Leadership Fundamentals
Most managers in the environmental sector were promoted because they were excellent at the work, not because anyone trained them to manage. The nonprofit sector invests roughly half of what the for-profit sector invests in developing its leaders, and most of that investment goes to the largest institutions: universities, hospitals and large national charities. Managers in small and mid-sized ENGOs, where much of the sector's work actually happens, are frequently handed a team and left to figure it out.
Leadership for Impact is a 10-month, cohort-based program built to close that gap. Twenty-five new managers from environmental organizations across Canada will spend the year building the skills the job actually requires: running one on-ones that are worth the time, setting goals with staff rather than for them, giving feedback that develops people, handling the conversation you have been putting off for months, building a team that functions, and leading through change from the middle of an organization.
The following ENGOs participated in Leadership for Impact's 2026 program:
Credit Valley Conservation
Jane Goodall Institute of Canada
Athabasca Watershed Council
Ecology Action Centre
Canadian Environmental Law Association
WCS Canada
Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority
Cleanfarms Inc.
Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts
Clayoquot Biosphere Trust
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Protect Our Winters Canada
Ottawa Riverkeeper
Hamilton Conservation Authority
IISD Experimental Lakes Area
Ecology Action Centre
Cleanfarms
Nature United
International Hilot Association
Saskatchewan Environmental Society
Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority
Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area
Net Zero Atlantic
Living Lakes Canada'
