Practical guide Roles & Responsibilities What is the role of the board in social media matters?

What is the role of the board in social media matters?

• Put simply, their role is governance and oversight. 

• The board must be alive to potential reputational risks. Clarity over who manages the organisation’s own website and social media channels (and whether they are sufficiently trained), that data protection and copyright law is observed and that appropriate reporting/incident response mechanisms are in place is key. 

• A board cannot be expected to monitor the personal social media accounts of employees or volunteers, but if they become aware of content posted by an individual associated with the charity that may cause significant negative impact or reputational damage, they must consider taking appropriate action to protect the organisation. 

• In 2023, the Charity Commission published a press release on its new social media guidance
• The 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
• The Charity Commission has recently issued an official warning to a charity and disqualified a trustee for 8 years over divisive and inflammatory political material on its social media channels, saying that the board failed to effectively manage the charity’s social media and website, allowing one trustee (who also acted as the CEO) to have sole control over the material posted. This highlights the need for an up to date and comprehensive social media policy, for a board to act collectively and to ensure all content posted is in furtherance of a charity’s charitable purposes. 

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