The Charity Commission for England and Wales’ social media guidance serves as a good reminder—and resource—for the responsible use of social media among charitable organizations.
This guidance, while based on English and Welsh law, nevertheless provides Canadian charities with helpful tools and recommendations for responsible social media usage and managing the potential risks posed by social media.
The key piece of guidance from the Commission is to develop a social media policy.
A social media policy is an internal document that provides guidelines for how employees, volunteers, and other representatives ought to conduct themselves on social media.
The breadth of a social media policy will vary by organization; however, some fundamental elements include:
- The person(s) responsible for managing and maintaining the charity’s social media platforms (this includes who can curate content, as well as who has access to each platform);
- How social media content is vetted;
- The purposes for which the organization uses social media;
- How comments and engagement on social media are moderated; and
- How issues or social media crises are handled.
The Commission created a checklist to assist charities in developing their social media policies, which may be helpful to consult.
The Commission also urges charities to consider the type of content that is posted–particularly content that may evoke strong emotions or reactions, as well as politically-motivated content.
Not only should charities be aware of the risks to their reputation, but they should also be cognizant of the legal framework surrounding public policy dialogue and development activities (PPDDAs). While Canadian charities are permitted to engage in political activities, they are still prohibited from supporting or opposing a political party or candidate. For more information on PPDDAs, see our directory on political activities and Canadian charities.
A non-exhaustive list of other legal frameworks to consider when using social media includes those surrounding privacy (e.g., the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), intellectual property (e.g., copyright, trademarks), and defamation.