There are many theoretical benefits to be gained from having a politician attend a charity event. Politicians are high profile figures, on a national or local level, and their presence automatically makes it more likely that an event will attract press coverage.

But how easy is it to find politicians willing to support your cause or attend such events? And what can you or the politician expect to happen afterwards?

Politicians are not generally held in high esteem by the public, and if you asked senior managers in the third sector to draw lists of problem groups with whom they had to deal, politicians would certainly feature. Yet the overwhelming response from charities approached during the writing of this article was that most politicians do everything they can to support a wide variety of good causes, and that their presence at an event does raise its profile significantly.

The experience of the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT), which raises funds for Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, is typical. The Trust has been able to call on the support of local MPs including Andrew Lansley, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, the constituency in which the hospital is based, who arranged for the charity to run an event on the River Terrace at the House of Commons in 2006 to promote itself to corporate entities.

“The risk always with politicians is that they get a better offer,” says Keith Day, chief executive of the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, and also a former executive director of the NHS Foundation Trust that runs the hospital. “I’m not being disrespectful, and I don’t wish to appear too cynical when I say this, but politicians have to seize opportunities as they come along. I faced exactly the same problem when I was working for the hospital and we tried to get politicians to come and see us or attend events. There’s always that risk that they may have to disappear at the last minute.”

Of course, it is generally true that local politicians are less likely to be called away on urgent business than more senior members of the government, and in any case, few charities seem to have suffered from sudden cancellations. “Usually they turn up when they say they will,” says Rowan Harvey, parliamentary and campaigns officer at the Terrence Higgins Trust. “It really just depends on how busy the individual politician is, and who deals with their diary.”

But contacting a local MP is not an obvious first step for every charity. Instead, they would be well-advised to do some research to try and find MPs with interests that suggest they might be sympathetic towards the charity’s cause. Relevant all-party parliamentary groups, which focus on all sorts of different causes and interest groups, are a good place to start.

For example, the Terrence Higgins Trust has fruitful working relationships with members of the all-party parliamentary groups on AIDS and on Pro-Choice and Sexual Health. Websites such as theyworkforyou.com, which details members’ interests and voting records, can also be useful resources.

There are also a limited number of opportunities to approach politicians directly on their own patch. The mental health charity Rethink has benefited from MPs and peers hosting dinners in the Houses of Parliament, at which Rethink representatives have been allowed to make speeches.

“You can’t actually fundraise at them – parliamentary rules forbid it – so it’s really about building relationships, and getting people to think about issues,” explains Paul Corry, director of public affairs at Rethink. “But it gives everybody the opportunity to talk about mental health in general, or about specific issues.” Invited audiences at these dinners may also include academics or representatives of industry, as well as politicians.

Charities can also enter a lottery for the chance to have a display promoting their work in the Houses of Parliament. WaterAid won the chance to do so in 2006. “We had banners up, and interactive displays, and then we invited particular MPs we wanted to engage with to meet us there,” says Jennean Alkadiri, campaigns manager at Water Aid. “We also asked supporters to contact their local MPs and arrange to meet them at the display. It’s easy for the MPs, they are in the corridors walking around, and it’s just five minutes out of their day. We wouldn’t have been able to meet so many any other way.”

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National charities like the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) can also use their membership to lobby MPs. “It is easier if you are a national organisation with people who are active at the ground level, and active in MPs’ constituencies,” says Ben Stafford, head of campaigns at the CPRE. “That will give you another route in, if you have people writing letters.”

In some circumstances MPs may also be prepared to table Ten Minute Rule Bills or Early Day Motions to help highlight issues important to a charity they support.

In May this year John Penrose, Conservative MP for Weston-Super-Mare, sponsored a Ten Minute Rule Bill on Rural Tranquillity, in support of the CPRE’s campaign for tranquillity to be taken into account in planning policy.

Earlier in the year WaterAid and TearFund worked with Bill Cash, Conservative MP for Stone on an Early Day Motion based on the charity’s End Water Poverty Campaign. Following lobbying from Bill Cash and other supportive politicians, and a national letter-writing campaign by WaterAid supporters targeting their local MPs, 226 MPs eventually signed the motion. A Westminster Hall Debate then followed, at which the then Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, responded on behalf of the government.

It seems, in fact, that the negative side-effects of working with MPs are mostly theoretical. Much as one would like to dish some dirt, it is difficult to come up with an example of a charity suffering from any problems as a result of its association with a politician. Of course, it is still important to do everything possible to minimise the risk of such a situation.

“There has to be an understanding that as an impartial NGO you can be critical,” says the CPRE‘s Stafford. “We are an independent organisation, and not in the pockets of any political party. You need to make sure that there is an honest understanding of the relationship on both sides.”

Rethink’s Corry makes a similar point: “You need to make it very clear that while your interests are converging on this particular issue, the charity isn’t going to promote the party or personal political interests of the MP or peer; and that they shouldn’t use your platform to express party political views.”

As long as both parties follow those rules, there is no reason why even very close engagement with individual politicians, who have courted controversy in their careers or personal lives, should not be successful. Last September the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) appointed Lembit Opik, Liberal Democrat MP for Monmouth (and shadow secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform) as its president at its annual AGM. He has been involved with the charity since his father’s death from Motor Neurone Disease in 2005.

And his work is much appreciated at the MNDA. “He’s been amazing for us in terms of what he’s achieved,” says Mel Barry, a spokesperson for the Association. “He’s got us access to cabinet ministers, meetings with Tony Blair and now with Gordon Brown.

He’s been instrumental in leading our campaigns, and he’s certainly raised our profile with other parliamentarians. It’s probably fair to say that some of the things that have happened wouldn’t have happened so fast without him.”

She dismisses completely the idea that the charity could have suffered in any way as a result of newspaper coverage of Opik’s relationship with a pop star some years his junior. As she points out, there isn’t really much of a scandal to report on that anyway. “Our experience has just been really positive,” says Barry. “Lembit has really pushed us forward. He just brings so much energy, and he has that human touch; people can relate to him.”

Even former politicians whose public image has been dragged unceremoniously through the mire can be valuable as high profile supporters. Lady Mary Archer is a trustee at Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust. Her husband Lord Archer, who needs no introduction, has worked as an auctioneer for the charity at fundraising events – as he continues to do for many good causes – and Lord and Lady Archer also let the Trust use their garden each summer for an evening garden party.

I ask Keith Day if this association has ever had any kind of negative effect on the charity. “Inevitably, you will run across somebody who makes some adverse comment about Lord and Lady Archer,” he concedes. “But that is outweighed a hundred, or a thousand times by the positive reactions to their involvement, and by their commitment to us.”

Further information

Useful websites for finding out about MPs’ and peers’ interests and activities:

www.parliament.uk

www.theyworkforyou.com

Register of all-party parliamentary groups:

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi01.htm

Charities interested in mounting a display at the House of Commons should contact the Sergeant of Arms Events Team at the House of Commons (main switchboard 020 7219 3000), who will be able to explain the procedure in full.

They will need to persuade an MP to write to a relevant minister on their behalf to get their written approval and then complete a Ballot Application. This will need to be approved by Committee before the application is entered into the ballot.

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