The government should at least double the amount charities can claim through the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme and allow gift aid on society lotteries, the Institute of Fundraising has said in its manifesto.

The Institute has also published accounts for the year to March 2014, showing it moved into surplus after five years of deficits.

Both documents were revealed during the institute’s annual National Convention, held in London earlier this week.

Review of corporate gift aid and GASDS

The Institute manifesto, If you don’t ask, you don’t get, calls for a review of corporate gift aid to see if more would be raised if charities, rather than corporates, received the money.

It also calls for reform of the small donations rules, which allow charities to claim a gift aid-like relief on small cash donations, even if they are not accompanied by the normal paperwork.

The manifesto says the amount charities can calim under the small donations scheme should “at least double” to  £2,5000 of relief on £10,000 of donations.

It also calls for gift aid on society lotteries – those were at least 20 per cent of the money raised goes to a good cause – and for a loosening of the law to make them easier to run.

The manifesto urges the government to take steps to encourage legacy giving and to encourage site management agreements to govern public fundraising with every local authority.

Annual report shows £50,000 surplus

Its annual report, revealed in the AGM at the convention, showed it had income of £4.68m and outgoing resources of £4.63m, resulting in a £50,000 profit.

The institute now has free reserves of around £530,000, in line with its target, after running them down over a number of years.

Peter Lewis, chief executive of the Institute, said: “Thirty years on from our foundation we are now the largest individual representative body in the voluntary sector, with over 5,600 individual members and 420 organisational members. Yet although we are much bigger, our vision remains the same – excellent fundraising for a better world.”

Four new trustees

The institute also announced four new trustees at the AGM - Danielle Atkinson, head of public fundraising at Breast Cancer Campaign, Emily Drayson, a freelance fundraising researcher, David Eder, a business consultant specializing in CRM systems for charities, and Tania Steele, director of fundraising at Save the Children.

Richard Taylor, executive director of fundraising and marketing at Cancer Research UK, was confirmed as the chair, and Stephen George, a freelance fundraising consultant, remains as vice-chair.

Liz Tait, director of fundraising at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, has replaced Liz Monks, former director of fundraising at the Alzheimer’s Society and chief executive of Friends and Neighbours, as chair of the National Convention, with primary responsibility for organising future national conferences.

Chartered status and more conferences

The Institute also confirmed that it has gone through the initial steps of applying for chartered status, and hopes to succeed in an application to the privy council – a royal advisory body which grants chartered status - in the next four years.

The Institute said it hopes chartered status will help create professional training, allow the profession to be taken more seriously, and will give fundraisers the chance to achieve chartered status themselves, gimore standing

The Institute is also seeking to extend its conference programme, and plans to run at least ten conferences a year across the UK