The Leadership Vacuum: Beneath the Numbers

The decline in Canadian volunteering documented in Statistics Canada’s 2023 Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating is not merely a story of fewer people giving fewer hours. It is also a story of leadership attrition.

Between 2018 and 2023, the formal volunteer rate fell from 41 percent to 32 percent, total formal volunteer hours dropped by 28 percent, and the average volunteer contributed 33 fewer hours annually (Statistics Canada, 2025). Yet the most consequential finding for organizational sustainability may be the concentration of remaining volunteer labour among a small group of highly active individuals. In 2023, the top 10 percent of volunteers accounted for 61 percent of all volunteer hours, and their hours did not decline significantly (Statistics Canada, 2025). The entire contraction came from casual and moderate volunteers—the very people who traditionally form the pipeline from entry-level participation to organizational leadership.

This pipeline is now leaking at every stage.

Young adults aged 25 to 34, who should be stepping into committee chairs and board roles, saw their formal volunteer rate fall by 24 percent and their hours fall by 42 percent—the steepest decline of any age group (Statistics Canada, 2025). Women, who have historically constituted the majority of nonprofit volunteers and leaders, saw their formal volunteer hours drop by 20 percent (Statistics Canada, 2025). And the infrastructure that once cultivated these leaders—volunteer centres, professional associations for volunteer administrators, and youth engagement programs—has been systematically defunded. Ontario’s volunteer centre network has halved from thirty to fifteen over the past two decades (D’Souza, 2025). During the pandemic, volunteer managers were laid off across the sector, and Toronto’s professional association for volunteer administrators closed entirely (D’Souza, 2025).

The result is a leadership vacuum. Organizations are not simply short of volunteers; they are short of the mechanisms by which volunteers become leaders. This article examines how Canadian nonprofits can rebuild those mechanisms through structured leadership development programs, board training, committee chair mentorship, and professional certification for volunteer supervisors.

The Case for Structured Leadership Development

The traditional model of volunteer leadership development in Canada has been largely informal. Volunteers would join an organization, gradually take on more responsibility, and eventually ascend to committee chair or board positions through a process of organic acculturation. This model worked when volunteer retention was high, when young adults entered organizations in large numbers, and when experienced leaders had the time and institutional support to mentor newcomers. None of these conditions now prevail.

The Statistics Canada data reveal that the withdrawal from volunteering is not uniform across all forms of engagement. While formal volunteering through organizations declined sharply, the number of Canadians providing direct help to friends, neighbours, and family members barely changed (Statistics Canada, 2025). What collapsed was participation in collective community-improvement activities: attending public meetings fell by 40 percent, coordinating groups or events fell by 34 percent, and total hours spent improving the community fell by 34 percent (Statistics Canada, 2025). This suggests that Canadians have not stopped caring, but they have stopped showing up for the institutional processes through which leadership is cultivated. The pipeline from casual participant to committed leader has broken.

Structured leadership development programs are designed to repair this break by creating deliberate, visible pathways from entry-level volunteering to organizational leadership. Rather than assuming that volunteers will naturally progress into leadership roles, these programs identify high-potential volunteers early, provide them with targeted training and mentorship, and create graduated responsibilities that build competence and confidence over time.

Board Training and Governance Education

At the apex of the volunteer leadership pyramid sits the board of directors. Board members set strategic direction, oversee financial performance, ensure regulatory compliance, and bear fiduciary responsibility for the organization. Yet many Canadian board members arrive in these roles with limited knowledge of their responsibilities or the best practices for effective governance (Governance Guru, 2026). This knowledge gap is especially acute in organizations where long-serving founders or dominant personalities have held leadership positions for years, creating cultures in which new board members are expected to learn through observation rather than structured education.

The consequences of inadequate board training are significant. Boards that lack governance expertise may drift into operational micromanagement, fail to exercise proper financial oversight, or neglect their legal duties under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act or provincial equivalents such as Ontario’s ONCA (Governance Guru, 2026). In the current environment of declining volunteer participation, these governance failures are not merely inefficient—they are existential risks. A board that cannot read financial statements, manage a leadership transition, or navigate a regulatory complaint cannot steward an organization through a period of contraction.

Canadian organizations now have access to a growing ecosystem of board governance training. Capacity Canada, a registered charity that has supported over 1,500 organizations and trained more than 10,000 nonprofit leaders across Canada, offers immersive board governance programs including a three-day Board Governance BootCamp with flexible learning streams in stewardship, strategy, and sense-making (Capacity Canada, 2026).

The Governance Guru, which has provided training to thousands of board members from hundreds of Canadian organizations, delivers tailored programs covering director liability, financial oversight, risk management, and the distinction between governance (the “what”) and management (the “how”) (Governance Guru, 2026). Trent University offers a micro-credential in Board Governance Essentials for Nonprofits, delivered online and asynchronously, covering board roles and responsibilities, risk management, and succession planning strategies (Trent University, n.d.).

