Influencing Without Authority as a Leader of Volunteers

Influencing without Authority

Are you in a volunteer engagement role where securing buy-in from colleagues is essential to achieving your goals? Do you often feel frustrated because your contributions, and the value of strategic volunteer engagement, aren’t fully recognized?

In this interactive session, we’ll explore how deeply rooted "standard practices" in the nonprofit sector can hinder your ability to influence. You’ll be encouraged to challenge traditional thinking and step outside your comfort zone. Using Mentimeter, you’ll anonymously share insights, brainstorm solutions, and collaborate on real-world strategies. Together, we’ll develop intentional and effective ways to influence without formal authority.

By the end of this interactive session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize how entrenched, and sometimes oppressive, nonprofit practices shape workplace dynamics and impact volunteer engagement
• Approach inter-departmental hierarchies, conflicts, and competing priorities with greater confidence and clarity
• Utilize adaptive, positive internal communication strategies to inspire colleagues toward ethical, meaningful volunteer engagement
• Identify and celebrate wins in influencing others, even without formal authority, to build momentum and foster collaborative success

Join this session to gain the tools and confidence to lead from where you are and create lasting volunteer engagement impact, even when authority isn’t part of your job title.

About Jessica Pang-Parks:

Jessica is a volunteer engagement thought leader who helps organizations build trust, create impact, and inspire belonging. She is the recipient of the 2021 Alison Caird Young Leader Award in recognition of her leadership and excellence in volunteer engagement and the recipient of the 2023 VMPC Exemplary Leader Impact Award in recognition of her contributions to the field as a mentor, leader, trainer, and advocate.

Jessica was named one of the Top 10 Volunteer Leadership Voices in 2025. She earned her CVA credential in April 2023 and has facilitated Fleming College’s Volunteer Management: Spectrum of Engagement course since May 2022. She has held professional volunteer and community engagement roles at Crohn's and Colitis Canada, Pathways to Education Canada, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, Volunteer Toronto, and WWF-Canada. 

Jessica has the privilege to work on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Learn more about Jessica at www.learnwithjpp.com. 

Additional Details:

Complimentary lunch will be provided to those attending. To ensure we have enough food and beverage, please register for this meeting by Wednesday, March 4. The use of Mentimeter will require a personal computer (mobile, tablet, or laptop). A Zoom link will be provided to accommodate those who cannot bring a device.

Parking & Entrance:

• Here is a map of where to park and enter at the American Red Cross. Please enter at the doors circled in yellow. We will meet in their Board Room.