Volunteer Leadership: The Ultimate Nonprofit's Guide (2025)

Around 63 million Americans volunteer each year, which is about 25% of the adult population. That’s 63 million people who need guidance, motivation, and direction for creating real impact in their communities.

In this blog, we’ll cover exactly what volunteer leadership is, including what a volunteer leader does, and why it matters—and how anyone can be successful at it.

Summary: Volunteer leadership is the practice of nonprofit staff strategically managing volunteer programs to build authentic community partnerships. Effective volunteer leaders serve as relationship builders, talent cultivators, and organizational advocates who create systems that engage volunteers as mission partners rather than free labor.

What Does Volunteer Leadership Mean?

Volunteer leadership refers to the strategic development and management of volunteers by dedicated nonprofit staff members, often called volunteer coordinators, volunteer managers, or volunteer engagement specialists. 

These professionals are responsible for creating systems that transform volunteers from temporary helpers into committed community partners who drive meaningful organizational impact.

Why is Leadership Important in Volunteering?

Without strong volunteer leadership, even the most well-intentioned volunteer programs struggle with high turnover, inconsistent experiences, and missed opportunities for meaningful community impact. 

Effective volunteer leadership creates:

• Consistency and Trust: Effective leaders establish reliable systems that ensure every volunteer gets quality support regardless of when they join or which staff member they interact with.
  
  
• Impact and Potential: Strategic leaders assess both community needs and volunteer capabilities, creating meaningful matches that deliver greater impact while providing fulfilling experiences that encourage long-term commitment.
  
  
• Sustainable Partnerships: Effective volunteer leadership generates committed volunteers who become ambassadors, advocates, and long-term supporters rather than temporary contributors.

What Do Volunteer Leaders Do?

Volunteer leaders wear plenty of hats. "Volunteer leaders are articulate ambassadors when we advocate for volunteers. We're relationship builders, we are talent cultivators. We are data managers, champions of quality, and passionate leaders," says Faiza Venzant, CVA, Executive Director at the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration.

Here’s what that looks like in practice: 

• Building and maintaining relationships: Volunteer leaders spend significant time getting to know individual volunteers—their motivations, skills, availability, and goals. They conduct regular check-ins, provide ongoing support, and serve as the primary connection point between volunteers and the organization, helping volunteers feel valued and understood rather than just utilized.
  
  
• Advocating for volunteers: As articulate ambassadors, volunteer leaders represent volunteer needs and perspectives in organizational decision-making, ensuring that volunteer voices are heard in program planning, policy development, and resource allocation. They work to secure adequate budgets, training resources, and recognition programs that support volunteer success.
  
  
• Developing and managing systems: The data management aspect of volunteer leadership involves creating and maintaining operational systems that make programs function smoothly. This includes managing databases, coordinating schedules, overseeing volunteer training programs, and ensuring compliance with organizational policies while tracking program effectiveness.
  
  
• Cultivating talent and fostering growth: As talent cultivators, effective volunteer leaders identify volunteers with leadership potential and create pathways for development through additional training, increased responsibilities, or formal leadership roles. They help volunteers build new skills while contributing more effectively to the mission.

What Skills Do Volunteer Leaders Need?

Historically, volunteer leaders were expected to have experience in marketing, human resource management, recruitment, or project management. Today, successful organizations favor candidates who demonstrate "soft skills" over job-related knowledge. 

Why? Simply put, soft skills are much harder to teach. They're the types of personal attributes that lead to effective collaboration and communication and drive success. 

Let's break down the core competencies that make for a great volunteer leader:

• Interpersonal Skills: Build authentic relationships with diverse volunteers through confident communication, active listening, and genuine connection that forms the foundation of successful volunteer programs.
  
  
• Inspirational Leadership Skills: Motivate and guide volunteers by clearly communicating mission impact, celebrating contributions, and maintaining enthusiasm that encourages sustained commitment to your cause.
  
  
• Reliability and Follow-Through: Ensure consistent program delivery by responding promptly to volunteer needs, keeping promises, and maintaining regular communication that builds trust and confidence.
  
  
• Organizational Excellence: Manage multiple moving parts effectively while staying calm under pressure, using strong systems and processes to coordinate volunteers without getting overwhelmed by administrative details.
  
  
• Community-Centered Passion: Maintain genuine dedication to community impact and volunteer success that sustains you through challenges and drives continuous improvement in volunteer experiences.

How to Be a Volunteer Leader: 5 Strategies for Success

The most successful volunteer leaders think beyond coordinating schedules and filling roles—they cultivate movements, develop human potential, and create lasting change that extends far beyond their immediate programs:

1. Embrace the Role of Community Builder

Volunteer leadership is fundamentally about creating spaces where people can connect meaningfully with causes they care about and with each other. 

