A very good article, well written and not too many typos ;-) Having helped raise some money for Mountain Rescue, I think the comparison with the RNLI is very telling. Basically, like it or not, MR needs to start working (and behaving) as a proper national voluntary organisation rather than a disparate collection of local teams. National fund-raising for MR is a sensible and practical way forward regardless of whether MR receives any public money. Once teams accept the fully (which they don't seem to currently) then it would be a far easier to try and convince all of us (walkers, climbers and mountaineers) that we should all make a fixed annual donations as many thousands of sailors do to the RNLI. An option for all BMC members (and even Ramblers Association members) to have an extra 10 pounds each added to their annual membership fee as an MR donation would be a superb idea, but currently unworkable as MR does not have a top-down funding structure. Equally, if MR were better organised nationally, they would be in a better position to negotiate for direct fees/grants/support from the Police (or local/regional/national government) for their services. At the same time, one of the great strengths of MR is that it doesn't have any 'staff', everyone is a volunteer unlike many big charities that now have highly paid chief executives and professional fund-raisers. Any changes need to be balanced against maintaining this great volunteer culture.