Original Broadcast Date: September 14, 2026

Summary: To launch CharityVillage’s Volunteer Week 2026, we brought together leaders from Volunteer Canada, Charity Insights Canada Project (Carleton University), and Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada (VMPC) for a timely panel discussion on the future of volunteer engagement. Grounded in current data, national strategy work, and the lived realities of volunteer engagement professionals, this conversation explores what organizations are experiencing now and where volunteering in Canada may be headed. We also dig into what needs to change at the organizational, sector, and systems levels. 

Panelists discuss recent data and emerging trends in volunteer participation, Volunteer Canada’s National Volunteer Action Strategy, and the need to recognize volunteer engagement professionals as strategic contributors to mission delivery. Designed for nonprofit leaders, volunteer engagement professionals, and anyone invested in the future of volunteering, this kickoff event for CharityVillage’s Volunteer Week 2026 sets the stage for a week of discussion, insight, and special content to help organizations strengthen volunteer engagement for the future. 

 

Panel recording

 

Resources mentioned in the panel discussion

Panel Moderator

Mary Barroll, President of CharityVillage, is an online business executive and lawyer with a background in media, technology and IP law. A former CBC journalist and TV producer, in 2013 she was appointed General Counsel & VP Media Affairs at CharityVillage.com, Canada’s largest job portal for charities and not for profits in Canada, and President in 2021. Mary is also President of sister company, TalentEgg.ca, Canada’s No.1, award-winning job board and online career resource that connects top employers with top students and grads with highly targeted, engaging employer branding and recruitment services. At CharityVillage she has an opportunity to merge her background in media production and marketing with her business and legal experience in online businesses to grow CharityVillage nationwide and help more employers connect with nonprofit professionals from coast to coast to coast. Mary is a certified Employer Branding Professional recognized by Universum Global and the International Employer Branding Academy.

 

Panelists

Adam Janes, CVA (he/him) is passionate about volunteer engagement and connecting people: He serves as President of Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada (2025–27) and is a seasoned leader in volunteer engagement. He calls Ottawa (part of the unceded Algonquin territory) home and is part of the team leading volunteering at the Ottawa Food Bank helping to fight food insecurity locally.  Adam also continues to serve on the Ottawa Leaders of Volunteers board. 

He’s a proud CVA (Certified in Volunteer Administration) going on seven years, a two time contributor to Engage Journal, speaker at the 2024 VMPC National Conference and 2024 International Volunteer Management Hybrid Conference and directed the 2025 VMPC National Forum. Adam previously also held senior roles at Volunteer Ottawa and Christie Lake Kids. He is driven by the core belief: Volunteer Engagement Leaders and the volunteer communities led by them build stronger, healthier communities for all. 

Beyond Volunteer Engagement chat with Adam over coffee about live music, hiking, antropology—or parenting. Happy to connect on LinkedIn or at president@vmpc.ca. 

Sara Lyons, Chief Strategy and Programs Officer, Volunteer Canada, is based in Montreal and has worked in the not-for-profit and charitable sector for over 20 years. She has spent many years working on large-scale, national projects that bring together multiple sectors around new ideas. Before coming to Volunteer Canada, Sara was a Senior Director at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, a Vice President at Community Foundations of Canada, and in 2021 did a secondment with the Equality Fund.

A graduate of McGill and the University of Toronto, Sara has been a frequent public speaker on philanthropy, social innovation, and social finance. She is currently a board member of Exeko, in Montreal and is the former Chair of the Circle on Philanthropy —two roles that have allowed her to live out her passion for transformation, social inclusion, and creating innovative spaces.

Sara loves cycling, playing tennis and spending time with her two teenage daughters.

Dr. Tara McWhinney is a feminist political economist whose research examines gender, unpaid labour, and nonprofit service delivery in Canada. She has collaborated on projects addressing gender equity and long-term care policy with organizations such as CUPE Saskatchewan and CRIAW. Currently a Mitacs Postdoctoral Fellow with the Charity Insights Canada Project at Carleton University, Tara contributes to national research on working conditions, financial stability, and service capacity in the charitable sector. Tara also has extensive experience in the Canadian charitable sector, having worked as a front-line social worker and volunteer with local charities.