Mal... They follow the UK funding model for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution which is entirely paid for by charitable donations and largely staffed by volunteers. If you want to see some amazing rescues they have performed, watch the BBC series 'Saving Lives at Sea'. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer if you use a VPN but I believe it is also available on Amazon/Discovery. There are 8 seasons in total although they may not all be available. American viewers may need to put subtitles on as some of the volunteers have accents that may be difficult to understand