Years ago I heard association work described as throwing a party where the same handful of people do all the hosting, while everyone else stands near the buffet. I think about that a lot, because it’s true, and because it points to the fix. We don’t need a bigger party, we need more hosts.
Maybe that’s you.
Landscape Ontario (LO) runs on volunteers. Right now we have more than 300 of them, spread across 10 chapters and 10 sector groups, sitting on boards and committees, judging skills competitions, mentoring apprentices and showing up at Queen’s Park to fight for this industry. Take the volunteers out of Landscape Ontario and what’s left isn’t a smaller association, it’s a logo and an office. Trade associations are defined and led by the industry they serve, powered by their volunteers.
I think about this every time I sit in a Chapter meeting or watch a Sector Group work through an initiative. The people in the room aren’t paid to be there. They’re donating their time because they believe this industry is worth it. If staff are the engine of this organization, volunteers are the fuel. We build it, tune it, keep it running, but without fuel the engine will not run. Volunteers are what actually move this association forward.
LO’s Congress Trade Show and Conference runs the way it does because volunteers guide it through committee strategy, then work from move-in to move-out, helping with every aspect of the event. Every award we hand out, every mentorship that happens with a student, every hard conversation we’ve had with the government about labour, water, snow or bylaws, has a volunteer’s fingerprints on it somewhere. I could fill this whole issue with examples and still leave out people who deserve to be named.
I saw the same thing on a bigger stage recently, in St. John’s, Nfld., at the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association’s board meeting, national awards and industry tour. I watched volunteers from every province align agendas so provincial associations like ours can speak with one voice nationally. Nobody flew across the country for the per diem. They believe the same thing our Chapter and Sector Group volunteers believe here at home.
Add it up across the country and there are more than 500 volunteers currently serving provincial landscape and nursery associations from coast to coast. That’s 500 people choosing to give their time to make this industry better, in one way or another.
Volunteering for LO isn’t a donation. It’s a trade, and a pretty good one. Every volunteer I’ve talked to says the same thing: they got more out of it than they put in.
I’m talking about the peer network that lets you call a business owner, whether they are in another city or a competitor down the street, to ask a question. The friendships that turn a Chapter meeting into something you look forward to. The mentors who show up when you’re stuck on a problem your own crew has never faced. And yes, the recognition too. This association puts its volunteers in front of the membership, in profiles, in award nominations, in rooms full of peers who know your name.
I’ve watched people join a Chapter to make one connection and end up chairing a provincial committee a decade later, because the value kept compounding the longer they engaged. That’s not an accident. Put something real into an organization like this one, and you get real things back.
Here’s my honest pitch: if you’ve ever sat back and thought this association could be doing something better, faster or differently, you’re probably right about something. Every organization has blind spots, including ours. But complaining from the sideline changes nothing. If you don’t like what you see, the fastest way to fix it isn’t a comment on a survey; it’s a seat at the table. Join a committee or show up to a Chapter meeting. Put your hand up for a Sector Group — you’ll have more influence in one year of real involvement than in 10 years on the sidelines.
An association doesn’t grow because you plant more members. It grows because you tend the ones already reaching for the sun.
I’m not asking you to solve everything at once. Most of the volunteers who now guide this association started with one meeting, or one small ask, or a tap on the shoulder. That’s usually all it takes. The door is wide open, and honestly, we need you more than you think.
If you’ve got something to share, reach out to your Chapter or Sector Group, or reach out to me directly. I’d love to have you in the room.
Joe Salemi, CAE
LO Executive Director
jsalemi@landscapeontario.com
