Charities and politics: where did we go wrong?

Abstract This paper examines a long-standing doctrine in charities law – that if an organisation's main purpose is political then it cannot be charitable. This doctrine is not without controversy because it has the potential to exclude many worthwhile organisations from charitable status, and fetter worthwhile advocacy by those that do have status. While no jurisdiction remains unwaveringly committed to the orthodox political purpose doctrine, we argue that none so far have confronted the public benefit – and detriment – of political advocacy adequately. This paper proposes a way of assessing the public benefit of political advocacy in liberal democratic societies. It argues that political advocacy can give rise to clear public benefit: this is an indirect or process benefit associated with advocacy itself regardless of the end advocated for. However, recognising political advocacy purposes as charitable should still be subject to two constraints: the altruism requirement (reflected in the ‘public’ aspect of public benefit); and consistency with liberal democratic values (as part of the ‘benefit’ aspect). These constraints are needed because, while political advocacy can generate benefit, detriments may also be associated with political advocacy.