The Institute of Fundraising is calling for the tax relief cap to apply to donations by higher rate taxpayers only when the donor claims the relief for themselves.

The Institute is seeking a meeting with government as part of the consultation on the cap, at which it will put forward the proposal.

Three-quarters of members voted in favour of the organisation taking on the stance that donors should be exempt from the tax relief cap if they allow the charity itself to claim the tax benefit. The idea was first aired by the British Red Cross and its director of fundraising Mark Astarita, also chair of the Institute. Astarita put the idea to the Institute board which then polled members early last week.

Peter Lewis, chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising, reiterated that the organisation remains part of the ‘Give it back, George’ campaign which calls on government to remove the cap on tax relief on charitable donations.

“However we believe the government should consider another approach,” said Lewis.

The Institute argues that this option would mean that all taxpayers are treated equally, as lower rate tax payers do not receive any rebate on their donations, and would eliminate the possibility of tax avoidance because the relief would go to UK charities, rather than to the donor at all. The government has previously claimed that some donors were using European charities to park dodgy donations to avoid tax.

Some 669 of the Institute’s 5,200 members responded to the Institute’s survey.