Rnli Slammed For Spending Millions On Foreign Aid

[naomi24]

//Bosses last week warned the lifeboat charity is facing “some major challenges” after making losses of £6.3million last year. But donations to the service are being spent on creches in Bangladesh and swimsuits for Muslim women in Tanzania.

Tory MP Nigel Evans, who sits on the Commons International Development Committee, said the charity is putting its reputation at risk.

He added: “I would say 99 per cent of the British public giving them money do not have the faintest idea it’s diverted to projects overseas.”//

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9934323/rnli-slammed-foreign-aid-slashing-jobs/

This is one charity I thought was struggling and really needed the money to continue its excellent work around our shores. I certainly wasn’t aware that a proportion of my donations are going overseas. Will this information put this charity’s reputation at risk?

[Bobbisox1]

Read this today Naomi,struggling to understand why some of the money goes overseas

[naomi24]

Me too, bobbie.

[Spicerack]

Another charity ruined by very well paid left wing zealots.

[Mamyalynne]

Sad but true that we need to investigate each and every Charity we may donate to, the information will be there but you have to look.
There should be more openness.

[naomi24]

spicerack, I think many supporters will be reluctant to give now.

[brainiac]

Outrageous. As is the fact that the RNLI's chief executive, Mark Dowie, is paid a whopping £189,000 per year - and they cut 135 jobs last year.

[Spicerack]

I'm sure, Naomi. Anyone with an ounce of common sense, anyway.

[Captain2]

We stand at a Craft Fair quite regularly where the stall opposite is run by a chap raising funds for the RNLI. He's done it for over 40 years, raised thousands and thousands of pounds for them, got commendations, certificates of thanks and congratulations left, right and centre from 'The Board'.
He was distraught today "I didn't know they were doing things like this; it's not what I've dedicated so long to; I'm dismayed."

He really did look a broken man (and to make matters worse he had a £65 gold ring pinched off his stall - some thieving ***).

Don't know whether he'll continue now. So sad.

[sanmac]

If the story as reported is actually true then I would not merely be reluctant to donate to them, I would most definitely refuse to.

[jim360]

The RNLI's response is that this is only 2% of its budget, and that it has contributed to saving lives. Just because they aren't British lives shouldn't make them any less worth saving.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rnli-overseas_uk_5d7e3062e4b077dcbd5fdc24

The point about this having been public information for years is an interesting one. I confess I hadn't noticed, but if it's been included in official accounts then it's odd to suddenly kick up a fuss about something that has been going on for years.

[Mamyalynne]

Cap'n I really feel for the dedicated workers and fundraisers, they must feel so let down.

[Mamyalynne]

Jim, of course you are correct - all such information is available if you seek it out.

I have to admit I don't always do that.

[naomi24]

Jim, //The point about this having been public information for years ...//

Where is that?

[sanmac]

Even if it is "only" 2%, or even less, it's too much:

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. There are numerous other lifeboat services operating in the same area.

"Founded in 1824 as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, the RNLI was granted a Royal Charter in 1860. It is a charity in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland. Queen Elizabeth II is Patron. The RNLI is principally funded by legacies and donations, and most of the members of its lifeboat crews are unpaid volunteers."
It was founded, as a charity, to save lives in and around the UK.

[david small]

Personally their loss is the Salvation Army’s gain.

[jim360]

It's mentioned in the article I linked to. I haven't dug into it further, but I found similar statements on the Times article. RNLI's statement is here:

https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2019/september/15/information-about-the-rnlis-international-work?utm_campaign=organic_2019&;utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=none&sf219430421=1

In Particular there's this part:

"We greatly value our supporters and have not misled them. The RNLI's international work has been reported in detail in our annual reports going back several years and information is also available from the RNLI website and regularly reported elsewhere."

I'm not saying I don't sympathise with the reaction that money donated to a UK charity shouldn't be spent abroad, but to respond by cutting off donations seems extremely irrational. The only consequence of doing that is to stretch the resources of the RNLI even further, endangering lives not only abroad but here too. How can that be worth "punishing" the RNLI for something that they've been doing openly for years?

[Old_Geezer]

It's not what theygiven contributions for. It's misuse of funds.

[Old_Geezer]

It's not what they're given contributions for. It's misuse of funds.

[Old_Geezer]

"Just because they aren't British lives shouldn't make them any less worth saving. "

True, but that's what foreign aid charities are for, not UK sea rescue charities.

[jim360]

But what if the RNLI has expertise that is worth sharing with overseas charities? It makes no sense to hoard that expertise to ourselves when there are lives at stake.