Executive Strategic Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders

Don’t lead alone. Get a strategic thought partner who will lift you up, sharpen your thinking, and hold you accountable to the goals that matter most, on your best days and your hardest ones.

Leading a Nonprofit Can Be Lonely Work

You’re expected to have the vision, manage the board, lead the staff, keep donors close, and hit every goal, often with too few people and too little time. There’s rarely anyone to think out loud with, and the big ideas get buried under the day-to-day.

Executive Strategic Coaching gives you a confidential space to step back, think clearly, and lead with confidence. You leave each session with a plan you can act on.

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A 90-Day Coaching Program Built Around You

  • Six one-on-one sessions over three months, by video or phone

  • Quantifiable goals set from day one, so you can see your progress

  • Check-ins between sessions to keep you moving

  • Fully customized: every session is shaped around your challenges, your organization, and your goals

  • Renewable: many clients continue coaching after their first 90 days

Our approach is research-based and data-driven, inspired by creativity and bold, out-of-the-box thinking.

Your Coaching Journey

1. Get to Know You
You’ll receive a Welcome Letter and an Intro Questionnaire about you, your organization, your values, your strengths, and where you want to grow.

2. Set Your Baseline
Before Session 1, you’ll complete a Baseline Survey and a personality assessment. We’ll also hold an orientation meeting to walk through the process and schedule all six sessions.

3. Coach, Act, Repeat
In each session, we dig into what matters most right now. Afterward, you’ll get a written recap with key insights, practical activities, and clear action items. A check-in before the next session helps you follow through.

4. Measure Your Growth
After your sixth session, a Progress Survey shows how far you’ve come. We’ll celebrate your wins, and you get the option to renew.

What We Might Explore Together

  1. Every session is flexible. Here are some topics clients often bring:

    • Succession planning and executive transition

    • Building confidence and leading from your core values

    • Working with your board, including the shift from a working board to a governing board, or vice versa.

    • Delegating well and building staff autonomy

    • Managing priorities and protecting your time

    • Setting bold goals and mapping a path to reach them

    • Strategic plan accountability and reporting progress to your board

    • Donor recruitment, retention, and upgrade strategies

    • Building relationships with donors, partners, and community connections

    • Taking feedback in stride and learning from setbacks

    • Celebrating your successes, and remembering to

    • Work-life balance and recharging your energy

    • Reviewing your materials and processes, with honest feedback

    • Any other topic you need

What You Receive: Everything You Need to Plan and Follow Through

  • Intro Questionnaire, Baseline Survey, and Progress Survey

  • Personality assessment

  • Orientation meeting and session schedule

  • Six one-on-one coaching sessions

  • Written session recaps with action items

  • Check-ins between sessions, as needed

  • Practical exercises, such as values accountability, a “brain on paper” mind map, and a 10X goal-setting exercise

  • Ready-to-use templates, such as a donor engagement plan, a donor journey map, a development activity plan, and a guide to celebrating wins

  • Curated articles and resources matched to your challenges

Is Executive Coaching Right for You?

Executive Strategic Coaching is a strong fit if you are:

  • An executive director or CEO of a small or growing nonprofit

  • New to your role, or ready to lead your organization into its next phase

  • Getting ready to transition out of your role

  • Asked by your board to invest in your professional growth

  • Stretched thin and holding too much in your head

  • Ready to lead with more confidence and less second-guessing

Confidentiality

Your space is protected. Everything you share in coaching stays between us. We practice complete and strict confidentiality to protect you and your organization.

Meet Your Coach

Theresa Collins, MS, MOD

Theresa is the Founder and Principal Strategist of Beacon Organizational Consulting. She brings two decades of experience in the nonprofit and organizational development fields and holds a Master’s in Management & Organizational Development. She has raised millions of dollars for community projects and services and has coached nonprofit leaders across the country.

After growing up in foster care and aging out of the system, Theresa has dedicated her life to making the world a better place. She knows firsthand how much it matters to have someone in your corner.

FAQs

How are sessions held?
By video or phone (option of in-person for local clients), so you can join from anywhere in the U.S.

How long does the program last?
The core program is six sessions over about three months. You can renew when it ends.

What does it cost?
Typical pricing for the core 6-session program ranges from $2,000-$3,000 depending on your organization’s size and needs. Contact us for current pricing. Coaching is a worthwhile professional development investment for your board to support.

What if my needs change mid-program?
That’s expected. Sessions are fully flexible and follow what you need most.

Different Question?

Don’t Lead Alone

We’ll lift you up and give you fresh ideas on your best days and your worst.

Get Started

  • Having Theresa and Beacon Consulting as a resource has been incredibly valuable to me as a nonprofit leader. I find my executive coaching time to be a safe space to problem solve, generate ideas, strategize, and vent. The onboard process that Theresa uses helped tremendously from the start in establishing focus, better understand myself as a leader, and goal setting for our work together. I quickly realized that the time I set aside for coaching sessions was going to be different than anything else on my schedule, and I could use it as a space to center myself in my work, acknowledge all aspects of my life, and put the pieces in the best place to move forward. I've been surprised at how well Theresa balances keeping space for the whole person within coaching, while still making progress on professional goals. She's adept at anticipating and acknowledging all the things that impact my success as a leader. She also navigates being both supportive and challenging, and I've benefitted greatly from the accountability that coaching offers. I've also been immensely grateful that she has a seemingly endless toolkit and has been able to provide terrific resources that I've been able grab and implement, nearly instantaneously. I would recommend Executive Strategic Coaching in a heartbeat, especially for a leader of a small and growing organization. I think any leader who is managing a dynamic board and staff , struggling with clarity, finding their role stressful, or looking to achieve specific moves forward could benefit from the space, tools, and accountability offered by ESC.

    ~ Abbey Cameron, CEO, 3 Rivers Community Foundation

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