Building a Stronger Nonprofit Workforce
An Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Strategy
Feasibility Study
Attracting and retaining skilled workers is a growing challenge for Alberta’s nonprofit sector—and we’re not alone. Employers across all industries are grappling with inflation, an aging workforce [1], housing shortages, and shifting worker priorities. Further, the landscape of education and training is evolving, requiring all sectors to rethink how they develop and sustain their workforce.
While strategies have been developed to support Alberta’s private sector workforce, they rarely account for the unique realities of nonprofits. Programs that exist may be open to nonprofits, but are often a poor fit, limiting participation and impact. With over 285,000 Albertans employed in the nonprofit sector—more than those working in oil and gas, forestry, and mining combined—this gap is significant.
Addressing workforce challenges isn’t just about nonprofit sustainability: it’s about meeting growing community needs, providing the critical services that support workers in every sector, and strengthening Alberta’s economy. Dollar for dollar, nonprofit investments generate more jobs than many other industries. For example, a $350 million investment in nonprofits is estimated to create approximately 4,800 jobs—more than double what the same investment would create in construction. However, most nonprofit jobs are spread across small organizations that often lack the capacity to address workforce issues alone. A coordinated workforce strategy is essential to help nonprofits attract, develop, and retain the people they need.
At the same time, nonprofits are heavily reliant on volunteer contributions, with an additional 227 million hours of volunteer service contributed annually. However, volunteer rates have declined significantly since the pandemic, further straining nonprofit capacity and increasing the burden on paid staff.
Over the past few years, Alberta nonprofits have consistently ranked workforce issues among their top challenges. While the sector is diverse, there are shared needs that could benefit from collective action—such as gathering better data on nonprofit employment, expanding access to work-integrated learning, strengthening volunteer engagement, and exploring shared benefits programs.
In response to these challenges, The Nonprofit Vote and The Nonprofit Chamber made advancing a Workforce Strategy one of its top five priorities in 2023. With the support of the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Status of Women, this Feasibility Study marks the first step toward an Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Strategy—exploring sector needs, readiness, and opportunities.
It’s time to tackle these issues head-on.
Report Highlights
Nonprofits employ nearly 300,000 Albertans - more than those working in oil and gas, forestry and mining combined - across more than 30,000 different organizations. Their services are essential to attract and retain workers across all sectors.
While demand for nonprofit services continues to increase, it is increasingly difficult to attract and keep great employees in our sector.
As such, the Nonprofit Chamber and the Nonprofit Vote made developing a Workforce Strategy one of our Top 5 Platform Priorities in 2023. We want to thank the government of Alberta for supporting this Workforce Feasibility Study - a first step towards strengthening our workforce.
A Workforce Strategy aims to invest in the people that make up an industry or sector, helping organizations fulfill their missions and employers provide high-quality work opportunities for Albertans.
Nonprofit stakeholders expressed a need for better data and coordinated action to support the needs of the nonprofit workforce.
Our Workforce Feasibility Study recommends forming a Nonprofit Workforce Sector Council responsible for creating a roadmap for Alberta’s Nonprofit sector workforce.
Identifying priority actions on short timelines will ensure productivity and boost morale.
A Workforce Strategy is evergreen: it positions us to anticipate and respond to challenges, making it a proactive tool for long-term stability and emergency preparedness in good times and bad.
The Nonprofit Workforce in Alberta
The nonprofit sector employs over 285,000 people in Alberta, 78% of whom are women and many of whom are new Canadians. Volunteers contribute an incredible 227 million hours of service each year. Together, these paid and unpaid workers form a dynamic workforce that keeps Alberta thriving.
The majority of. of nonprofits (57%) are volunteer-run, while organizations of 1-4 employees come in second at 21% of organizations [2]. The workers engaged in nonprofit organizations - its ‘workforce’ - are diverse. Activities performed in the nonprofit sector span poverty reduction, health, mental health, arts and culture, environment, cultural and language support, immigrant settlement, childcare, sport and recreation – and more. Some positions require specialized skills or formal accreditation; most call for highly transferable skills. The diversity reflects the breadth of services nonprofits provide to meet the needs of Albertans.
These services are essential to attract and retain workers across all sectors. Private sector workforce strategies in Alberta consistently cite the need for social services (like immigrant settlement, English as a second language and childcare) to support the workers they need. Quality-of-life indicators that are advanced in large part by nonprofits are also increasingly critical to attracting a qualified workforce in a rapidly changing and competitive global economy. The full spectrum of services and activities provided by our essential sector make Alberta a great place to live, work and play, helping our communities - and economy - thrive.
Qualities of a thriving workforce
Healthy: the workforce is made up of us, our neighbours and our communities. A workforce strategy should support our well-being.
Qualified: the workforce should bring a diversity of skills and knowledge that meet the sector’s wide-ranging needs.
