Rewriting the Rules

YOUNG FEMINISTS IN GOVERNANCE

Research Report

About the Young Feminists in Governance Report:

At Fora: Network for Change, we invite you to think of these young leaders as the bees: sharp, adaptive, and deeply attuned to the health of the system around them. They're not a threat to established structures—they're a lifeline. When given the space to govern and lead, their leadership is transformative, strategic, and smart.

Informed by the lived experiences of 51 gender-marginalized young directors, this report identifies 10 unique areas of impact that reaffirm young directors as assets on their boards, particularly in catalyzing organizational relevance, sustainability, and impact.

To truly include gender-marginalized young leaders in decision-making, current structures must evolve to create space for their meaningful participation.

By reimagining these systems, organizations can effectively safeguard their futures—just like in a thriving hive, where every new bee plays a crucial role in sustaining the ecosystem. 

Let’s face it, the non-profit sector is stretched

Across Canada, organizations are doing vital work while navigating the challenges of limited resources and constant change. Amid this, a powerful opportunity is emerging.

Young, gender-marginalized leaders are ready to shape the future of our sector.

These leaders are adopting approaches deeply rooted in community, lived experience, and a strong commitment to equity. 

What if our board recruitment practices evolved to recognize and welcome this potential? By rethinking outdated systems, we can open the door to fresh perspectives and build governance structures that are more inclusive, resilient, and future-forward. 

Resulting from a seven-month research project capturing the impact and constructive recommendations of gender-marginalized young directors in Canada, this report hopes to provide clarifying insight into the governance potential of young directors.

New perspectives and lived experiences are critical to ensuring an inclusive and sustainable sector. As sectoral leadership and individual donors continue to age, a new generation of young, feminist leaders is ready and willing to meet the challenge in collaboration with existing and seasoned board directors.

With this aim, the report investigates and uncovers the structural and systemic flaws within the existing sectoral board recruitment and governance processes, which bar gender-marginalized young directors from meaningful inclusion in decision-making.

We have the chance to invest in young change-makers.

Based on our research:

While over 50% of Canadian nonprofit organizations (NPOs) serve youth across jurisdictional levels, barely 10% have at least one gender-marginalized youth serving on their board.  

The result? A sector that claims to serve youth, while excluding them from decisions that shape their futures.

Our research shows that when boards make space for young feminist leadership, it results in:

Stronger outreach and fundraising strategies

More responsive service delivery

Clearer, more inclusive governance

Greater organizational efficiency and innovation

Young directors aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo.

In fact, they’re redefining what leadership looks like—and boards just need to meet them halfway.  

This report captures where change is already happening, and what it takes to build governance structures that actually live up to our sector’s values. 

This project has been funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada's Women’s Economic and Leadership Opportunities Fund.

Excerpts from our report:

  • “I am not self-made, I'm community-made. I feel like a lot of things that I do, like advocacy, are not for my own well-being, but for the community. And I think that's kind of the vision that I use to walk everywhere I go. And so truly, I think it had a very strong, very pivotal impact on the way that I experienced my director role because at every step I took, I feel like I was advocating for those communities."  

  • “You need someone who has seen the issues in motion, who understands fully and organically what is happening, where there are gaps.”  

  • “I think a lot of it is asking questions. Don't underestimate a youth's ability, once they're comfortable in a space, to ask some really observant, poignant questions that will have other people in the room being like, 'Huh! Why do we do that?' Or 'Why is it that we fund this or do that?' It'll make you question—which some people are uncomfortable with—but it'll make you answer those questions and challenge them. Which I think is incredibly valuable and keeps, literally, our society moving forward." 

Read the report and want to take the impact further?

This report was authored by Kate Marr-Laing, a community worker, researcher, and advocate with a deep commitment to strengthening the capacity of the community sector.

As a Fora: Rise on Boards alum and current board chair for a nonprofit organization, Kate has first-hand experience navigating the structures of nonprofit boards and the institutional and social context in which they operate.

Read more about them in our report.