There is an organisation in the UK which was created and granted crown support in the early part of the twentieth century, having been assembled from the assets of precursor organisations which did similar work. Since the early 90s, changes in the field in which it operates have caused it to undergo massive downsizing, to the dismay of many of its longest-serving and retired personnel. It is funded by direct taxation. It is one of very few UK organisations which regularly sends a very small proportion of its people in harm's way, most of whom do it because they have some sort of romantic feelings towards the job, but also because they feel like it's worth doing and needs to be done by somebody.
I'm talking about the BBC, of course (who did you think I was talking about?) and yes they do have some funny ideas about some things. A lot of it is due to their relative venerability, which has given them lots of strange, archaic beliefs and traditions, many of which make very little practical sense (yes, I'm still talking about the BBC), leading to some rather strange agendas at play.
Disclaimer: I hardly ever work for them, largely due to above.