What difference did the RNLI make in 2014? At our AGM and Annual Presentation of Awards on 21 May, supporters and volunteers gathered to find out. By 4.30pm, at the Barbican, London, hands were aching from applause, hearts were full of appreciation, and there were even a few tears …

It was a day that ended with an emotional finale, but it began with the business end of the RNLI: the AGM. Chairman Charles Hunter Pease, flanked by Chief Executive Paul Boissier and Deputy Chairman Sir Andrew Cubie, reported on a successful year. A year in which our generous supporters and fundraisers generously and selflessly gave the charity the financial platform it needs to save more lives (see Money Matters, right), and a year in which our lifesavers made sure 460 people lived on.

‘However, there’s another statistic that we pay just as much attention to: the number of people we could not save,’ said Charles. ‘Our coastal safety department charts every loss of life around our coasts. It records who those people were, where they were, and what they were doing, when they lost their lives. In the United Kingdom alone there are around 170 of them every year.’

Charles added that tackling this problem was a key focus for the RNLI, which aims to halve coastal drowning by 2024. ‘We need to do a great deal of prevention work to achieve this. But we must also train and equip our lifesavers to the same high standards we have all come to expect. By 2019, we aim to complete our 25 knot all-weather lifeboat fleet and expand our lifeguard service to provide comprehensive coverage, all of which will help save more lives at sea,’ he explained. The audience heard that 2014 took the charity a step closer to its targets. There were 41 locations identified to work on community lifesaving plans (see page 18), our Respect the Water campaign reached 10.1M adult men, six new all-weather lifeboats went operational and the lifeguard service was expanded to more beaches (see News, page 4).

MONEY MATTERS

COST
• It cost £149.6M to run the RNLI in 2014 – that’s around £410,000 per day
• A further £64.7M was spent on buildings (eg lifeboat stations, All-weather Lifeboat Centre) and equipment (eg lifeboats, launch and IT) – our biggest year ever
• 10% of costs are support costs fundamental to the running of the RNLI (eg IT systems, HR, finance and general administration)

INCOME
• The RNLI raised £182M
• 62% (£112.9M) of our income came from legacies
• £58M was raised through donations – a 12% increase on 2013
• £11.1M was raised through trading, (eg RNLI shops and lotteries, lifeguard income and investments)

FINANCIAL HEALTH
• We are in a sound financial position
• The Trustees manage the RNLI’s financial health by monitoring the free reserves – the funds available to run the RNLI in case of a short-term setback. 2014 saw a £5M reduction in the free reserves level – leaving enough to run the RNLI for 10 months and within the Trustees’ policy range

To see our online Annual Report, visit: RNLI.org/RNLI2014