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.
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.
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.