Coaching empowers nonprofit leaders with expert guidance, strategic insight, and personalized support. With deep sector experience, I help executives navigate challenges, strengthen leadership, and drive mission-driven impact with clarity.
Cyrus Pace centers his coaching philosophy on the principle of agency — the power leaders and managers possess to effect meaningful change within their organizations. Agency means recognizing clearly what is within our control, where our skills and experience can genuinely influence outcomes, and what falls beyond our immediate capacity to change.
This practice is both empowering and clarifying. It helps leaders focus their energy where it matters most, and navigate constraints constructively rather than being paralyzed by them.
Through the lens of agency, Cyrus encourages nonprofit leaders to develop proactive habits and strategies — enhancing their ability to lead effectively, adapt responsively, and make impactful decisions.
Whether addressing immediate challenges or developing sustainable, long-term strategies, coaching engagements may draw on any of the following areas.
Crafting and reinforcing organizational values that motivate and retain top talent.
Enhancing communication, trust, clarity of roles, and governance effectiveness.
Identifying internal and external obstacles hindering organizational success and developing actionable strategies to overcome them.
Evaluating programs to align resources strategically with organizational capacity and mission effectiveness.
Strategies to maintain organizational health and staff well-being through intentional workload management and resilience.
Successfully integrating new leaders through structured orientation, mentorship, and clear expectations.
Strengthening financial literacy and developing robust fiscal management practices for long-term sustainability.
Guidance and support for challenging personnel issues with fairness, clarity, and compassion.
Balancing openness with strategic messaging to build trust while advancing organizational goals.
Addressing mission drift and clarifying priorities to maintain organizational focus and integrity.
Identifying gaps in systems and structures and proposing practical, achievable enhancements.
Establishing clear standards of performance and responsibility to foster accountability and drive outcomes.
Building cohesive, effective teams through intentional development, collaboration, and leadership practices.
Cyrus Pace is the Executive Director at Academy Center of the Arts in Lynchburg, VA. Prior to that appointment, Cyrus was the Executive Director at Jefferson Center in Roanoke, VA, where he led three major campaigns, managed multiple strategic planning processes, and added real value to the organization's balance sheet.
As an educator, Cyrus is an assistant professor of music and arts administration at Virginia Tech, teaching Financial Management in the Arts Sector and Nonprofit Board Governance and Leadership for graduate students, two undergraduate courses in arts management, and Jazz Improvisation and Jazz Small Groups.
Before Jefferson Center, Cyrus served as Coordinator of Fine Arts for Roanoke City Public Schools, where he facilitated a VH1 Save the Music grant for 18 elementary schools, bringing $450,000 worth of instruments into the hands of children.
Cyrus holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Roanoke College and a Master's degree in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music.
One-on-one engagements for leaders at any level.
Support for the executive – board chair relationship.
Aligning senior teams around shared goals.
Strengthening governance practice and roles.
Sessions for staff, boards, and conferences.
Custom programming for nonprofit teams.
We put basic terms in writing, so expectations are clear from the start.
A discovery call and intake assessment give Cyrus the full picture before work begins. Complete the intake form →
Cyrus synthesizes the discovery call and assessment, then uses the first session to clarify goals and objectives. This is summarized in a written coaching plan and sent directly to you — a guide for what coach and coachee will work on together, whether small steps toward a larger goal or something more visionary.
Sessions typically run weekly, around 60–90 minutes, in person, virtual, or by phone — though frequency is flexible. Between sessions, Cyrus prepares tools, assignments, and questions; you'll often have work of your own between meetings too. Every session looks a little different: some begin with “What's on your mind this week?” and follow wherever that leads. Much of a coach's value comes simply from listening — for patterns, limiting beliefs, themes, and hang-ups.
Two recurring challenges from Cyrus's coaching and writing — adapted from his forthcoming book, It's Not Your Fault: Practical Solutions for Structural Challenges in the Nonprofit Sector.
A natural information deficit sits between most leaders and their boards, creating tension over when a board should decide and when it should defer. Rather than fighting that tension, Cyrus helps leaders use it as an asset: routing challenges to whoever is best positioned to move them forward, building trust through openness and accessibility, and grounding the board chair – executive director relationship in mutual respect and aligned planning.
Many nonprofit leaders inherit a for-profit definition of capital — money to build something — that doesn't reflect how boards, auditors, and donors actually experience a campaign for operating stability or program growth. Cyrus helps leaders reframe their case for support, push back constructively on rigid assumptions from auditors and funders, and settle on a simpler, more useful definition: capital is what it takes to get something done for the community.
Upcoming virtual and in-person sessions will be listed here as they're scheduled.
In the simplest terms, nonprofit coaching provides a setting for feedback and new thinking around the challenges faced by those working in what I consider the most complicated leadership environment: nonprofit work.
Generally, the coach's job isn't to provide immediate solutions to known issues, but to frame dialogue and compel forward momentum for the coachee. By pairing an objective view of the issue with a genuine, subjective interest in the coachee's success, a coach can have a material effect on outcomes and drive momentum.
Coaching is consulting, but specific to the needs of leaders and managers within nonprofit organizations. It's focused on challenges and solutions for individuals, rather than strategy development or feasibility studies affecting the organization as a whole.
Clients commit to either 6- or 12-month engagements, with special consideration for shorter engagements, including 3 months in certain cases.
Listen. Question. Guide. Repeat.
Given the complicated nature of nonprofit work, I've found that setting a meeting schedule for the entirety of the engagement works best to ensure we have ample time together. My preference is a coordinated time on a set schedule.
It depends on the challenge! Regardless, my job is to help you think through it, and together I'm confident we can create a response that's ethical, responsible, and effective.
It depends on the challenges you and your organization are facing. Examples include revenue enhancement, campaign success, financial goals, culture improvement (measured through snapshots), and board engagement.
Everything discussed in our sessions is 100% confidential.
Ballpark terms are $5,000 for a 6-month engagement and $10,000 for a 12-month engagement, though the fee structure is adaptable to the needs of the person and organization.
Tell me a little about your organization and what you're navigating right now. I'll follow up to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.