The National Trust's income increased by £33.8m last year, with members contributing £10.5m more than the previous year, according to its annual report for the year ending February 2015. 

Membership income reached £160m for the first time in the trust's history as it ended the year with 4.2 million members - a net gain of 140,000 on the previous year. Its member retention rate was 85 per cent, roughly the same as the year before.  

Its total income for the year stood at £494m in the year ending 28 February 2015 – up from £460m the previous year. Only six charities on the Charity Commission's register have an income in excess of £500m.

The charity saw income from catering activities provide an additional £7.1m, reaching £58.5m. Some £73.2m was earned from charitable trading activities – a £7.3m growth from the previous year.

Legacy income was £50.5m this year, up from £45.9m last year. And it benefited from a growth in rental income of £2.4m over the year. Admission fees to National Trust properties provided a boost of £2.2m at £24.5m.

The report’s introduction described the past year as “a year of excellent performance”.

“We met our targets and continued our programme of reducing our conservation backlog,” it said.

The charity also spent almost £32m more than it did last year – with an additional £16m going towards property operating costs – with just under £259 spent this year - and an additional £9.3m spent on ‘property projects’ at just short of £72m.

In March, the charity launched a ten-year commitment to spend £1bn on improving its properties.

A statement from National Trust chair Timothy Parker and director-general Dame Helen in the report’s introduction said the charity “continued its programme of major investment in internal systems designed to bring processes into the twenty-first century”.

It is currently in the middle £30m digital transformation programme.

The Trust spent a total of £194.5m on staff costs, including social security costs and pension contributions. The highest earner received between £220,000 and £229,000. 

• The National Trust's chief information officer, Sarah Flannigan, will be speaking about the charity's digital transformation project at the Charity Technology Conference in November. Full programme and booking details here.