Can Mosques, Churches and Secular Groups Run One Campaign Together? Coalition Craft from Blackburn

Start with what is documented, not what is assumed. In Blackburn, two separate mosque projects have been built or converted in recent years, both volunteer-led and locally funded. Neither is an interfaith housing campaign. No retrieved source shows mosques, churches and secular groups running a joint campaign in the town. So this article does two things: it reads the verified Blackburn cases for what they actually show about coalition raw material, and it sets out the charity-law frame any mixed-faith or secular campaign in England and Wales would have to satisfy. The campaign itself is treated as a premise to be tested, not a fact to be reported.

Two Blackburn projects, two funding models

The first is Masjid-e-Taqwa on Pleckgate Road. The building was previously St Chad’s Church, a single-level stone construction built around 1870. It was converted into a mosque, and the inaugural asr prayer was held on 12 May. Funding for the renovation was donated by local people, and the work on the inside and outside got underway around a year before opening. The mosque now has space for around 180 attendees, plus facilities for wudu. A spokesperson told the Lancashire Telegraph that the design tried to keep the original features, with the wooden beams in the prayer hall described as the most defining feature. That is a reported statement, not an independently verified conservation record.

The second is Al-Buraq Masjid and community hub off Devonport Road. It opened after a major fundraising effort and was seven years in the making. Generations of the Zabier family led the project. The fundraising campaign, Team Buraq, included cycling challenges and walks to Mount Snowdon. The hub includes a prayer hall, a women’s zone, an Islamic museum with more than 22 artefacts, and plans for a foodbank. Tabarik Zabier, 44, said he hoped it would “unite people in peace and harmony” and that it was open to all of the community, regardless of religious backgrounds.

Those two models are not the same. One is a building conversion funded by small local donations. The other is a multi-year, family-led capital campaign with physical fundraising events and a museum attached. A coalition that wanted to pool resources would have to reconcile those two rhythms before it could agree a budget. Small-donation conversion work moves at the pace of a volunteer committee and a builder. A seven-year capital campaign moves at the pace of a family, a planning process and a fundraising calendar. Mixing them without a shared financial protocol is how coalitions stall.

What the sources do not show

There is no retrieved evidence of an interfaith housing campaign in Blackburn involving mosques, churches and secular groups. There is no evidence that Masjid-e-Taqwa or Al-Buraq Masjid participated in any housing campaign or coalition. There is no evidence that the two projects are connected to each other or to any shared organising effort. The claim that the former St Chad’s building was derelict for a specific period, or that housing plans for it were formally refused, is not supported: the source says “reportedly” and “never came to fruition.” The claim that original features were preserved is a spokesperson’s statement reported by another outlet. And there is no retrieved source for Blackburn’s housing need, housing supply, homelessness figures or demographic composition.

That matters because the honest article is about volunteer-led community infrastructure and the legal frame for campaigning, not about a campaign that may not exist. If a coalition is forming, the first task is to document it: who is in it, what legal structure it has, what decisions it has taken and who is accountable. Without that, “interfaith campaign” is a label, not an organisation.

The legal frame any coalition inherits

Most mosques, churches and secular community groups that would join a housing campaign are charities or charitable trusts. The Charity Commission’s guidance on political activity and campaigning applies to England and Wales. It says charities can take part in political activity that supports their purpose and is in their best interests, but political activity must not become the reason for the charity’s existence. Charities must remain independent and must not give their support to a political party. They must never provide money or other resources to anyone standing as a candidate, or promote a particular candidate or political party.

The guidance also says some charities have restrictions in their governing document preventing political activity, and trustees should check for those. Trustees are responsible for making sure staff and volunteers working on campaigns understand the rules, even if the activity is delegated. The Commission expects trustees to act within the governing document, act honestly and only in the charity’s interests, be sufficiently informed, take account only of relevant factors, manage conflicts of interest, and make a decision within the range a reasonable body of trustees could make. It also expects written records showing how decisions were reached.

For a coalition, that means the campaign cannot be the coalition’s whole identity. A mosque whose purpose is worship and community service can campaign on housing if the campaign supports that purpose. A church hall charity can do the same. A secular housing group can do the same. But none of them can become a party vehicle, and none can let the campaign crowd out the charitable work that justifies their existence.

Compliance mechanics a coalition has to build in

Four practical checkpoints follow from the guidance.

Check governing documents first. Before any joint statement, each partner should read its own constitution or trust deed for restrictions on political activity. A coalition agreement cannot override a charity’s governing document.

