Marilyn A. MacKenzie

A native of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Toronto, MacKenzie graduated from Nursing at the University of Toronto in 1969 and subsequently worked as a staff nurse and then Head Nurse at The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) before returning to school to do a Masters of Adult Education in 1973.

Her interest in volunteer management began during the late 1970’s when she joined a youth education committee with the Canadian Cancer Society. The goal was to develop strategies for teaching young people about cancer prevention and treatment. This effort spread to include other large health-related organizations, resulting in the mobilization of hundreds of community volunteers. MacKenzie quickly learned about how volunteers were needed and should be treated and began sharing her experience and knowledge with others throughout Canada.

In the early 1980’s, MacKenzie partnered with Gail Moore to form Partners Plus, a training and consulting firm. Her reputation grew steadily as she was invited to speak at local, provincial and national conferences in both Canada and the U.S. and published five books on volunteer and nonprofit management. She helped develop a certificate program in volunteer management at Humber College (ON Canada), becoming coordinator of the program, developing much of the curriculum and teaching a range of subjects at the community college level.  

In the mid-1990’s, MacKenzie returned to Sick Kids Hospital in the role as Director of Volunteer Resources, thus combining her passion for healthcare and volunteer engagement. She had the confidence to step back from writing, teaching and lecturing to assume this full time and challenging role. Despite being one of the top people in her field and a pioneer in the sector, she was both humble and interested in the views of others. For example, she built a team of leadership advisors who she recruited from outside the sector to review the volunteer program at Sick Kids. She tasked the team with identifying initiatives that would lead to improved engagement, training and reliability of volunteers, particularly given that volunteers were working in a complex children’s healthcare institution. She was a great listener and loved being challenged to do better in the delivery of services to support patients, family and staff at the hospital.

She was always very committed to excellence and believed in the power of strategic collaboration. One of the initiatives that benefited from this approach was focused on emergency preparedness and pandemic planning. Rather than trying to work on plans in silos, she brought colleagues together to share knowledge, ideas and experience. The result was an emergency response plan specific to the hospital sector which was subsequently put into action during the 2003 SARS epidemic.

After five years at Sick Kids Hospital, MacKenzie returned to a focus on writing, consulting and facilitating. Her work was always insightful, practical, focused and full of laughter. She continued to be an important force in the development of the volunteer sector and profession in Canada. She took on many leadership roles including with the provincial Professional Association of Volunteer Leaders Ontario (PAVRO). She also donated funds to PAVRO to enable emerging leaders of volunteers to apply for small grants to pursue volunteer sector research and professional learning projects.

Throughout her career she grew people who have been leading volunteers skillfully ever since, based on timeless principles such as: 

• Aligning the engagement of volunteers with the mission and goals of the organization
• Building dynamic, inclusive and diverse teams and reaching outside the sector when looking for concepts to support best practices
• Fostering a culture that supports learning, change and innovation
• Maintaining a strong commitment to excellence and customer service

MacKenzie inspired hundreds of volunteer sector professionals, students and organizations with her adventurous spirit, high energy and “let’s try it” attitude. Her unique and important contributions continue to provide positive ripples throughout this profession.