14
High and low-level aims
Categorising aims as either high-level or low-level reflects
their scope and ambition and relates directly to the feasibility
of the objective. A high-level aim is one in which the charity's
vision and broad public benefit was essentially the desired
outcome. Low-level aims furthered a targeted purpose, or
component, within the greater whole.
Definition of aims:
High-level aims are characterised by their broad scope and
ambition. They often reflect a charity's founding vision and
their core public benefit.
Low-level aims are targeted and less ambitious or challenging.
They are often project-specific and contribute towards the
charity's purpose in less expansive, but direct ways.
High-level aims made up around 14 per cent of all aims
examined. The number of charities choosing to set highlevel
aims, however, was much higher than the total number
of the aims suggest. With nearly half of all charities setting
at least one high-level aim within the five-year period.
Those that set high-level aims did so at an average ratio
of approximately one for every three aims set over five
years. This suggests almost half of the charities examined
were looking to balance targeted, strategic aims with their
broader visions for the charity.
There were 14 organisations that set both high-level and
low-level objectives over the period. But there was not a
connection between those who set high-level aims and
those with a higher-than-average achievement rate. In
short, more ambitious aims were not necessarily less
measurable or achievable.
Scope of aims by income
and area of activity
There was a correlation between the number of aims and
average aims per year based upon income size. This was
also evident in the number of high-level aims that were set.
The largest organisations by income size had a percentage
of high-level aims nearly four times greater than the smaller
income charities.
Medical, health and sickness charities were far more likely
to set aims that were broad in scope and related directly
to their charitable vision. The percentage of their aims
that were high-level were nearly a quarter of all those set
within their activity segment. These objectives are also
overwhelmingly measurable, which indicates an ability
in this area to connect ambitious aims to demonstrable
outputs, outcomes and impacts.
The only segment in the sample to set no high-level aims
throughout the period were those operating in education
and training. Most aims in this sector were measurable, and
lower-level in scope.
Low-level aim
"Our active ageing programmes focus on improving
older people's mental and physical wellbeing, with
the aim of increasing the time people remain healthy
and delaying the need for more intensive health and
social care services."
Aim: "Through our partners, promote and enable over
3,700 older people to access active age activities."
High-level aim
"Having enough money is a concern for people
anywhere in the world. In the UK there are still 1.6
million pensioners living in poverty and of these
900,000 are in severe poverty. Globally, only a fifth
of the population have a pension. Around 340 million
older people are living without any secure income."
Aim: "We want to see a world where everyone in
later life has enough money."