More work, more responsibility, and fewer people to do it. Less money, less training, and a more significant toll on one's health. It's a reality for many employees across Canada. But this isn't about employees, it's about the volunteers and the toll of toxic leadership on their generosity and goodwill. This article does a great job to highlight the effect of toxic leadership on a staff level. The impact of toxic leadership on nonprofits' volunteers can ultimately lead to the end of an organization.

Volunteer Burnout

At the organizational level, toxic leadership leads to high staff turnover. Often the staff that leave are the ones with the greatest passion and the most experience. As positions go unfilled, more and more responsibility is placed on the shoulders of volunteers. The Toxic Leader expects the volunteers to get the job done, no excuses. It is irrelevant if the job is one they aren’t trained for or don’t have the time to give. Volunteers become no more than unpaid labour in the eyes of the Toxic Leader. Recruitment of new volunteers becomes increasingly difficult, and the remaining volunteers eventually leave, broken and burned out from the negative experience.

Lack of Vision

Canada is going through a significant shift in the employment landscape. More and more people are entering the Gig Economy. Canadians are working for less money and little job stability. The result is fewer people who can dedicate time to volunteering and fewer people who can afford to donate to charitable causes. If the leadership of a nonprofit fails to read the economic trends in Canada, they will continue to do the same things over and over again. Volunteer recruitment will become more complicated, and donations will suffer in the long run.

Lack of Communication

With the high turnover at the organizational level, volunteers may go months without a dedicated Coordinator to help execute the organizations directives. It doesn’t take long for the organization to lose contact with its volunteers…until they want something done. Unfortunately, the remaining volunteers may not have the numbers or the skill set to complete the project and its now urgent deadline.

Declining Donations

Now that the organization is left with fewer volunteers from burnout, a lack of vision, communications with the remaining volunteers virtually nonexistent, the donations eventually decline. The organizations' presence in the communities they serve across Canada starts to disappear. When the donations dry up, how is the nonprofit to exist?

Toxic leadership exists when the Board of Directors is derelict in their responsibilities of organizational oversight. Donors, volunteers, and staff members are counting on everyone that serves on the Board of Directors is doing so out of passion…not their next job promotion. Two or three passionate board members CANNOT do it on their own. The entire board must be committed.

Toxic leaders create nothing, all they do is take until the organization is left with nothing. At that point, they move on to their next target, and the cycle begins again.

David Wright is a freelance writer and a volunteer for the charitable sector.