Do you support the RNLI?

[glashen]

Please, dont forget that top heavy management and extremely well paid directors is not restricted to just the RNLI, ALL charities are guilty of this, all charities have big posh offices and expense lifestyles for their CEO and board.

I have been discussing the management costs in the other thread so won't repeat myself but the total salaries over £60K amount to 2.14% of the RNLIs total expenditure. I'm wondering how that compares with other organsations.

Of course to be fair you would also have to have some measure of the quality of that management. Interesting though because if for instance we applied the same factor to my own sailing club we would have £3300 to employ a top flight professional team with!

 

[Babylon]

Please, dont forget that top heavy management and extremely well paid directors is not restricted to just the RNLI, ALL charities are guilty of this, all charities have big posh offices and expense lifestyles for their CEO and board.

I once worked as an administrator for a local MIND charity. The director had a cramped office the size of a small single bedroom, the secretary and I shared another small room filled with second-hand office equipment and a third desk for occasional helpers (service recipients, ie people with mental health difficulties who could nevertheless make a contribution of sorts of their time), and the dozen actual care workers shared a room the size of a large lounge.

Charities come in all sizes and guises. This doesn't mean that large national charities don't need the facilities and the funds to support a quality management team, but it is a question of degree.

Anyway, I started this rough but simple POLL because I wished to gather just what proportion of UK etc sailors regularly donated to the RNLI. On current figures (and I believe the number of responses so far exceed the minimum needed to be statistically significant), its clear that four out of five of us do so.

You may draw from that your own conclusions.

 

[Quandary]

I have to confess that while we buy their Christmas cards and put money in the boxes at any stations we visit when out, our managed donations these days go to help hungry people.
When we were in business we had a large format plan copier; local builders, draughtsmen etc used to come in every day for prints of their plans. To keep it simple we asked the RNLI for a collecting box and put all thes small sums usually between a couple of quid and a tenner in the box, it soon filled and we asked the local secretary to take it away and leave us a new one, it sometimes took several calls and a few months before someone would turn up and then make fairly clear that we were just as bloody nuisance because the box needed frequent emptying as it was mainly notes. We asked to be told how much we had collected each time but they could not be bothered. This went on for years but it was clear our few hundred quid was just buttons to them.
One of the girls in the office nominated her charity, Trocaire, they sent someone in to see us, nominated someone to keep in touch, told us how much was collected each time and how they intended to spend it, altogether a nice warm experience.
I think maybe RNLI is like RSPB, their money comes too easy.

 

[Sans Bateau]

glashen, 2.14% is diddly squat.

Babylon, Local, is the key word there, I suspect the knobs in London were a little better furnished.

Yes the figures from your poll are interesting, I wonder if those who dont put their hand in their pocket for the RNLI would say, in the event of needing their assistance, "It's OK lads, I'm going down with the boat, I dont agree with paying charities (or whatever other reason they dont pay) so I'm happy to go....glug glug glug...."

 

[Babylon]

Babylon, Local, is the key word there, I suspect the knobs in London were a little better furnished.

Funny thing is the local office WAS in London! However, it would be interesting to compare the quality of offices, executive pay and the degree of steamlining or heaviness of the management structures of different national charities to those of the RNLI.

Yes the figures from your poll are interesting, I wonder if those who dont put their hand in their pocket for the RNLI would say, in the event of needing their assistance, "It's OK lads, I'm going down with the boat, I dont agree with paying charities (or whatever other reason they dont pay) so I'm happy to go....glug glug glug...."

I've always worked on the assumption that 20% of people are completely honest, altruistic and charitable, 60% reasonably so but can be swayed by circumstances and the power of persuasion, and the remaining 20% pretty much completely self-interested and will only 'contribute' to society etc as much as they have to by law or force. A rough guide perhaps - and an even rougher way of expressing it - but maybe the poll results bear this out?

It depends however on how much of a 'stake' and 'sense of community' one has with the broader culture. And it also depends on other, subtler factors - such as the ones the two current threads on the subject of the RNLI have raised.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Just another thought, some have compared the amount of money flowing in the offices at Poole, compared to the volunteer status of the crew, suggesting people support the principal of the RNLI in its volunteer form but resent the cash in H.O.

It should always be remembered that none of the crew go without the latest technology and safety gear to assist them in their role. We should all continue to support the RNLI, because to not will ultimately let down those volunteers who will still go to sea in any conditions to save lives irrespective of equipment available.

 

[reginaldon]

A guiding rule of British Industry today - Nothing too good for those in the higher eschelons including massive bonuses, but the coal face workers get v. little and the first to go, when 'economies' are made. really why we're going down the pan.

yes certainly Fred Drift!

Rant over! I feel better!

 

[sighmoon]

Yes the figures from your poll are interesting, I wonder if those who dont put their hand in their pocket for the RNLI would say, in the event of needing their assistance, "It's OK lads, I'm going down with the boat, I dont agree with paying charities (or whatever other reason they dont pay) so I'm happy to go....glug glug glug...."

I wonder how many 'members' (< persuasive marketing term) feel that those who don't subscribe ought not get a response from the RNLI if they were in trouble?

 

[Bru]

I wonder how many 'members' (< persuasive marketing term) feel that those who don't subscribe ought not get a response from the RNLI if they were in trouble?

None i hope

Certainly, part of the motivation behind becoming a 'member' it's to support an organisation whose services (gods forbid) i may one day calk upon to save the day if it all goes horribly wrong but not to the exclusion of others who need help

 

[DaveS]

I once worked as an administrator for a local MIND charity. The director had a cramped office the size of a small single bedroom, the secretary and I shared another small room filled with second-hand office equipment and a third desk for occasional helpers (service recipients, ie people with mental health difficulties who could nevertheless make a contribution of sorts of their time), and the dozen actual care workers shared a room the size of a large lounge.

Charities come in all sizes and guises. This doesn't mean that large national charities don't need the facilities and the funds to support a quality management team, but it is a question of degree.

Anyway, I started this rough but simple POLL because I wished to gather just what proportion of UK etc sailors regularly donated to the RNLI. On current figures (and I believe the number of responses so far exceed the minimum needed to be statistically significant), its clear that four out of five of us do so.

You may draw from that your own conclusions.

Some years ago I saw an advert for the post of chief executive of a donkey sanctuary. The salary was over £100,000. Now I can understand that for an organisation as big and complex as the RNLI the top job is going to be difficult and will need to be reasonably rewarded (not saying whether or not the current rate is reasonable), but a donkey sanctuary FFS?

 

[Quandary]

Some years ago I saw an advert for the post of chief executive of a donkey sanctuary. The salary was over £100,000. Now I can understand that for an organisation as big and complex as the RNLI the top job is going to be difficult and will need to be reasonably rewarded (not saying whether or not the current rate is reasonable), but a donkey sanctuary FFS?

I suspect that in that case they knew who they were going to appoint but as a charity had to go through a recruiting charade.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Some years ago I saw an advert for the post of chief executive of a donkey sanctuary. The salary was over £100,000. Now I can understand that for an organisation as big and complex as the RNLI the top job is going to be difficult and will need to be reasonably rewarded (not saying whether or not the current rate is reasonable), but a donkey sanctuary FFS?

Yeh, actually I applied for that job, didnt get it. Bloke who did was a complete ass!