Members of the Charities Consortium IT Directors Group (CCITDG) have voted against a proposal to lower the organisational income required for membership from £25m to £10m, but have not ruled out making the change in future.

The issue was debated at the Group’s quarterly members’ meeting in December last year, but those present decided it did not have the administrative capacity to take on a large influx of new members.

Members decided that as just half of the 206 charities with income over £25m are currently enrolled as members, there is still significant scope to increase membership further without extending the eligibility criteria.

Although some charities below the £25m mark can be eligible depending on the complexity of their technology, reducing the threshold to all those with £10m or more income would allow a further 500 charities to join.

Speaking to Civil Society IT, Jane Deal, who is head of information and knowledge systems at the RNIB and communications officer for the CCitDG, said the Group would “continue to look positively” at how it could extend its services.

“CCITDG is a group that is run by its members for its members and so does not have dedicated staff to handle significant levels of administration in the same way as other similar consortia.

“In the longer term, CCITDG would hope to move towards a lower membership income threshold but we recognise that, unless we first develop our capability to operate at such an increased level, we risk becoming a poor servant of our members.”