Despite the growing support for the importance of volunteer leadership development activities across nonprofit organizations, little is known about volunteer leadership development in the field of human resource development. This narrative literature review highlighted the main challenges in running a nonprofit organization, emphasized the value of volunteer leadership development, and stressed the important role of HRD to develop more capable and trained volunteers. Due to the shortage of skilled volunteers, special efforts are needed to concentrate on volunteers' development; proper guidance (...) and assistance are required to do this effectively and efficiently. This study opens discussion on this topic and offers overall implications for volunteer leadership development. Our findings can help professionals design thoughtful leadership development programs for volunteers and may provide a foundation for future research in the field of HRD. (shrink)