Impactful: the workforce enables nonprofits to achieve their missions effectively.
Committed: the workforce should have staying power, where employees feel valued and employers have the capacity to retain them.
What is a Workforce Strategy?
A Workforce Strategy is about investing in the people that make up an industry or sector, to help organizations fulfill their missions and provide high-quality employment opportunities that improve quality of life.
A workforce strategy that caters to the needs of Alberta’s Nonprofit Sector would help achieve the following:
Support nonprofit employers to fulfill their organizational mission
Help Albertans find gainful employment
Help nonprofit employers provide fair, stable and impactful workplaces
Develop a pool of qualified, impactful workers that can be retained by nonprofit employers
Address Alberta’s current and longer-term labour market challenges
Help direct investment in the nonprofit workforce
Support economic growth, resiliency and diversification across Alberta
Improve the quality of life of nonprofit workers and all Albertans: make Alberta the best place to live, work and play
The Key Components of a Nonprofit Workforce Strategy
To discern what should be included in a nonprofit workforce strategy, we examined past strategies across various sectors, starting with Alberta-based examples, and conducted interviews with nonprofit representatives from diverse subsectors, including from organizations that contributed to previous strategies.
This comprehensive review yielded the following key components of a holistic workforce strategy:
Connect Employees and Employers: Strengthening tools and strategies to build connections between talent and opportunity in Alberta’s nonprofit sector.
Support Regional Quality of Life: Supporting regional decisions that improve quality of life for Alberta’s nonprofit workforce.
Gather and Share Relevant Data: Building a foundation for informed workforce planning and action.
Improve Education & Training Opportunities: Developing opportunities to expand education & training (E&T) to match skill-sets nonprofit sector and sub-sectors needs; marketing career opportunities in the sector.
Provide High Quality Workplaces: Supporting nonprofit employers to provide enjoyable, engaging, fair and supportive work environments;
Strengthen Workforce Planning: Enhancing coordination and planning to address the nonprofit sector’s workforce needs.
Provide Appropriate Funding: Advocating for funding that better meets the needs of nonprofits; exploring opportunities to reduce costs and create efficiencies.
Provide Appropriate Pay and Benefits: Supporting nonprofit employers to provide competitive pay and comprehensive benefits to attract and retain workers.
Attract Workforce to Underserved Areas: Strengthening local capacity and encouraging skilled workers to fill critical gaps.
Develop Volunteer Engagement Strategy: Increasing nonprofit capacity by revitalizing volunteerism.
Nonprofit Workforce Strategy Feasibility Analysis
This Feasibility Study serves as a critical first step in strengthening Alberta’s nonprofit workforce, ensuring future efforts are strategic and resource-efficient. The following analysis assesses the readiness of the sector to engage in the work; clarifies workforce issues at hand by identifying current activity, strengths, opportunities, gaps and priorities; helps refine the sector’s scope in a potential workforce strategy; and provides a recommendation on the feasibility of proceeding with a full workforce strategy.
Background information collected include a desktop review of workforce strategies in Alberta and beyond, across all sectors; a review of literature assessing the needs of the sector; semi-structured interviews with sector representatives including a diversity of sub-sectors; and a review of past activities aimed at supporting nonprofit workforces in Alberta and Canada. Information reflecting current activity in the sector is not comprehensive, but provides a foundation future efforts can build upon.
Feasibility of a Workforce Strategy is evaluated in this report through:
Needs Analysis: current activity, gaps, opportunities and priorities in each of the key workforce strategy components
Readiness Assessment: an examination of available resources and sector capacity
Needs Analysis
1. Connecting Employees and Employers
Current Activity
Initiatives to connect employees and employers in Alberta are numerous, including job boards, fairs, mixers, subsidies for workers and work-integrated learning opportunities. Some are targeted to nonprofits specifically, but sector stakeholders flag a need for more opportunities tailored to the sector. Some are targeted to priority populations, including students, new Canadians, Indigenous people, individuals with disabilities or individuals experiencing poverty and underemployment into the workforce.
Work Integrated Learning also provides opportunities to increase labour force pools, and this area has recently seen a lot of research & development – but little of it targets nonprofits.
Initiatives: Community Nonprofit Internship Program (previously SKIP), MITACS, riipen, TalentYYC, Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada (CEWIL), TalentED, Talent Development Workforce, Eco Canada, Canada Summer Jobs, Venture Canada, Rural Development Network job fairs, Indigenous Employment Training Partnerships Program; research and knowledge dissemination by Business Council of Alberta and Talent Development Symposium; job boards through Talinity, ReachHire, CharityVillage; post-secondary job fairs and mixers; desktop research on WIL in the nonprofit sector by Calgary Economic Development and the Nonprofit Chamber.
