What twitter is getting wrong about RNLI

You may have seen the news earlier this week that some people on twitter are upset with Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) for doing international work. Read on to find out why SoGive disagrees with most of the negative twitter commentary, but still doesn't grant RNLI top recommended status.

What's the furore about?

The RNLI operates lifeboat stations around the UK coastline and lifeguard stations on our beaches - funded by charitable donations.

But after finding that some of the cash they give is spent abroad, a number of people have stopped their giving.

Among the projects the RNLI helps fund abroad are one helping women swim safely in Zanzibar and lifeguards in Bangladesh where 40 children a day die from drowning.

Some of the quotes on twitter are:

• "As I drown, I shall be comforted money that could have saved my live went to a more deserving cause- supplying burkinis to Africa. Aren't we lucky to have such ideologically correct people in control?”
• “Their own stupidity will undoubtably be their undoing and cause loss of life when rescues can’t be made?”

Why does SoGive find the outrage bizarre?

SoGive has been following RNLI’s work for years, and we find the outrage bizarre for several reasons:

1. The international work has been clearly indicated in the accounts for as long as we have been studying their work
2. The international work is a very small element of RNLI's work
3. The international work is probably the most worthy element of their work, because work in the developing world normally has better bang for your buck, although we don't have enough information to say this for sure
4. If donors want to fund the RNLI so that their own life can be saved, a charity donation is probably a bad way to achieve it. Investments in healthy living (e.g. a gym membership, a personal trainer, a subscription to some healthy food) are likely to be much better

Why don't we grant RNLI top recommended status?

So far, this might sound like an encouragement to support RNLI. But actually RNLI is not one of SoGive's top-recommended charities. Are you interested to know why? Take a look at the RNLI page on SoGive, and click on the Extra Info tab to find out more: https://app.sogive.org/#charity?charityId=the-royal-national-lifeboat-institution