In these difficult economic times, some traditional ways of giving have seen a decline. We have, however, seen a very welcome 20% year-on-year growth in online donations.

Donating to charities online is becoming more popular, and the RNLI had a nice surprise on 26 September when one generous supporter visited rnli.org.uk and gave £15,000.

Also on our website, you can read all the regional editions of Compass at rnli.org. uk/compass – great if, say, you live in London but are more interested in lifeboat stations in Wales.