Think of yourself as someone who weaves community fabric, bringing together diverse individuals around shared values and common goals. Your role is to help people discover not just how they can serve, but how service can enrich their own lives and strengthen the broader community.

2. Develop a Vision for Human Potential

The most inspiring volunteer leaders see possibilities in every person who walks through their doors. They recognize that everyone has unique gifts, experiences, and perspectives that can contribute to positive change. 

Cultivate the ability to look beyond someone's current circumstances or stated availability to envision how they might grow, lead, and make a difference through meaningful engagement with your mission.

3. Become a Bridge Between Dreams and Action

Volunteer leadership is about translating organizational vision into tangible opportunities for community members to make a real difference. 

You help people move from caring about issues to actively addressing them, from feeling isolated in their concerns to joining a community of like-minded change-makers. This requires the ability to connect individual passions with collective impact.

4. Champion a Culture of Belonging and Growth

Great volunteer leaders create environments where people feel they truly belong and can continuously develop their skills, understanding, and leadership capacity. 

Focus on building programs that honor people's diverse backgrounds and experiences while challenging them to expand their comfort zones and discover new capabilities through service.

5. Think Legacy, Not Just Programs

The most transformational volunteer leaders understand that their work is about building sustainable movements for change that extend far beyond any single program or organization. 

Consider how your volunteer leadership can develop other leaders, influence organizational culture, and create ripple effects that strengthen the entire nonprofit sector and community resilience.

Nail Your Volunteer Leadership Role with Get Connected 

The volunteer management process is multifaceted and complex. That's why volunteer leaders need the resources and tools to work smarter, not harder. 

Volunteer management software is an all-in-one digital tool that streamlines nearly every stage of the volunteer life cycle. These tools are centralized in one web-based platform:

• Automated communication
• Volunteer hour tracking and life-updating reports
• Volunteer profiles and self-opportunity selection
• Mobile app for volunteers
• Group and team engagement
• Program recruitment and promotion tools 

Learn more about Get Connected's Opportunity Promotion Tools

While software will require an initial investment, it can save volunteer leaders hours of administrative time in the long run and empower leaders to focus on highly impactful tasks. 

Ready to do more as a volunteer leader? Schedule a free demo of Get Connected today.

Frequently Asked Questions: Volunteer Leadership

What's the difference between volunteer management and volunteer leadership?

Volunteer management focuses on coordinating tasks, schedules, and logistics—the operational side of volunteer programs. 

Volunteer leadership is strategic and relationship-focused, involving program development, advocacy for volunteers within the organization, talent cultivation, and building systems that create meaningful engagement. Leading volunteers encompasses management skills, but goes much deeper into creating sustainable volunteer communities.

What qualifications do I need to become a volunteer leader?

While specific requirements vary by organization, most volunteer leadership positions value a combination of nonprofit experience, strong interpersonal skills, and genuine passion for community engagement. 

Many successful volunteer leaders also have backgrounds in social work, nonprofit management, human resources, or education. Professional development through organizations like the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE) and relevant certifications can strengthen your qualifications.

How do volunteer leaders measure success?

Effective volunteer leaders track both quantitative metrics (retention rates, volunteer satisfaction scores, hours contributed, recruitment numbers) and qualitative outcomes (volunteer growth stories, program improvements suggested by volunteers, community impact stories). 

The best measures combine volunteer engagement data with mission impact to show how strong volunteer leadership contributes to organizational goals.

What are the biggest challenges facing volunteer leaders today?

Common challenges include securing adequate resources and organizational support for volunteer programs, managing diverse volunteer expectations and motivations, adapting to changing volunteer preferences (like increased interest in flexible/virtual volunteer opportunities), and proving the ROI of volunteer engagement to organizational leadership. 

What's the biggest mistake new volunteer leaders make?

New volunteer leaders often try to be everything to everyone, saying yes to every request and avoiding difficult conversations. This leads to burnout and ineffective programs. Successful volunteer leaders learn to set boundaries, prioritize strategic initiatives, and make tough decisions about volunteer fit and program focus while maintaining their relationship-building focus.

How do volunteer leaders advocate for resources within their organization?

Effective volunteer leaders present data-driven cases that connect volunteer engagement to organizational outcomes, highlighting cost savings, program impact, and mission advancement. They build relationships with leadership, document volunteer contributions clearly, and frame resource requests in terms of organizational benefits rather than volunteer program needs alone.