Opportunities
For-profit sectors in Alberta have developed cutting-edge Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities that nonprofits could learn from and adapt. Promising explorations are already underway on how to tailor WIL programs and tools for nonprofit use. Research [3] shows nonprofits face barriers: they are less familiar with WIL opportunities and use them less; they have less capacity to engage with them. Improving their access and capacity, however, could lead to creative outcomes supporting nonprofits to fulfill their missions. The research suggests pathways to overcome those, which are likely to be useful across the spectrum of tools connecting employers and employees. Similarly, sector stakeholders identified potential to grow and tailor wage subsidy programs to the nonprofit sector - programs such as Canada Summer Jobs, STEP and Eco Canada.
Additional untapped opportunities were identified by sector stakeholders. Job boards and job fairs could be leveraged to highlight best practices in the workplace – such as appropriate wages, benefits, flexible work environments – and support the key area “High Quality Workplaces”. More internship opportunities could be created, including through the creation of new designated trades.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Review and improve existing strategies and tools, including job boards, fairs, and mixers, to better connect employees and employers.
Tailor workforce programs to meet the specific needs of nonprofits and their subsectors.
Build relationships and integrate nonprofit workforce strategies with immigrant service agencies, post-secondary institutions, community development initiatives, poverty reduction efforts, and disability representatives.
The Rural Development Network supports job fairs for underemployed Albertans and delivered “Rural Roots” work-integrated-learning opportunities for all sectors.
Calgary Economic Development developed the TalentED platform to connect students and employers in work-integrated-learning opportunities, and recently commissioned research, in partnership with The Nonprofit Chamber, on tailoring such a platform for the nonprofit sector.
2. Education and Training
Current Activity
Many postsecondary institutions in Alberta, such as Athabasca University, Bow Valley College, Mount Royal University, the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, provide programs to support workforce development for professions represented in the nonprofit sector, from social work to communications to public policy to financial management. Some also include courses or certificates specific to the sector, such as Nonprofit Management and Governance courses. The Government of Alberta also provides online courses and tools for through its Nonprofit online learning centre.
Opportunities
Interviewees identified substantial potential to tailor educational offerings to the sector and showcase viable career paths in nonprofits, but did not identify substantial activity to this end. There is work underway by the Alberta Chambers of Commerce and Alberta Post-Secondary Network, in collaboration with the private sector, to align post-secondary programming with employers’ needs. This work could provide inspiration, methodology and lessons learned for the nonprofit sector. There is also work underway exploring how to accelerate accreditation for new Canadians that could inform nonprofit efforts. Micro-credentialing—short, skills-based certifications—was highlighted as a promising approach for addressing skills gaps and demonstrating aptitude in high-demand areas. While this method is gaining traction and being shared with employers, it remains relatively new and may require further awareness-building before becoming a widely accepted hiring tool in the nonprofit sector.
Training Executive Directors and Nonprofit Boards was identified as a priority – not only to increase organizational strategy and impact, but to improve the health and wellbeing of employees. Research shows leadership is critical to establishing good workplace culture, modelling healthy behaviours, and establishing strong policies and programs that support employees [4].
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Collect data on E&T opportunities relevant to the sector and sub-sectors, including pools of specialized labour;
Collect data on skill gaps experienced by the sector;
Identify opportunities to expand E&T tailored to the sector and sub-sectors;
Explore opportunities to integrate with immigrant support services to improve and accelerate accreditation programs;
Explore opportunities to create new designated trades
Explore opportunities with micro-credentialing;
Collaborate with educational institutions to expand programs and courses that meet the needs of the nonprofit sector; and
Collaborate with educational institutions and government on campaigns to promote careers in the nonprofit sector.
“The Talent Development Task Force is a unique collaboration among labour market stakeholders in Alberta working to align post-secondary programming to employer’s current and future needs in a dynamic labour market, and to expand experiential learning opportunities for post-secondary students.” - Alberta Post Secondary Network
ECVO’s Executive Director Mentorship Program matches newer Executive Directors or CEOs with established leaders, providing the opportunity to share knowledge and perspective while sharpening skills
3. Appropriate Funding
Current Activity
Surveys and focus groups have consistently highlighted the need for greater financial support in the nonprofit sector [5], and this was reiterated by interviewees for this feasibility study. Funding to support the workforce was identified as necessary not only to pay employees appropriately, but to give nonprofits capacity to flesh out attraction and retention strategies.
Nonprofits Vote campaigned for emergency funding in 2022, as the effects of the pandemic placed unprecedented strain on the sector, and identified “Appropriate Funding” as one of their policy priorities. Currently, the Nonprofit Chamber is developing a Funding Brief for the nonprofit sector based on a sector-wide survey and Canada Revenue Agency data, that will identify historical trends in nonprofit revenues and expenses and nonprofit funding priorities.
