Photography, Video and Beneficiary Consent Policy

Al-Waris Foundation uses photography, video and other media to:

The charity recognises that images and recordings can contain personal information and can create safeguarding, privacy, security and dignity risks.

Obtaining compelling content must never take priority over the dignity, welfare or safety of beneficiaries.

This policy establishes requirements for:

This policy applies to media created, commissioned, collected or published by Al-Waris Foundation.

It applies to:

Al-Waris Foundation will seek to ensure that photography and video are:

The charity will not knowingly use imagery to fabricate charitable impact.

Beneficiaries must be portrayed with dignity.

The charity should avoid content that unnecessarily:

Poverty, emergency or vulnerability does not remove a person's right to dignity.

Before recording identifiable people, the charity should consider whether identification is actually necessary.

Where the purpose can reasonably be achieved using:

these approaches may reduce privacy and safeguarding risk.

Consent may be an appropriate basis for photography or filming, particularly where identifiable beneficiary media will be used publicly.

However, not every photograph or recording is necessarily processed on the basis of UK GDPR consent.

The appropriate lawful basis should reflect:

Where the charity expressly relies on consent, that consent must meet the applicable standard.

Where consent is sought, the person should receive a reasonable explanation of:

The explanation should be provided in a language or manner the person can reasonably understand.

A beneficiary must not be told or led to believe that receiving charitable assistance depends upon agreeing to photography or filming unless recording is genuinely necessary for a particular administrative purpose and this has been appropriately assessed.

Publicity consent should normally be separate from eligibility for assistance.

Consent must not be obtained through:

Particular care is required because beneficiaries may perceive charity representatives as holding power over access to assistance.

A beneficiary who does not wish to participate in public photography or filming should normally still be able to receive assistance.

Reasonable arrangements should be made to avoid including that person in identifiable public content.

Depending on the circumstances, consent may be documented through:

More sensitive or extensive use should generally receive stronger documentation.

Where formal consent is obtained, records may include:

Consent records should themselves be protected appropriately.

Children require enhanced protection.

Photography or filming involving identifiable children should consider:

For identifiable public-facing media involving a child, appropriate permission should normally be obtained from a parent, guardian or person with appropriate responsibility where reasonably practicable.

The child's own views should also be respected according to their age and understanding.

A child who clearly does not want to be photographed or filmed should not normally be forced to participate merely because an adult has agreed.

Public content involving children should avoid unnecessarily publishing information that could identify or locate them.

Particular caution should be exercised with combinations of:

The fact that several children appear together does not remove safeguarding responsibilities.

Group photographs should still consider:

Additional care is required when recording adults who may be at risk.

The charity should consider whether the person:

Capacity should not be assumed absent merely because a person:

Where there is a genuine concern about decision-making capacity, appropriate safeguarding and legal considerations should be applied.

Enhanced caution should be used for people affected by:

Identifiable publication may create risks beyond ordinary privacy concerns.

Emergency situations can create particularly unequal power relationships.

A person's distress must not be treated as automatic permission to record or publish them.

Where immediate formal consent processes are impracticable, the charity should minimise identification and reassess content before publication.

Photographs and videos may be taken during distributions for:

Distribution should not be unnecessarily delayed or disrupted to create photographs.

Reasonable positioning for documentation is permissible.

However, the charity must not stage an event in a way that materially misrepresents what occurred.

For example, a package may reasonably be held for a photograph after distribution, but an event must not be fabricated and represented as genuine charitable delivery.

Aid should not be repeatedly handed between people merely to manufacture the appearance of additional beneficiaries or distributions.

Project evidence must represent genuine activity.

Media used as project evidence should be capable of being associated with the correct project where reasonably practicable.

Relevant records may include:

Completed Al-Waris Foundation water installations should normally have appropriate visual evidence.

This may include:

Where beneficiaries appear, this policy continues to apply.

Internal project records may contain precise location or GPS information.

Precise coordinates should not automatically be published publicly where doing so could create:

Food-distribution evidence may include:

Evidence should demonstrate genuine delivery without requiring every recipient to be identifiable.

Before-and-after content must not exaggerate or fabricate outcomes.

The charity should ensure that:

Recorded beneficiary testimonials should be:

Beneficiaries should not be instructed to make false claims about assistance received.

Where a beneficiary speaks another language, translations or subtitles should preserve the substance of what they said.

Materially changing a statement to make the charity appear more successful is prohibited.

