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Nonprofits love to talk about growth. New markets, new programs, new grants, new everything. But our guest, Aila Malik, founder of Venture Leadership Collective, flips the script and asks the question most boards and executives skip: Have you actually earned the right to scale up?
Coming out of Silicon Valley’s “grow or die” mindset, Aila warns that scaling is not a badge of honor—it’s a high-risk move that can quietly hollow out your organization if your foundation is shaky. She walks through three blunt prerequisites before you chase expansion:
· Do you know the true cost of your model—including “motivational paychecks,” underpriced talent, and the invisible cost of managing volunteers?
· Do you know what success at steady state really looks like—revenue mix, roles, talent, outcomes?
· Do you know when to call it before your signature program starts bleeding to death?
From there, Aila digs into the three C’s that separate organizations that scale with intention from those that spin out: competency (or courage), clarity, and culture. Self-aware leaders who can say “I don’t know,” data-literate teams that treat impact as their “money metric,” and cultures built on trust and transparency all become non-negotiables.
As Aila puts it, “We don’t have a profit metric we’re trying to increase. We’re trying to increase the outcomes and the impact in the community.” That one line resets the whole conversation. Growth is no longer about bragging rights—it’s about whether your systems, people, and culture are strong enough to carry more weight without breaking.
If you’re tired of board pressure, whiplash after big grants, and reactive leadership, this episode is your wake-up call: scale is earned, not assumed.
#TheNonprofitShow #NonprofitLeadership #ScaleWithIntention
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