Opportunities
While there have been substantial efforts to increase nonprofit funding and notable strides in securing funding within specific subsectors, stakeholders expressed skepticism about achieving further increases in overall funding for the sector in the near future. However, they identified two key opportunities: 1) improving access to (and sharing) better data about nonprofit funding, and 2) advocating for more appropriate funding. Appropriate funding means giving nonprofits the flexibility to allocate resources where they’re most needed—such as covering overhead costs, sustaining existing programs, adjusting wages to reflect the rising cost of living, and adapting staffing levels to better serve their communities.
Sector stakeholders also identified opportunities to reduce costs through shared services and benefits, and pointed to precedents the sector can learn from. Rural nonprofit representatives pointed specifically to addressing rural-urban disparities when running nonprofit casinos.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Collect and share data on nonprofit revenues, expenses, and funding priorities (in progress);
Synthesize what “appropriate funding” means to the sector (in progress);
Host conversations between funders and fundees to identify opportunities and barriers to change;
Gather data on use of and knowledge of strategies that may reduce nonprofit costs;
Disseminate information about these strategies; determine feasibility to expand them in Alberta.
The disability sector successfully campaigned for additional government funding to support higher workers for its workers as the cost of living rose.
Allied Community and Co-operative Shared Services (ACCESS) is a shared service nonprofit co-operative specifically formed to provide professional administrative back-office support for social purpose organizations, including co-ops, nonprofits, charities, childcare centres and social enterprises across Canada.
“If there was more funding for the nonprofit sector, I think a lot of these other workforce issues would disappear.” - Study Interviewee
4. Attracting Workforce to Underserved Areas
Current Activity
Communities across Alberta experience disparities in their access to nonprofit services, and in the diversity of skills within the workforce. Factors at play may include: lack of funding to provide nonprofit services, particularly in areas with low density; incentives to attract workers to the area; or capacity to develop those skills within the community.
Disparities in the provision of nonprofit services has been understood experientially in the sector, and can now be seen in recent mapping of Alberta’s nonprofits [6]. Analysis of this data has been limited, but there has been preliminary work showing the concentration of nonprofit organizations, by subsector, as a function of population [7]. This means the sector can identify “deserts” in nonprofit services.
The issue of attracting workers to underserved areas was not a significant theme in interviews; “learning-by-doing" was identified as common in developing local skills, with varying levels of success. Incentives to attract workers to Alberta, and to rural Alberta, exist, but are limited and not targeted to the nonprofit sector. This area would benefit from more investigation.
Opportunities
There is opportunity to further refine analysis of service deserts to understand where more organizations and workers are needed, and shape the Workforce Strategy accordingly.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Identify gaps in nonprofit services, both by mapping and by validating this data with focus groups;
Gain better understanding of the need to attract nonprofit workers to underserved areas; and
Investigate how to create more training opportunities available in underserved communities in the key area “Education and Training”.
The Ukrainian Rural Alberta Attraction Program is a collaboration between Calgary Catholic Immigration Services and the Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies, working with partners across all sectors to find employment, housing and supports for Ukrainian refugees in rural and small-midsize centres.
The Rural Development Network does localized and primarily qualitative research on issues related to attracting and retaining qualified employees in rural areas, which is shared through their training and toolkits.
5. Regional Quality of Life
Current Activity
Regional quality of life is a key factor in attracting and retaining a strong workforce. Nonprofits both benefit from and contribute to advancing quality of life factors. They can be measured by a range of indicators, including health, poverty and inequality, housing availability and affordability, cost of living, transportation options, connectivity, amenities, and recreational opportunities. These indicators are tracked, though disparately, in organizations like Statistics Canada, the Government of Alberta, municipalities and local nonprofits focused on housing, poverty, health and sustainability.
The challenges of improving quality of life can differ between urban and rural areas. Rural regions, for instance, may have fewer housing options to accommodate diverse family sizes and incomes or more limited access to services. They may also offer unique attractions like access to nature, outdoor recreation and open space, or stronger community connections.
Opportunities
While quality of life improvements are essential for attracting talent to the nonprofit sector, this need is shared across all industries. This suggests opportunity for collaboration between the nonprofit sector and other industries to advocate for regional decisions that enhance quality of life for all. It also suggests nonprofits, as major contributors to regional quality of life, could be involved more closely in the development of workforce attraction strategies in other industries.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Gathering and synthesizing information in Alberta and Alberta communities, and
Supporting advocacy efforts to maintain or improve quality of life in Alberta, where appropriate.
In 2024, 94 Calgary nonprofits advocated in support of the City of Calgary Housing Strategy, recognizing that retaining workers means ensuring they have homes to live in.