Record trustee decisions. The Commission says trustees should keep written records to show how they reached decisions. For a coalition, that means minutes that name the campaign, the purpose it supports, the resources committed, the risks considered and the conflicts managed. If a trustee is also a councillor or a candidate, that conflict needs to be on the record.

Watch the electoral period. The 2014 Electoral Commission guidance, issued alongside the Lobbying Act, said charities planning to spend more than £20,000 in England or £10,000 in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland on regulated activity had to register with the Electoral Commission as a non-party campaigner. That source is a withdrawn 2014 news article, so those thresholds should be treated as historical. Current thresholds and the current regulated period need to be checked against the Electoral Commission’s live guidance before any campaign plans spending.

Keep party neutrality visible. The Commission says charities should ask political figures not to promote party political messages at their events or premises, and should seek to engage equally with all major political parties. If a charity always engages with only one party or person, that can call its political neutrality into question. For a coalition, that means an events policy and a speaking invitation policy agreed in advance, not improvised when a councillor turns up with a rosette.

A worked example, clearly hypothetical

Suppose a mosque, a church and a secular housing group in a town like Blackburn wanted to campaign on a housing issue. No such campaign is documented here; this is an illustration of how the compliance frame would shape the structure.

The three partners would not merge. They would sign a coalition agreement that names the campaign, states the charitable purpose each partner is pursuing, and sets out decision-making. A small steering group with one trustee from each partner, plus a named coordinator, is the usual minimum. Decisions that commit money or public statements go back to each partner’s board for approval, because the Commission’s guidance puts responsibility on trustees and expects records.

The campaign’s public ask would be tied to the partners’ purposes: for example, a change in how a local housing allocation policy affects people the partners already serve. That is political activity under the Commission’s definition, because it seeks to influence a decision by a public body. It is permitted if it supports each charity’s purpose and is in its best interests. It is not permitted if it becomes the reason the charity exists, or if it drifts into party politics.

Before any leaflet goes out, each partner checks its governing document. Before any spending crosses the relevant threshold, the coalition checks the Electoral Commission’s current non-party campaigner rules. Before any councillor or candidate is invited, the coalition agrees a neutrality policy. And throughout, the steering group keeps minutes that show the purpose, the resources, the risks and the conflicts.

That is the craft. Not a shared logo, but a shared discipline about purpose, money, records and neutrality. The Blackburn mosque projects show that volunteer-led community infrastructure can be built with local money and long effort. Whether a coalition can run a campaign together depends on whether it can carry the same discipline into a political activity that charity law permits but does not make easy.

Questions readers ask

Can a mosque and a church campaign together on housing? If both are charities, yes, provided the campaign supports each charity’s purpose, each remains independent, neither supports a political party, and each follows its own governing document. The Charity Commission’s guidance on political activity and campaigning by charities applies to England and Wales.

Does a coalition need its own legal structure? Not necessarily. A coalition agreement between existing charities can work if decision-making, money and public statements are governed by clear rules and each partner’s trustees retain their responsibilities. A separate legal entity adds formality and liability protection but also adds registration and reporting duties.

What about the 2014 spending thresholds? The 2014 Electoral Commission guidance said charities planning to spend more than £20,000 in England or £10,000 in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland on regulated activity had to register as a non-party campaigner. That source is a withdrawn 2014 news article. Check the Electoral Commission’s current guidance for live thresholds and the current regulated period.

Can a coalition endorse a candidate who supports its housing ask? No. The Charity Commission guidance says charities must never provide money or other resources to anyone standing as a candidate, or promote a particular candidate or political party. A coalition of charities inherits that prohibition.

What if a partner’s governing document bans political activity? Then that partner cannot join the political activity part of the campaign. It could still support non-political campaigning, such as raising awareness or helping people claim existing housing entitlements, if that furthers its purpose.

What would make this article different

If an interfaith housing campaign in Blackburn does exist or has existed, the record would need a primary source: a council record, a campaign website, or a named-organisation statement listing the participating organisations. Current Charity Commission guidance on non-party campaigner registration would replace the withdrawn 2014 thresholds. Blackburn with Darwen Council housing or homelessness data would be needed before any claim about local housing conditions. Governance documents or public statements from Masjid-e-Taqwa and Al-Buraq Masjid would be needed before saying anything about their legal structure or campaigning activity. And a named, quotable source from a church or secular organisation in Blackburn describing joint working would be needed before the coalition angle could be reported as fact.

Until then, the useful work is the compliance frame and the documented Blackburn cases. Those are enough to show what a coalition would have to build, and enough to show why building it is harder than announcing it.