THE PLAN

Venture Leader Lab (VLL) is a member subscription platform to a human-led, tech-enabled community of practice that supports nonprofit practitioners around the country and provides space for the exchange of tools, resources, and best practices.

Set to launch in 2026, Venture Leader Lab will build nonprofit leadership in two distinct areas of focus:

Organizational Effectiveness

• Facilitate practice-based mastermind sessions on topics such as fundraising, capital campaigns, talent audits, theory of change, and measuring impact, etc. These sessions will feature cohorts of nonprofit leaders engaging in expert-led deep dives.
• Provide a curated digital library ot resources, tools, and templates, and a vetted list of consultants who can provide individualized support;
• Platform for information exchange; and
• Search tool room for members to find additional high-quality resources and talent.

Individual Growth Opportunities

• Create curated events and weekly professional and personaldevelopment exercises to cultivate and hone critical soft and hard leadership skills necessary for optimal organizational effectiveness;
• Access to customized executive coaching geared towards an individual’s strengths and needs;
• Social capital for building professional networks; and
• Enrollment in Venture Leader Academy, a three-month virtual course to develop nonprofit professionals’ knowledge skills, and overall ability to advance their missions.

THE TEAM

Aila Malik

Executive Director & Founder, Venture Leader Lab

Aila is an experienced leader who collaborates with venture-ready organizations to re-imagine their places within the education,  correction, and community-based organization sectors. She specializes in launches, expansions, process design and implementation, and development coaching for high-performing executives.

Aila has dedicated over 20 years to supporting and educating youth in many contexts including homeless shelters, mentally disabled homes, the juvenile justice system, foster care, and mainstream public schools. In that time, Aila has served as a non-profit executive for high performing non-profits, an experienced trainer in the community-based organization, education, and correction sectors, an adjunct lecturer for Juvenile Justice courses at both Santa Clara University School of Law and Lincoln Law School, and a children’s author.

Aila is well-versed in international not-for-profit work and has extensive experience in supporting international efforts in the areas of conservation, employment, and poverty alleviation. She holds a BS in Environmental Science from UC Santa Barbara, earned her JD at Santa Clara University, and is a member of the California Bar Association. Among other accolades, she was a recipient of the 2011 ABA Child Advocate of the Year Award and was a Berkeley Law Foundation fellow.

We’re curating a lineup of faculty and guest lecturers designed around what matters most to our members. Stay tuned as we add experts whose work aligns with your areas of focus and need.