6. Creating Quality Workplaces
Current Activity
A positive workplace environment is a crucial factor in retaining staff, especially in the nonprofit sector. Key elements of workplace quality include [7]:
A healthy workplace culture and strong leadership;
Opportunities for advancement, learning, and professional development;
Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), as well as accessibility and accommodations;
Flexible schedules, hybrid or remote work options, and a healthy work-life balance; and
Employee engagement, team building, and time for fun and connection.
Nonprofits can take proactive steps to create these environments, and many have. Toolkits and consultants are available to assist them.
Broader workplace policies, such as Right to Disconnect laws, also play an important role in protecting employees and promoting well-being.
Opportunities
Research suggests barriers to adopting new practices are about organizational capacity much more so than about the availability of information. This reinforces the need for salaries and training that support robust nonprofit leadership.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy:
Identify and disseminate effective workplace practices specific to Alberta’s nonprofit employers;
Analyze gaps between current practices and established best practices;
Advance policies that improve workplace quality and protect workers in Alberta’s nonprofit sector.
DEI and anti-racists training and resources are provided by organizations like CommunityWise and Action Dignity.
Right to Disconnect laws protect employees’ work-life balance by establishing employees’ rights to disconnect from electronic communication outside of work hours. Examples of such laws exist in France, Spain, Italy and Ontario.
7. Pay and Benefits
Current Activity
Appropriate pay and benefits are critical to attracting and retaining workers, yet nonprofit employers face unique challenges in this area.
Nonprofits consistently identify increased funding as their top priority, with wages and salaries being the first place they would invest additional resources. On average, nonprofit wages are lower than those in the public and private sectors, leading to a loss of staff to these higher-paying industries. Rising costs of living exacerbate the issue, as nonprofits with fixed funding streams struggle to increase salaries without cutting programming. Additionally, government contracts often include fixed wage limits, leaving nonprofits unable to adjust pay without funder approval.
Access to benefits presents another challenge, particularly for small nonprofits that may lack the capacity to offer comprehensive packages. While collective benefits programs exist for nonprofits and small businesses, many organizations remain unaware of these opportunities, limiting their participation.
There has been substantial advocacy for increased funding for nonprofit wages, and efforts to make benefits more accessible to nonprofits. However, the sector still faces significant gaps in data, particularly regarding pay scales, benefits, and workforce demographics.
Initiatives: Research and knowledge dissemination including Future of Good’s Changemakers Wellbeing Index, the Boland National Salary and Benefit Survey, Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of Alberta; benefit programs like OASIS Health and Dental, Chamber of Commerce Benefit Programs, Common Good RRSP Plan; new program exploration by Alberta Nonprofit Network and Volunteer Alberta.
Opportunities
Filling gaps in data and knowledge dissemination will be a vital first step toward equitable and sustainable compensation and benefits practices. Translating data into action will in part involve communication: bringing attention - among both employees and employers - to what constitutes equitable wages, benefits and perks. It will also require funders support such practices. Job boards were identified as strategic opportunities to share information about appropriate pay and benefits, paired with expanded labour force surveys (such as the Boland Survey). Focus groups [9] discussing appropriate pay have suggested additional measures, such as providing tax incentives for nonprofit workers. Raising awareness about shared benefits programs is a key opportunity, while interviewees also asserted there is room to develop, grow and replicate such programs.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy:
Gather and share data on total compensation across positions, subsectors and demographics ;
Collect information on benefits offered by nonprofit employers;
Share best practices for structuring competitive pay and benefits;
Raise awareness among employers about existing collective benefits programs and opportunities;
Advocate for increased funding with flexible guidelines that allow nonprofits to adjust remuneration;
Explore collective bargaining opportunities where applicable; and
Investigate ways to connect more nonprofit employees with benefits programs and support nonprofits in accessing and implementing shared benefits models.
The Common Good Plan is a nonprofit solution offering workplace retirement savings plans specifically for nonprofits in Alberta.
8. Volunteer Engagement
Current Activity
Volunteers are a cornerstone of Alberta’s nonprofit workforce, contributing an incredible 227 million hours of service in 2021. Every nonprofit relies on volunteers, whether for program delivery or governance through their Boards, making them integral to the sector’s success.
However, declining rates of volunteerism and volunteer engagement are creating significant challenges. A 2023 Imagine Canada survey revealed that volunteer recruitment difficulties are leading to reduced or canceled nonprofit programs and services. 21% of Canadian nonprofits reported that the volunteer shortage is contributing to employee burnout. In Alberta, 62% of approximately 1,400 nonprofit survey respondents identified volunteer recruitment as challenging or very challenging—more than the 56% who said the same about staff recruitment.
Sector representatives we interviewed shared that many volunteers haven’t returned post-pandemic. Developing strategies to re-engage them is often an overwhelming task for overworked nonprofit employees. Nonprofits need dedicated support and investment to revitalize their volunteer base. As a first step, Volunteer Alberta and the Government of Alberta have teamed up to pursue research on the state of volunteerism in Alberta, with the aim of developing a volunteer strategy.
