International aid charity Tearfund grew its income to £62.2m last year as a result of greater emphasis on contractual services, according to its latest set of accounts.

Overall income rose by £2.8m over the year, with contractual service income rising from £1.1m to £3.9m in the year ending 31 March 2015. The boost was thanks in part to a contract to deliver water, health and sanitation improvements in the Dominican Republic of Congo.

There were fewer disaster response appeals over the year, bringing total fundraised income down to £40.9m over the year. The figure was a £600,000 drop from the previous year but still £1.6m up on the charity’s planned target.

Supporters “responded generously” to appeals to assist with disasters in Syria, DRC and the Philippines, according to the report. But voluntary donations for appeals and emergencies still dropped to £5.4m - from £7.5m the previous year.

Tearfund chair Clive Mather said the charity was continuing a “trend” to increase non-appeal donations.

“Our underlying trend of non-appeal donations is up with income rising to £33.4m (2013/14: £32.2m),” he said.

The charity said it recruited more than 4,400 new regular givers over the year, thanks for a “fantastic response” at the Big Church Day Out, where more than 1,000 new regular givers were recruited, and the success of the No Child Taken campaign.

Some £18.2m was spend on 466 UK contracted staff, with the highest earner taking home a salary of between £80,000 and £90,000.