THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION

Registered charity 209603 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as LIFEBOATS, RNLI, ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM SHIPWRECK, ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM SHIPWRECK · also registered in Scotland as SC037736 (OSCR)

To save lives, promote safety and rescue service efficiency, and provide relief from disaster at sea and on inland and flood waters; to advance the education of the public in matters relating to sea, inland and flood water safety, and in the history and heritage of the Institution; to relieve/assist those who have been involved in saving lives at sea and on inland and flood waters in any capacity.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity's financial position is stable, with total net income increasing by 15% to £234.0M and consolidated net assets rising to £867.6M. Free reserves stood at £149.8M, representing 8.7 months of charitable expenditure, which is within the Trustees' policy target of 4–10 months. The Trustees are satisfied that the charity has sufficient resources to continue operating for at least 12 months from the date of signing.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by BDO LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Employees paid over £60,000: 138 (FY2024) → 125 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Corporate structure

• Trading subsidiary: CLAYTON ENGINEERING LIMITED Companies House 01274923
• Trading subsidiary: RNLI COLLEGE LIMITED Companies House 07705470
• Registered company of the charity Companies House RC000503

Public-sector contracts awarded

From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.

UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)

• OptiMar —

Property (HM Land Registry)

287 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (96 freehold); recorded price paid £4.1m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Trustpilot: RNLI scores 2.0/5 from 207 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~7.0 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 2.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 18.4% of total income — above the median for charities its size (2.9%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (21/07/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (30/03/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (27/03/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (23/03/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (02/03/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (01/10/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Janet Legrandchair · trustee of 2 other charities
• Breno Gentil
• David Miles Smith · trustee of 1 other charity
• Denis Woulfe OBE
• Dr John James Killeen
• Dr Philip Goodwin
• Fiona Catherine Fell
• Jamshaid Islam · trustee of 1 other charity
• Janet Ann Pamment
• Joanna Danton
• Mark Gregory Wordsworth · trustee of 1 other charity
• Paddy McLaughlin
• Simon Christopher Bowen

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Bangladesh · Guernsey · Ireland · Isle Of Man · Jersey · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Tanzania · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE ROYAL LIFE SAVING SOCIETY - U.K..

• THE ROYAL LIFE SAVING SOCIETY - U.K. income £6.2m
• HAMBLE LIFEBOAT LIMITED income £126k
• INTERNATIONAL MARITIME RESCUE FEDERATION income £388k
• BRANKSOME CHINE SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB income £131k
• RNLI LIFESAVING ENDOWMENT income £346k
• PETT LEVEL INDEPENDENT RESCUE BOAT ASSN. income £159k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.