Opportunities
This revitalization involves not only attracting more volunteers but also updating their training. As Board meetings have shifted online in recent years, nonprofit leaders report declining executive leadership quality, with board members sometimes struggling to understand and fulfill their roles. Research currently underway to better understand the volunteer shortage among Alberta’s nonprofits will provide an important foundation for future work.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Gather and disseminate information on volunteer engagement trends;
Identify and share effective approaches to recruiting, retaining, and supporting volunteers;
Synthesize and share insights on board governance challenges;
Collect and distribute resources on governance best practices;
Advocate for funding to support volunteer engagement and board governance initiatives; and
Consider launching a campaign to attract and re-engage volunteers across Alberta.
Volunteer Lethbridge connects volunteers with ideal volunteering opportunities.
Volunteer Alberta has teamed up with the Government of Alberta to better understand current challenges with volunteer recruitment, and subsequently develop a volunteer strategy.
9. Data Gathering
Current Activity
Better data on Alberta’s nonprofit workforce is a recurring theme across every aspect of workforce planning. It’s also one of The Nonprofit Vote’s five priorities, as it is essential for identifying areas that need improvement and driving meaningful change.
Data that would help the nonprofit workforce is extensive, but includes:
Comparable salaries across sectors, wage gaps by gender and socioeconomic status, the availability of qualified candidates, and the need for training in specific professions;
Information on benefits provided by nonprofit employers;
Nonprofit revenues and expenses ;
Workplace practices targeted to employee wellbeing and retention;
Education and training opportunities that align with or are targeted to nonprofit needs; and
Regional quality of life indicators.
Initiatives: Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy, Future of Good Changemakers Wellbeing Index, the Nonprofit Chamber Dashboard (in development, in partnership with the Government of Alberta).
Opportunities
This is an area of significant momentum, with many stakeholders across sectors already working to improve data collection on the nonprofit workforce.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Determine the types of data required to support the nonprofit workforce and inform a workforce strategy;
Assess what data is already being collected and explore opportunities to gather additional insights;
Identify missing data and parties well-positioned to collect it;
Develop a central, user-friendly hub for nonprofit workforce data that communicates information clearly and accessibly, for use by employees, employers and funders; and
Establish leadership and governance for managing data assets and ensuring effective knowledge dissemination.
The Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy, coordinated by PolicyWise, has made tremendous strides to source and share data that helps the nonprofit sector plan.
10. Strengthening Workforce Planning
Current Activity
Current activity in Workforce Planning includes research on the state of volunteerism in Alberta, led by Volunteer Alberta and the Government of Alberta, with the aim of informing a strategy for volunteerism. This Feasibility Study is another key piece of current work, which builds on and levarages past efforts, including the 2007 Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Strategy and Workforce Council that came together afterwards (see facing page for more).
Initiatives: the HR Council for the Nonprofit Sector (national, 2005-2013), Imagine Canada HR Intervals, Volunteer Canada research initiatives, UW Centraide Labour Force Strategy for Community Services Sector, Business Council of Alberta, Trade Pathways; research on volunteerism by Volunteer Alberta and Government of Alberta; resources through Workforce Partnership Grants.
Opportunities
Workforce planning brings together reliable data, analysis of assets and gaps, and strategies to address challenges and leverage strengths. For Alberta’s nonprofit sector, planning for a strong workforce begins with understanding its needs. Interviewees emphasized the urgent need for better data to evaluate whether nonprofit workplaces are fair, attractive, and supportive of gainful employment. Improved data could also help the sector better match employees with employers and align workforce skills with organizational needs.
Additionally, interviewees highlighted a lack of coordination among existing workforce initiatives, and lack of a central hub communicating nonprofit data, opportunities and resources. Nonprofits may be unaware of the opportunities and resources already available to them, which limits their ability to benefit from these efforts. This focus area represents a gap in supporting Alberta nonprofits, according to sector stakeholders.
Needs for a Workforce Strategy
Align and support current workforce initiatives to avoid duplication, amplify impact, and share knowledge across the sector;
Develop new strategies and programs to address unmet workforce development needs;
Collect, analyze, and share workforce data to guide planning and set priorities; and
Establish a leadership, governance and administration model to support strategy development, coordination, evaluation and accountability.
In 2022, the nonprofit sector set 5 Policy Priorities through the Nonprofit Vote, aimed at laying the foundations for planning for and measuring sector success.
Building and Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce
In 2007, during an economic boom and record-high employment, industries across Alberta—including the nonprofit sector—struggled to attract and retain skilled workers. In response, the Government of Alberta launched Building and Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce, a series of workforce strategies tailored to various sectors. That same year, following sector-wide coordination and engagement, an Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Strategy was developed—one that has helped inform this Feasibility Study. However, questions remained about how the strategy would be implemented.