Reasonable editing may include:

Editing must not materially falsify the documented event.

Where appropriate, identifiable features may be:

This may allow useful documentation while protecting the individual.

Photographs and videos may contain metadata including location information.

Before public release of sensitive content, the charity should consider whether metadata could reveal information that should remain confidential.

The charity should not automatically publish a beneficiary's full name merely because their image is being used.

Where a name adds little value, alternatives may include:

Any pseudonym should not be presented as a verified real name.

A photograph combined with a detailed personal story can increase identification risk.

The charity should consider the cumulative effect of information being published.

Images or stories revealing health information require particular care.

Medical details should not be disclosed merely because they may increase fundraising engagement.

Photographs and videos should be checked for visible confidential information such as:

Such information should be removed or obscured before publication where necessary.

Content should be reviewed for incidental identifiers where they create meaningful privacy or security risks.

Examples may include:

Content published on social media may:

This should be considered when deciding whether particular beneficiary media is appropriate for publication.

Media published on the Al-Waris Foundation website should use approved content-management processes.

Where appropriate, media should include sufficient context to avoid misleading visitors about:

Donors may receive project photographs or videos where appropriate.

Donor-only distribution does not remove privacy and safeguarding obligations.

Sensitive beneficiary information should not be disclosed merely because a donor funded a project.

Where donor names or dedications appear on project plaques or related media, the charity should ensure the wording is appropriate.

Beneficiary information should not be unnecessarily combined with donor information.

Real project media may be used for fundraising where:

Media originally created for one purpose should not automatically be reused indefinitely for unrelated purposes.

Before materially different reuse, the charity should consider:

A photograph from one project may be used to illustrate a broader area of the charity's work where this would not mislead a reasonable viewer.

It must not be falsely described as evidence of another specific project.

Stock photography may be used for general illustrative purposes where appropriate.

It should not be represented as:

unless that is genuinely the case.

Al-Waris Foundation may use AI-generated illustrations for purposes such as:

AI-generated imagery must not be presented as genuine documentary evidence.

A fictional AI-generated person must not be described as an actual beneficiary.

Where there is a realistic possibility of confusion, appropriate context should make clear that the image is illustrative.

AI-generated images must never be used to fabricate:

AI or conventional editing must not be used to materially alter genuine project evidence in a misleading way.

Prohibited examples include:

Al-Waris Foundation may add legitimate branding to media, including:

Digital branding should not be presented as a physical project plaque if no such plaque existed.

External photographers or videographers should receive appropriate instructions concerning:

Where contractors or partner organisations collect project evidence, Al-Waris Foundation should communicate its expected evidence and safeguarding standards.

Receiving images from a contractor does not automatically mean every image is suitable for public publication.

Volunteers should only photograph beneficiaries where this forms part of authorised charity activity.

They should not use access obtained through the charity to create inappropriate personal content.

Volunteers and representatives must not assume that photographs taken during charity activity may be published on their personal accounts.

Beneficiary content should normally be published through authorised charity channels unless specific permission exists.

Authorised photography may be undertaken using personal devices where necessary.

Where personal devices are used:

Live streaming involving beneficiaries creates increased risk because content cannot be fully reviewed before publication.

Live streaming should therefore receive appropriate prior consideration.

It should be avoided in sensitive beneficiary situations unless risks are adequately controlled.

Before a recorded interview, the person should reasonably understand:

Surprise recording of vulnerable beneficiaries should be avoided.

Covert recording should not be used for ordinary charity publicity or donor content.

Exceptional use would require a compelling lawful reason and appropriate assessment.

At public charity events, photography may reasonably be expected in some circumstances.

Where practical, attendees should be informed that photography or filming may occur.

People requesting not to be featured should be accommodated where reasonably possible.

Wide crowd photographs where individuals are incidental may present lower privacy risk than close identifiable portraits.

However, context still matters, particularly at:

Photography inside:

requires additional consideration.

Permission to enter a location does not automatically constitute permission to publish images taken there.

Photography in places of worship should respect:

Local cultural expectations concerning photography should be respected where compatible with safeguarding, law and the charity's principles.

What is acceptable in one location may be inappropriate in another.

Media must not be published where identification could reasonably expose a person to:

Anonymisation should be considered.

In sensitive humanitarian environments, photographs should avoid unnecessarily revealing information that could:

If someone objects while filming is taking place, the photographer should respond respectfully.