These programs share a common insight: effective board training must be practical and tailored to the Canadian regulatory context, not generic or academic. As the Governance Guru notes, “Most board training in Canada falls into two extremes: it’s either a dry, academic certificate from a business school that lacks ‘on-the-ground’ reality, or it’s a basic volunteer orientation that doesn’t tackle complex legal and financial risks” (Governance Guru, 2026). The organizations that invest in high-quality governance education are building a foundation for leadership continuity that extends far beyond any individual board member’s tenure.

Committee Chair Mentorship and Distributed Leadership

Beneath the board level, committee chairs are the critical middle layer of volunteer leadership. They translate board strategy into operational action, manage teams of volunteers, and often serve as the primary point of contact between the organization and its community. Yet committee chair roles are frequently filled through default—whoever is willing—rather than through deliberate selection and preparation. When these individuals leave, organizations lose not just a volunteer but a manager, a recruiter, and a cultural carrier.

Mentorship programs for aspiring committee chairs can address this vulnerability by creating structured relationships between experienced leaders and emerging ones. The Open Hearth Project, delivered by Capacity Canada in partnership with Volunteer Calgary, offers a six-month mentorship network for women and gender-diverse individuals working in the nonprofit sector, providing one-on-one mentorship, peer learning, and a network of changemakers (Capacity Canada, 2026). While this program focuses on paid staff, its model—pairing experienced leaders with developing ones over an extended period—can be adapted readily for volunteer leadership pipelines.

The principles of effective committee chair mentorship include: identifying potential leaders early in their volunteer tenure; creating shadowing opportunities in which protégés attend meetings and observe decision-making processes; assigning graduated responsibilities that increase in complexity as competence grows; and establishing regular feedback loops between mentors and mentees. The goal is not merely to replace departing chairs but to build a culture in which leadership development is understood as a core organizational function.

Karen Knight (2023), a volunteer management consultant based in British Columbia, emphasizes that succession planning for volunteer boards must be built into the organizational culture rather than treated as an episodic exercise. “Ensure that your board understands that succession planning is not just about finding replacements for current board members. It’s also about building a pipeline of future leaders who can bring in new ideas. Boards should also recognize that the process is a shared responsibility, not just the job of the board Chair or President” (Knight, 2023). This insight applies with equal force to committee-level leadership.

Volunteer Supervisor Certification and Professional Development

Perhaps the most underappreciated component of leadership pipeline development is the professionalization of volunteer management itself. The individuals who supervise volunteers—whether paid staff or experienced volunteers—are the gatekeepers of the leadership pipeline. They identify promising contributors, provide coaching and feedback, and create the conditions under which volunteers can grow into leadership roles. Yet these supervisors often receive no formal training in management, human resources, or organizational development.

Canada has a well-established infrastructure for volunteer management education, though it remains underutilized.

Institutions like Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario, hosts the longest-running volunteer management certificate program in Canada, operating since 1984 and offered in partnership with the Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada (VMPC), Volunteer Canada, and the National Occupational Standards (Conestoga College, n.d.). The three-course online program covers foundations of volunteer management, the spectrum of engagement, administration, and an applied project. Fleming College offers a four-course online Volunteer Management Certificate developed based on standards set by the Human Resources Council of Canada and the VMPC, with each course referencing the National Occupational Standards for Managers of Volunteer Resources (Fleming College, 2019). The program focuses on managing the full volunteer engagement cycle from recruitment through disengagement.

The VMPC itself encourages ongoing professional development through webinars, conferences, the Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) designation, and formal education opportunities (VMPC, n.d.). Graduates of programs such as Conestoga’s are seen as “leaders who can affect positive change in their communities through facilitating quality volunteer engagement” (VMPC, n.d.).

The strategic value of these programs is substantial. Organizations with trained volunteer managers are better equipped to identify leadership potential, design development pathways, and retain volunteers through meaningful engagement.

In an environment where the most common complaint from would-be volunteers is “I never heard back” (D’Souza, 2025), professional volunteer management is not a luxury but a necessity. The supervisor who can conduct an effective intake interview, match volunteers to roles that align with their skills and aspirations, and provide ongoing feedback is the supervisor who builds a leadership pipeline.

Integrating Leadership Development with Organizational Strategy

Leadership pipeline development cannot succeed if it is treated as a human resources initiative isolated from the organization’s broader strategic goals.

The Imagine Canada Standards Program, which includes succession planning as a core governance requirement, emphasizes that boards and CEOs should review succession plans at least annually, using the review to assess internal talent development, changes to the organization’s strategic context, and the board’s own state of readiness (Imagine Canada, 2016). This integrated approach ensures that leadership development is aligned with where the organization is headed, not merely where it has been.

For Canadian nonprofits facing the current decline, this alignment is especially important. If an organization’s strategy involves expanding digital service delivery, its leadership pipeline should prioritize volunteers and staff with technology skills. If the strategy involves deepening community engagement, the pipeline should emphasize volunteers with local networks and cultural competencies. Leadership development is not a one-size-fits-all program; it is a strategic function that must be tailored to organizational needs.

