Why Have a Road Map?
The process for becoming, say, a plumber or a teacher is fairly clear. What you need to know and how you might gain that knowledge has been well-mapped.
But if you are someone who wants to use your wealth and talents to benefit society, what guides your journey? In our experience, most donors don't have a clear sense of where they're going and what steps to take. Thus, we see beginners to the world of giving and civic action feeling overwhelmed and confused, and others at an intermediate stage lacking sufficient vision of what's next.
Luckly, there IS a specific, learn-able body of knowledge; there ARE predictable, sequential steps that can help you grow from novice to effective and experienced donor leader. On the 5 Stage of Development page is such a map, developed by Tracy Gary of Changemakers. It is a work in progress: one could certainly name the stages differently, suggest other steps, or vary the order. But it IS a road map based on decades of experience, and we encourage you to use it to guide and inspire your journey.
We are working on fleshing out this map: describing the steps more thoroughly, adding personal stories and suggesting resources for each step. We hope to develop it into an interactive ton-line tool, hopefully one where people using it assist each other if desired. If you would like to be notified when it's developed, please email us!