable asset of a charity's reputation whilst not giving the appearance of wishing to avoid any adverse criticism. This can be quite a conundrum; it is not always easy to recognise what is reasonable - even if robust - legitimate criticism, and to distinguish it from false or misleading claims or statements which are unwarranted and therefore should be challenged.

In a recent case, a charity wrote to a former volunteer with whom it had been in dispute. The individual had threatened to make claims to the media and the charity sent a warning via lawyers that he should not disclose confidential information or publish untrue claims (both of which seem reasonable requests as they are acts prohibited by law). However, the perception of a large charity using...