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Registered charity · Poole

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a registered charity (number 209603) based in Poole, governed by 13 trustees and chaired by Janet Legrand since 2023. Latest income £287m (2025). Source: Charity Commission register, updated 18th October 2026.

Also known as Lifeboats, Rnli (Charity Commission)

  • 13 trustees
  • Income £287m (2025)
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Official record Charity Commission · updated 18th October 2026 · Sources · Free, no card or password

Network

The large node is The Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Red nodes are organisations, white nodes are people. Dashed links are historical or inferred. Click any node to explore.

Who leads it

Current trustees as listed by the Charity Commission, which does not publish previous trustees.

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People on this board also govern

Similar charities are matched by type of organisation or purpose and listed by latest income; shared trustees are formal board links. Neither is proof the organisations work together.

About

What it does
General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives, Arts/culture/heritage/science
Where
Throughout England And Wales, Bangladesh, Ireland, Tanzania and more
Website
www.rnli.org (opens in a new tab)
Linked company
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Registered
1963

Income and spending

  • YearIncomeSpending
  • 2025£287m£258m
  • 2024£251m£251m
  • 2023£250m£243m
Earlier years
  • 2022£232m£233m
  • 2021£220m£200m

Income trend, 2021 to 2025.

Income source mix, 2025: Government contracts 2% · Government grants under 1%. From the charity's annual return.

Charitable objects

3. THE OBJECT OF THE INSTITUTION ("THE OBJECT") SHALL BE TO SAVE LIVES AT SEA AND ON INLAND AND FLOOD WATERS. IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECT, THE POWERS OF THE INSTITUTION SHALL WITHOUT LIMITATION INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:3.1 TO PROMOTE SAFETY AND PROVIDE RELIEF FROM DISASTER AT SEA AND ON INLAND AND FLOOD WATERS;3.2 TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN MATTERS RELATING TO SAFETY AT SEA AND ON INLAND AND FLOOD WATERS AND IN THE HISTORY AND HERITAGE OF THE INSTITUTION;3.3 TO PROMOTE THE EFFICIENCY OF RESCUE SERVICES AT SEA AND ON INLAND AND FLOOD WATERS; AND3.4 TO RELIEVE AND ASSIST THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN SAVING LIVES AT SEA AND ON INLAND AND FLOOD WATERS IN ANY CAPACITY AND WHO ARE IN NEED OF SUCH RELIEF OR ASSISTANCE BY REASON OF POVERTY, DISABILITY, INFIRMITY OR OTHERWISE, AND THE DEPENDENTS.

Grants received

104 grants · £2,472,112 total

360Giving data, published by funders. Coverage only includes funders who publish their grants to 360Giving, so these figures are a floor, not a complete picture.

Top funders

Most recent

Board analysis

Board DNA

How this board is put together, from Charity Commission trustee records and Companies House - deterministic, no AI.iBoard compositionCounted from the dated Charity Commission trustee register: the current board only, past trustees excluded.

13 trustees on the board

3.5y median 4y
average tenure
8y
longest tenure

Trustees past 6 years

7.6y
average years in governance

First-time vs portfolio trustees

First-time (9)

Portfolio (4)

3
company-linked trustees

Sector coverage iSector coverageThe charitable fields this board's trustees govern in elsewhere, by Charity Commission classification. Excludes this charity.

Education/training 13General Charitable Purposes 13The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives 12Religious Activities 1

Commercial experience iCommercial experienceThe industries this board's members are company directors in, by Companies House SIC code. Excludes this organisation's own company.

Professional services 8Manufacturing 4Arts and leisure 3

Succession forecast iSuccession forecastThe number of board seats likely to open in the next twelve months - summed across the board from each dated trustee’s tenure - and the profile worth recruiting next. From the filed record, deterministic.

🔒 Succession forecast is a Pro feature - the board seats likely to open in the next year and the ideal next trustee. Explore Pro →

Health of the organisation facts side by side - the conclusion is yours

Income v spending, filed accountsiIncome v spendingTotal gross income and expenditure from filed annual returns, Charity Commission, last 5 years.
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
incomespending£251.3m latest income · income exceeded spending in 2023 and 2024
ReservesiReserves12 x free reserves / annual expenditure, from the Part B annual return. The sector median is computed across all Part B filers in the same income band.

7.3 months of spending held in free reserves · median for charities its size: 3.5 months · was 5.7 in 2020

1859 from 2059 in 2020
EmployeesiEmployeesHeadcount as filed in Part B annual returns, per financial year. Shown exactly as filed; year-on-year figures may be filed on different bases, so a comparison is only shown when the filings are plausibly comparable.
2%
Income from governmentiIncome from governmentGovernment contracts plus government grants as a share of total gross income, latest Part A annual return.

Sources

Official record from the Charity Commission register for England and Wales. Governance Register calculates the connections.

Record details
Registered charity number
209603
Status
Registered
Governing document
ROYAL CHARTER GRANTED 24/04/1860AS AMENDED BY SUPPLEMENTAL CHARTER DATED 02/05/1932AS AMENDED BY SUPPLEMENTAL CHARTER DATED 24/04/1986AS AMENDED ON 11/02/1998AS AMENDED ON 16/07/2002AS AMENDED ON 01/11/2011
Companies House
Company number RC000503 · Active
Contact on the register
0300 300 9990 · company_secretary@rnli.org.uk
Edition
Register edition compiled 18th October 2026
Labels
Official record from the register · Calculated derived by Governance Register. Anything added by an organisation or person is labelled as provided by them.

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