With funding from Alberta Employment and Immigration and support from ANVSI, the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (CCVO, now the Nonprofit Chamber) took a lead advancing this work. This included establishing a Workforce Council and collaborating with the United Way on human resources initiatives. These efforts resulted in extensive research, new workforce development programs, and resources to support the nonprofit sector. Some of this work, such as the annual State of the Sector research, continues today, while other programs developed by The Nonprofit Chamber have been shaped by these early efforts.
Despite these advances, the Workforce Council was ultimately disbanded as funding dwindled in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. However, the challenges facing Alberta’s nonprofit workforce remain. Through this Feasibility Study, The Nonprofit Chamber is exploring opportunities to build upon past efforts and reimagine a sustainable approach to supporting the nonprofit workforce for the future.
Readiness Assessment
In assessing whether we would recommend a Workforce Strategy, we considered the following questions.
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Yes, as outlined under each key component under “Needs Analysis”.
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Significant work is underway to support Alberta’s nonprofit workforce, as outlined in the Needs Analysis. Notably, a past Workforce Strategy and Workforce Council laid important groundwork before coming to an end—not due to a lack of need, but because funding was no longer available. Sector conversations affirm that the need for a workforce strategy is evergreen, and should not be positioned as a crisis response. In fact, having a structured workforce strategy in place would better position the sector to anticipate and respond to challenges, making it a proactive tool for long-term stability and emergency preparedness.
Key challenges remain: a lack of coordination and gap analysis among these initiatives. Interviewees also emphasized the critical need for reliable and comprehensive data, which they view as foundational to understanding and addressing the sector’s needs. Encouragingly, there is current cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder interest and action in developing that data and data analysis. Additionally, the absence of a centralized hub for information and resources was identified as a gap, making it more difficult for nonprofits to know about and access the tools they need to support their organizations and workforces effectively.
Engagement with nonprofit stakeholders demonstrates the sector has the core assets needed to succeed with a workforce strategy. Alberta’s nonprofit community is home to highly skilled and strategic leaders; well-positioned and interested organizations; budding and well-established partnerships; convening capacity; growing data sets, research and other knowledge products; and opportunities for seed funding. While these strengths provide a solid foundation, securing long-term financial sustainability will be critical to ensuring the success and longevity of any workforce strategy moving forward.
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There are challenges to developing a holistic workforce strategy in such a diverse sector. Filling sub-sector-specific gaps will require targeted work. Nonprofit stakeholders have asked themselves whether a nonprofit Workforce Strategy can or should address all sub-sector needs. But they felt nonprofits have enough in common to benefit from collaborative efforts around things like gathering reliable data on the nonprofit workforce, accessing work-integrated learning opportunities, encouraging volunteerism, exploring shared benefits programs, and more. Examples of goals that might be taken on separately might include Education and Training, designated trades, or advocacy initiatives that are sub-sector specific.
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No other efforts to develop a sector-wide workforce strategy were identified. However, sub-sectoral efforts were identified that could inform a sector-wide strategy. It will be important to leverage that work rather than compete with it.
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The sector would likely benefit from a full strategy that sets out priority actions on a shorter timeline. In speaking with sector representatives, few were familiar with or cited broader initiatives to support the nonprofit workforce, such as a workforce strategy; rather, they cited strategic actions that had been targeted and impactful. This lines up with emerging research. Some evidence suggests humans work better with targeted actions on shorter timelines - 2-year timelines rather than 30-year timelines [10]. Targeted actions often leverage existing momentum or political will - they are tactical. Quick wins can also boost morale.
However, for these actions to be strategic, they need to be embedded in a framework we know will improve success for the nonprofit workforce in the long term. The sector would thus benefit from a holistic Nonprofit Workforce Road Map, as well as identifying priority pieces of work based on gap analysis, sector priorities, strategic opportunity, workflow and jurisdiction. In this way, it can achieve greater focus through targeted work, and achieve short- and medium- term wins that contribute to longer-term milestones. -
Major takeaways from past nonprofit workforce development work included recommendations to: 1) break up the work into achievable “chunks” – this will help the work keep moving forward and maintain morale; 2) develop financial sustinability strategies to support the continued coordination of the workforce strategy and its targeted activities. This might include collaborating with diverse partners - nonprofit, private and governmental - that have a stake in the nonprofit workforce and can help leverage multiple sources of revenue; and considering bread-and-butter revenue streams, including fee-for-service work or membership fees.
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To succeed, a Workforce Strategy needs an entity to take ownership, provide leadership, and ensure long-term sustainability of the strategy. This includes tracking progress, measuring impact and ensuring follow-through on initiatives; ensuring coordination across stakeholders; securing and managing funding; and providing a central hub for best practices, research, and workforce supports. A home for the strategy will need to be identified.
