RNLI supporters urged to affirm links to charity

From January 1, the RNLI will be the first major charity to move to a new approach for communicating with its supporters – unless they give their express permission to receive letters, emails or phone calls, the RNLI will not able to contact them again.

The charity will then ‘close the doors’ on its current supporter database, only contacting those who have expressly given permission to be contacted.

Made in October 2015, the decision to stop communicating directly with supporters without permission applies to all forms of communication, not just fundraising appeals, and to all methods of contacting supporters.

The RNLI will be the first major charity to operate in this way.

A spokesperson for the charity said, “The RNLI has the greatest respect for supporters, from volunteer lifeboat crews and community fundraisers, to the public who respond to appeals.

“When stories appeared in the national media highlighting issues around the ways in which charities contact supporters, the RNLI decided to strengthen its already strict procedures and pledged only to contact people who wish to hear from the lifesaving charity.”

Steve Warne, Coxswain at Hastings RNLI Lifeboat Station, said, “I’d urge all those who value what we do to take a moment to “tick the box” online at www.rnli.org/savelives

“So far more than 400,000 people have reaffirmed their support by doing this, which is fantastic.”

Members of the public are asked to ‘opt-in’ and give their permission to be contacted by visiting www.rnli.org/savelives or contacting the RNLI’s Supporter Care team on Tel: 0300 300 9918.’