On 18 September 2023, the Charity Commission (Commission) published a press release on its new social media guidance.
The new guidance makes clear the Commission's expectation that charities using social media should have a social media policy in place and procedures to ensure it is followed. Such a policy should explain how using social media helps to deliver the charity's purpose and include guidelines to manage the risks of charity trustees, employees and volunteers using social media on the charity's behalf.
The Commission has published a checklist to help charity trustees and senior employees to develop a social media policy for their charity. The guidance also signposts organisations and resources to help charity trustees improve their social media skills. It includes a link to an example template social media policy prepared by CharityComms, based on policies from across the charity sector.