People
Relationships with people closer to the problem.
Ruth’s Journey
She came with an idea. The journey changed what became possible.
Ruth is a professional living in Canada. For years, she has felt drawn to improving the lives of vulnerable children. She has experience, skills and a genuine desire to contribute—and she already has an idea.
Perhaps she could establish an orphanage in Uganda.It feels meaningful. It feels tangible. It feels like a way to make a difference. However, Ruth does not yet know what she does not know.
Purpose gave Ruth a reason to begin.
Clarity and access would change where she went.
Ruth is an illustrative example created to show how a TOP journey could unfold. She is not a real TOP participant or case study.
Her starting pointA good intention.
A good intention.
An untested idea.
Ruth's desire to help is genuine, but meaningful contribution requires more than good intention.
Before deciding what to build, Ruth needs to understand herself, the problem, the context and what may already exist.
She begins with the TOP Purpose Check™.
The Purpose Check helps her reflect on her direction. Ruth begins to see that having an idea is not the same as having a clear pathway.
Her journey begins.
Start Your Journey — access the TOP Purpose Check™01 — Discover
Before asking what to build, Ruth asks where she can contribute.
Through the Purpose Check and deeper reflection, Ruth begins looking more closely at what she carries.
Her experience. Her strengths. Her values. Her resources.
Her question begins to change.
She arrived asking:“How can I start an orphanage?”
↓She begins asking:“Where could what I carry make a meaningful contribution?”
That is a different question. It creates room for Ruth's original idea to be tested rather than simply executed.
Find Your Starting Point — Take the TOP Purpose Check™02 — Develop
Purpose needs preparation.
Greater clarity also helps Ruth see what she does not yet know.
Working responsibly with vulnerable children in another country requires more than passion.
Ruth begins developing her understanding. She learns from credible sources and people with relevant experience.
The goal is not for Ruth to become an expert in everything. It is to become informed enough to ask better questions—and wise enough to recognize where she needs other people's expertise.
- Local context
- Safeguarding
- Programme design
- Governance
- Sustainable development
- Measuring impact
Clarity showed Ruth where she wanted to contribute.
Development helped her prepare to contribute well.
03 — Deploy
Then access changes the conversation.
Ruth can learn a great deal on her own.
But eventually she needs something information alone cannot provide:
Through relationships and the wider network around her, imagine Ruth is introduced to a credible local organization in Uganda already supporting vulnerable children and families.
Ruth tells them about her idea.
And then she does something important.
She listens.
- What is already happening
- What families and children actually need
- What interventions are working
- Where gaps remain
- What may unintentionally cause harm
- Where expertise, relationships or resources could genuinely help
Ruth is no longer simply asking“Who can help me build my idea?”She is asking“What is actually needed—and where could I be useful?”
Access opens more than doors
Knowledge
Expertise that challenges assumptions and strengthens decisions.
Opportunities
Real places where Ruth’s contribution could be useful.
Resources
Tools and practical support that can help responsible action move forward.
Capital
Where appropriate, relevant funding, grants, philanthropy or investment that could support viable work.
Ruth may not encounter all of these. TOP does not guarantee them. But access to the right people and perspectives can change what someone believes is possible.
Purpose is meeting opportunity.
The turning point
The idea changes.
Ruth arrived imagining an orphanage, but what if the people closest to the issue tell her that another orphanage is not what the community needs most?
Perhaps children are entering institutional care because families lack economic support.
Perhaps an existing organization is successfully helping children remain safely with families but needs resources to reach more communities.
Perhaps young people leaving care need education, employment and mentorship.
Perhaps the greatest opportunity is not creating something new at all.
Perhaps it is strengthening something that already works.
Ruth has a choice. She can protect her original idea, or she can protect the purpose behind it.
Ruth lets go of the solution without letting go of the purpose.
Her original purpose was never really:“Build an orphanage.”
It was:“Help vulnerable children have a better future.”
That distinction changes everything.
From “my idea” to “the contribution”Before After
How do I make my idea happen?
What needs to happen—and how can I contribute?
Access did not simply give Ruth a way to execute her idea. Access helped improve the idea.
That is one of the most important possibilities within the TOP Journey.
04 — Multiply
The contribution becomes bigger than Ruth.
Imagine Ruth ultimately chooses to support and strengthen an effective locally led initiative rather than establish something new.
Perhaps her professional expertise helps strengthen its operations. Perhaps one of her relationships creates an important introduction. Perhaps resources she helps mobilize allow an existing programme to reach more families. Perhaps she helps connect someone else with an opportunity.
The exact outcome could take many forms.
The important idea is this: Ruth's purpose has become useful.
One relationship can create another.
One opportunity can enable another.
One person's expertise can strengthen many others.
Someone who receives an opportunity today may become the person who creates one tomorrow.
The contribution may begin with Ruth.
The good does not have to end with her.
Ruth’s TOP Journey
- Discover
What could I contribute?
- Develop
What do I need to contribute well?
- Deploy
Where can what I carry meet a real need or opportunity?
- Multiply
How can the resulting good extend beyond me?
What really changed?Ruth's purpose did not fundamentally change.
That is purposeful progress.
Ruth's purpose did not fundamentally change.
Her understanding did.
She became clearer about what she wanted to contribute. She developed the knowledge needed to approach the issue more responsibly. She gained access to perspectives she could not have reached alone.
She listened to people closer to the problem. She allowed the need to shape the solution. And her original idea evolved into a potentially more useful contribution.
Not simply doing more. Not simply following an idea because it was ours. But becoming clearer, better equipped and better connected so that what we carry can become genuinely useful.
Your journey will not look like Ruth’sYour contribution may happen across the world.
Your contribution may happen across the world.
Or across the street.
Build something.Lead something.Fund something.Mentor someone.Serve on a board.Contribute expertise.Open a door.Strengthen an organization.Solve a problem.
Or you may not yet know what your contribution could look like.
You do not need to determine whether you are at Discover, Develop, Deploy or Multiply. You do not need to have the entire journey figured out.
Start by understanding where you are.What could your purpose make possible?
The TOP Purpose Check™ helps you reflect on where you are, what you have and where you need to go. Your results can help identify what may need attention next.
Take the TOP Purpose Check™ Explore the TOP Purpose Inventory™Ruth's Journey is an illustrative scenario designed to demonstrate how the TOP Journey could work. Ruth, the organizations, connections, funding opportunities and outcomes described are hypothetical and are not representations of actual TOP participants, partners, funding arrangements or guaranteed outcomes.