Where reasonably possible, filming should:

Where the charity relies on consent, an individual may withdraw that consent.

Al-Waris Foundation should make reasonable efforts to stop future use where withdrawal applies.

Once media has been publicly:

complete retrieval may be impossible.

The charity should explain this honestly where relevant.

Withdrawal should still be applied to future uses under the charity's control where required.

Requests to remove photographs or videos should be assessed according to:

A request should not automatically be rejected merely because content was previously published.

Removal from public channels does not necessarily require destruction of every internal project record.

The charity may have legitimate reasons to retain restricted evidence for:

The applicable lawful basis and retention requirements should be considered.

Approved media should, where practicable, be managed through a central charity media library or other controlled storage.

Records may include:

Access to unpublished or sensitive beneficiary media should be restricted according to legitimate operational need.

Not every CMS or administrative user requires access to all media.

Original project files may be retained where they have legitimate evidential value.

Publicly optimised copies may be separate from originals.

Media containing sensitive personal information should not be stored indefinitely in:

Messaging services may be used to receive project media where operationally necessary.

Important media should be transferred into appropriate charity records rather than relying indefinitely on message history as the sole record.

Media should be retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for its legitimate purpose.

Retention should reflect:

See the Records Retention and Disposal Policy.

Media no longer required should be securely deleted or otherwise disposed of appropriately according to its sensitivity.

Copies should be considered where reasonably practicable.

The charity should have appropriate rights to use media it publishes.

This may arise through:

An image being available online does not automatically mean it is free to use.

Where external photographers are used, agreements should clarify appropriate rights concerning:

A beneficiary consenting to appear in an image does not necessarily own copyright in the photograph.

Similarly, copyright ownership does not remove the need to consider privacy, safeguarding and data protection.

Requests from journalists or media organisations to photograph beneficiaries should be appropriately managed.

The charity should not provide unrestricted access to vulnerable beneficiaries merely because media coverage may benefit fundraising.

Before providing identifiable beneficiary media to another organisation, consideration should be given to:

Where beneficiary media is publicly downloadable, the charity may have limited control over subsequent third-party use.

This increased risk should be considered before publication.

Ordinary photographs should not automatically be subjected to facial-recognition or biometric identification technologies.

Any proposed biometric processing requires specific legal and privacy assessment before implementation.

Exact geolocation should not be attached publicly to beneficiary media unless there is a legitimate reason and the associated risks have been considered.

Project-level location information may often be communicated without identifying a specific household.

Sensitive media should be reviewed before publication.

Review should consider:

The level of publication approval should reflect risk.

Routine low-risk project images may follow normal CMS workflows.

Higher-risk media involving:

should receive enhanced review.

Captions should be accurate.

They must not knowingly misstate:

Emotionally compelling fundraising language may be used where truthful.

Headlines must not deliberately misrepresent the person shown or their circumstances.

A quote attributed to a beneficiary must not be invented.

Where wording has been translated or lightly edited for clarity, the meaning must remain faithful to what the person communicated.

If a beneficiary makes a safeguarding disclosure during an interview or recording, safeguarding procedures take priority over content production.

The disclosure should not be published merely because it was captured on camera.

Recording should stop or be reconsidered where a participant becomes materially distressed.

A person's emotional reaction should not be exploited to create stronger fundraising content.

Images or stories concerning deceased people or recently bereaved families require particular sensitivity.

The charity should consider:

Graphic images of:

should not normally be used for ordinary fundraising.

Exceptional publication requires compelling justification and enhanced review.

Complaints concerning photography, video or publication should be handled under the Complaints Policy.

Where appropriate, disputed content may be temporarily removed while the matter is assessed.

Loss, unauthorised disclosure or publication of sensitive beneficiary media may constitute a personal-data breach.

Such incidents should be handled under:

A serious media-related safeguarding or privacy failure may require consideration under the Serious Incident Reporting Policy.

Anyone concerned about inappropriate photography or media use should report the matter promptly.

Concerns may include:

Breaches may result in:

People regularly collecting beneficiary media should receive proportionate guidance concerning:

Where contractors or overseas representatives are asked to provide media evidence, the project brief should explain relevant requirements.

This may include:

The charity should periodically review its published and stored media to identify:

This policy should be read alongside:

This policy will be reviewed:

Version: 2.0 Status: Approved Approved by: Board of Trustees Approval date: 25/08/2026 Next scheduled review: 24/08/2027