Lifeboat charity says it will look to save money without cutting services

Managers at the RNLI say a challenging year has led to a dip in income, despite it being one of the charity’s busiest periods.

The balance book is down by £28.6m with the charity posting a £6.3m operating loss. New chief executive Mark Dowie says he is looking to make savings without affecting the services the lifeboat charity offers.

Jane George, its new fundraising director is also investigating new ways to raise money.

Dowie ruled out closing any lifeboat stations, but said that he will be looking at all areas of the charity's operations.

He told Civil Society News: “The task is to ensure that we continue to run a world class service in a sustainable way and live within our means.”

The figures are posted as the charity had its busiest year.

Lifeboat crews helped 9,412 people, up from 8,072 the previous year. And lifeguards helped 32,207 in 2018, up from 24,044 in 2017.

RNLI says that together this saved 329 lives, up from 248 the previous year.

The end result was that spending on charitable activities increased by £4.5m to £163.5m.

RNLI was the first big charity to take the bold step to stop cold calling donors, deciding instead to only contact those who expressly allowed the organisation to do so.

Last year however it was revealed more than 500,000 people had signed up to receive communications from it.

The move to opt-in fundraising on 1 January 2017 was projected to cost it around £50m in lost donations over three years, such was the reliance on the method.