Addressing the Generational and Gender Dimensions

The Statistics Canada data reveal that leadership pipeline development must also address the demographic dimensions of the volunteer decline. Young adults aged 25 to 34 experienced the steepest withdrawal from formal volunteering, with their hours falling by 42 percent (Statistics Canada, 2025). This is the cohort from which future board members, committee chairs, and volunteer managers must be drawn. Organizations that fail to create meaningful, flexible pathways for this group will find their leadership pipelines emptying.

Similarly, women’s formal volunteer hours dropped by 20 percent, and their informal hours dropped by 20 percent as well (Statistics Canada, 2025). Given that women have historically constituted the majority of nonprofit volunteers and leaders, this decline has outsized implications for leadership continuity. Organizations must examine whether their leadership development programs accommodate the realities of women’s lives—including caregiving responsibilities, employment patterns, and economic pressures—or whether they implicitly favour contributors with unlimited time and flexibility.

A Framework for Implementation

For Canadian nonprofits ready to invest in leadership pipeline development, the following framework integrates board training, committee chair mentorship, and volunteer supervisor certification into a coherent system. One possible framework could look like this:

Phase 1: Assess Current Leadership Capacity. Conduct an inventory of current volunteer leaders, their tenure, their development needs, and the organization’s exposure to sudden departure. Which roles would be hardest to fill? Which leaders are nearing retirement or burnout? What skills will the organization need in the next three to five years?

Phase 2: Invest in Board Governance Education. Ensure that all board members, not just new ones, complete foundational governance training. Consider specialized training for board chairs and treasurers. Budget for ongoing education as a line item, not an afterthought.

Phase 3: Establish Committee Chair Mentorship. Pair experienced committee chairs with emerging leaders. Create formal shadowing and apprenticeship opportunities. Document the knowledge and relationships embedded in each chair role.

Phase 4: Professionalize Volunteer Management. Support volunteer supervisors in obtaining certification through programs such as Conestoga College or Fleming College. Encourage pursuit of the CVA designation. Ensure that volunteer management is recognized as a professional function requiring training and resources.

Phase 5: Create Visible Leadership Pathways. Publish clear criteria for advancement from volunteer to team lead to committee chair to board member. Ensure that these pathways are accessible to diverse candidates, including young adults, women with caregiving responsibilities, and individuals from underrepresented communities.

Phase 6: Evaluate and Iterate. Review the leadership pipeline annually. Track metrics such as the number of volunteers advancing to leadership roles, the diversity of the leadership pool, and the organization’s readiness to fill critical vacancies (Imagine Canada, 2016).

Conclusion

The 2023 Statistics Canada data reveal a volunteer sector in which the remaining labour is concentrated, the traditional pipeline from participation to leadership is broken, and the infrastructure for cultivating new leaders has been eroded. Rebuilding this pipeline requires more than recruitment campaigns or appeals to civic duty. It requires systematic investment in the structures through which volunteers become leaders: board training that builds governance competence, committee chair mentorship that transfers institutional knowledge, and volunteer supervisor certification that professionalizes the management of unpaid labour. The organizations that thrive in the coming decade will be those that treat leadership development not as an afterthought but as a strategic priority on par with fundraising, program delivery, and financial management.

This article is offered as a foundation for work we are undertaking in the months ahead. This fall and winter, our arts incubator and its nonprofit partners will be exploring boards, governance, and strategic capacity building as a central focus of our programming season. The following analysis is intended to ground that work in the national data and emerging best practices that will shape our approach.

References

Capacity Canada. (2026). Home. https://capacitycanada.ca/

Conestoga College. (n.d.). Volunteer management program. https://continuing-education.conestogac.on.ca/programs/volunteer-management

D’Souza, S. (2025, May 26). Canada doesn’t need more volunteers—we need more enablers. The Philanthropist. https://thephilanthropist.ca/2025/05/canada-doesnt-need-more-volunteers-we-need-more-enablers/

Fleming College. (2019, August 30). Volunteer management certificate (online). https://flemingcollege.ca/continuing-education/certificates/volunteer-management-certificate-online

Governance Guru. (2026, April 28). Nonprofit board training programs. https://governanceguru.ca/services/nonprofit-board-training/

Imagine Canada. (2016, January 10). You need a succession plan—here’s how to put one together. Imagine Canada Blog. https://imaginecanada.ca/en/360/you-need-succession-plan-heres-how-put-one-together

Knight, K. (2023, March 8). Succession planning for volunteer boards. Karen Knight Consulting. https://karenknight.ca/succession-planning/

Statistics Canada. (2025, June 23). The Daily—Volunteering and charitable giving in Canada, 2018 to 2023. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250623/dq250623b-eng.htm

Trent University. (n.d.). Board governance essentials for nonprofits. https://www.trentu.ca/careerspace/board-governance-essentials-nonprofits

Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada. (n.d.). About professional development. https://www.vmpc.ca/About_Professional_Development.html