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Yes. While priorities emerged in every key component of a workforce strategy, two key components were identified as critical to workflow of a Workforce Strategy – meaning progress in these areas would support the next set of actions. The strategic priorities that emerged as foundational to measuring success and coordinating a workforce strategy include:
Strengthening workforce planning
Improving nonprofit workforce data
Volunteer Engagement is also a clear priority, however, while volunteers are a crucial part of an organization’s team, there is much more to volunteer engagement than simply fulfilling nonprofit workforce needs. As such, we suggest a workforce strategy should work in tandem with provincial volunteer strategies, but not advance that work itself.
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Yes. Part of the purpose of engaging in a Feasibility Study was not just to identify potential partners but to develop interest in the work. Members of the Workforce Committee that was assembled to support this work are prepared to remain involved in subsequent work.
Feasibility Assessment
An Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Strategy that is embedded in a hub is feasible, with a mandate to:
Move forward strategic priorities that leverage existing assets without duplicating existing efforts;
Promote and share existing workforce activities that lie outside the strategic priorities; and
Promote and share data, best practices, and information about the Alberta nonprofit workforce.
Our analysis identifies a Workforce Strategy as feasible with a team and infrastructure to support its development, implementation and evaluation. Developing a home and a team for this work will be the first step.
Recommendations
Building on lessons from the previous Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Strategy, we recommend establishing a Nonprofit Workforce Sector Council to provide leadership, coordination and accountability on a workforce strategy that prioritizes gaps in current activities and amplifies work already underway.
Providing Strategy Accountability
A workforce strategy succeeds when it has dedicated leadership and personnel responsible for setting goals, measuring impact, ensuring follow-through on initiatives, and adapting as needed. A Sector Council is a well-established model for workforce development, bringing together key stakeholders—employers, employees, educators, experts, and government agencies—to address labour market challenges. Ideally the Council would be managed as a program of an existing organization, with an independent governance structure established by Council Terms of Reference.
A Nonprofit Workforce Sector Council would fill critical gaps in Alberta’s nonprofit workforce landscape, ensuring a sector-led approach to workforce solutions. Identifying an organizational home for the strategy would provide stability, ensuring there is an entity responsible for securing and managing funding, coordinating efforts, and serving as a hub for data, best practices, and workforce supports.
Strategic Priorities
The report identifies strengthened workforce planning and improved data collection as strategic priorities. A Nonprofit Workforce Sector Council could begin by taking action on:
using the analysis in this Feasibility Study to complete a Nonprofit Workforce Road Map that works in tandem with provincial volunteer engagement strategies;
coordinating activities that support the workforce for greater impact;
ensuring data relevant to the nonprofit workforce is available and user-friendly;
moving forward on a labour market survey for the nonprofit sector;
providing a centralized hub of labour market information and activity to nonprofits;
delivering high quality report cards on workforce issues; and
developing a simple communications strategy to share that knowledge.
Enabling Conditions:
To ensure long-term sustainability, key enabling conditions must be in place:
A permanent home for a Workforce Strategy.
Diverse funding sources funding for both startup and ongoing operations.
Necessary expertise and committed partners at the table, including specialists in workforce development, nonprofit HR, data analysis and strategy.
With these conditions in place, a Workforce Strategy is not only feasible for Alberta’s nonprofit sector, it has substantial potential to improve quality of life for the workforce and for those they serve, and to enhance sector resilience through changing economic conditions.
Endnotes:
[1] Government of Canada, 2023. [2] Statistics Canada, 2024. [3] Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, 2023. [4] Lee and Briggs, 2024; Briggs et al., 2023. [5] Ibid. [6] The Nonprofit Chamber holds a comprehensive list of nonprofits across Alberta, which has been mapped both internally and in partnership with the Government of Alberta. [7] This work has been prototyped with the social services sector for the United Way (published), and for the sector as a whole with the Government of Alberta (unpublished). [8] Lasby, 2023; Igweamaka, 2020; BBC News, 2016. [9] Lee and Briggs, 2024. [10] Institute for the Future, 2023.
References
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Credits
Thank you to the Workforce Committee:
Lisa Belanger, Rural Development Network
Alexa Briggs, the Nonprofit Chamber
Gemma Dunn, Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations
Shauna Feth, Alberta Chambers of Commerce
Richard Lemaire, Government of Alberta
Michelle Smook, Government of Alberta
Nilima Sonpal-Valias, Alberta Council of Disability Services
Miki Stricker-Talbot, Volunteer Alberta
Funder
Alberta Ministry of Arts, Culture and Women
Authors
Celia Lee and Alexa Briggs
Design & Illustration
Fran Motta
Reference as
The Nonprofit Chamber. (2025). Building A Stronger Nonprofit Workforce.