LISW27 Accredited Charities
London International Shipping Week 2027 is proud to work alongside a distinguished group of accredited charities whose work makes an important contribution to the maritime community
Our accredited charities support seafarers, their families and communities around the world, while also championing welfare, safety, rescue, education and opportunity across the wider maritime sector.
Throughout LISW27, we will be working with these organisations to help raise awareness of the vital work they undertake and to provide them with opportunities to engage with the thousands of maritime professionals taking part in the week.
We encourage everyone attending LISW27 to look out for our accredited charities, learn more about their work and support them wherever, and however, they can.
LISW27 is delighted to recognise the contribution these organisations make to the maritime industry and looks forward to supporting their work throughout London International Shipping Week 2027.
Should any additional maritime charities wish to get involved, please contact sean@lisw.com
Merchant Navy Welfare Board
Based in Southampton, the MNWB, commonly referred to as the Board, is the umbrella charity for the UK Merchant Navy & Fishing Fleets. The Board has 47 maritime charity member organisations who provide a plethora of services that support the welfare of seafarers and their dependants. The Board does not actively fundraise but uses the income on its investments to help charities improve the lives of seafarers, fishers and their dependants irrespective of nationality, religion or ethnic background.
https://www.mnwb.org/
The Mission to Seafarers
The Mission to Seafarers is here to support the men and women working at sea when they need us most. To compensate for the lack of facilities available, all of our Seafarers Centres, spread across 50 countries, aim to provide Seafarers with access to WiFi Internet and SIM cards; a comfortable place to rest and relax; the chance to get food and toiletries; transport to shops and local amenities. And it’s not just practical support the Mission offers. We know that seafarers need emotional and frequently spiritual support too.
That’s why we have a large network of ordained Port Chaplains who come on board ships, giving seafarers a listening ear and offering prayer, if needed. They can also connect seafarers to other organisations, or speak to them on their behalf.
https://www.missiontoseafarers.org/
Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea.
Powered primarily by kind donations, our search and rescue service has been saving lives for over 200 years. We are a charity founded upon and driven by our values of selflessness, courage, dependability and trustworthiness, with volunteers at our heart.
Values shared by generations of supporters like you who have powered our lifesaving work through your kindness and generosity for over 200 years. The vast majority of RNLI people are volunteers - ordinary people doing extraordinary things - supported by expert staff, all working together to help communities at home and abroad save lives.
https://rnli.org/
Mercy Ships
Mercy Ships is a unique international health charity delivering free, life-changing surgery and healthcare across sub-Saharan Africa from the world’s largest civilian hospital ships. Powered by the maritime industry and a global community of supporters, our ships transform lives while strengthening local healthcare systems through training and partnership. Together, we are not only changing individual futures but helping build lasting healthcare capacity for generations to come.
International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF)
The International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) is the international non‑governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to strengthening and improving maritime search and rescue (SAR) capability across the globe. Founded in 1924, the IMRF brings together more than 160 member organisations from over 50 countries, uniting SAR providers, government agencies, industry partners, and frontline responders under one shared vision: zero lives lost on the world’s waters.
https://www.international-maritime-rescue.org/
Sailors’ Society
Sailors’ Society works with the global maritime industry to provide practical, emotional and spiritual welfare support 24/7 to today’s 1.9 million maritime workforce, through a global helpline, a Crisis Response Network, award-winning Wellness at Sea training, emergency grants and popular Peer-to-Peer Support Groups.
Our unique Circle of Care begins at cadetship, providing support at every stage of their career, including training Wellness Officers onboard vessels through the revolutionary Sea Mate programme.
For more than 200 years, Sailors’ Society has been transforming the lives of seafarers and their families across the globe, giving them the best opportunity to enjoy a fulfilling - and productive - career at sea.
https://sailors-society.org/
The Fishermen’s Mission
Putting fishermen first.
For almost 150 years, we have stood beside fishing communities across the country. We offer practical help, community, and faith-rooted care when it’s needed most.
We see a fishing industry where everyone feels supported, valued, and safe, no matter the size of their boat or the waters they work in.
https://www.fishermensmission.org.uk/
Brun Bear Foundation
The Brun Bear Foundation was founded by Riviera Maritime Media’s Edwin Lampert and is deeply embedded in the maritime community. Key maritime contributions include backing the OSCAR Campaign (Ocean and Shipping Community Advancing Children’s Health and Research) at Great Ormond Street Hospital, funding the MarineBEAR Award for marine conservation technology projects, and publishing the industry cookbook Mealtimes With My Maritime Friends.
Working with OSM Thome's OSM-AD Foundation The Brun Bear Foundation helped rebuild Macolabo Elementary School after Super Typhoon Fung-wong. The upgraded facility was permanently named The Brun Bear Foundation Center for Learning.
Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation
Today’s disadvantaged teenagers face multiple challenges, from AI to social media, from family poverty to negative community influences.
The Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation opens a window for them into what shipping and maritime industries can offer in skills, training and global career opportunities: they learn to sail, meet cadets, get the basics of design, navigation, engineering and what maritime tech or finance can do.
Help us open the window wider because we cannot afford to leave any of our young people behind, for their sake, and for the sake of the shipping and maritime industries on which the world depends.
www.sirthomasliptonfoundation.org
Stella Maris
Stella Maris is the world’s largest ship-visiting charity looking after seafarers around the globe. Over 1,000 Chaplains and volunteers operating in 350 ports across 60 countries make up to 70,000 ship visits each year to support the welfare and wellbeing of seafarers.
Stella Maris is an independent, trusted friend in a foreign port for tens of thousands of seafarers. It provides a very welcome listening ear and a range of practical assistance including warm clothing, port transportation, gifts at Christmas, faith services, top-up cards and WiFi. It is also there at times of crisis following serious onboard incidents - abandonment, kidnapping, piracy, accidents, hospitalisation, deaths and suicides.
https://stellamaris.org.uk/
Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society
Since 1839, the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society has provided financial assistance to fishermen and mariners and their dependants who have suffered hardship, misfortune or poverty, as a result of an accident, illness, disability, unemployment or retirement. As a maritime charity, our goal is to make a tangible difference to people’s lives when it’s needed most. In the last year, we made regular and one-off grants in over 1,700 cases amounting to £1.3 million; handled 700 new applications for assistance; took on 127 new regular beneficiaries. The people we help are mainly retired or permanently disabled seafarers and their widows/partners.
https://shipwreckedmariners.org.uk/
Seafarers Hospital Society
Seafarers Hospital Society is one of the oldest maritime charities and is best known for Dreadnought, a hospital ship established in 1821 to provide medical care for seafarers. In 1870 it ‘came ashore’ at the former Greenwich Hospital Infirmary, gaining a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in understanding diseases including cholera, typhoid and scurvy, which led to the founding of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
https://seahospital.org.uk/
International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN)
The International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) is an international not-for-profit maritime organisation which works to ensure that seafarers and their families have the support and resources they need to respond to the challenges of life at sea. ISWAN is there for all seafarers and their families around the world, whatever they are facing, providing free helpline services (including SeafarerHelp and YachtCrewHelp), educational resources, relief funds and humanitarian support. ISWAN also works to drive seafarer-centred change within the maritime sector, using data insights from its helplines to inform the development of new projects and services.
https://www.iswan.org.uk/
Merchant Navy Association
The Merchant Navy Association (MNA) was “launched” in 1989 and established a unique opportunity for seafarers to get together to form a countrywide consensus on a range of issues and ideas.
The MNA has set a “steady course”, sometimes through troubled waters, but is now a registered charity with a good measure of success but with much more to achieve.
https://www.mna.org.uk/