Lyra Works provides fractional CFO and grant accounting services to nonprofits with annual budgets of $1 million to $10 million. We take the time to learn your programs, your funders and your budget, so we can help you steward your organization's resources, not just close the books each month.
No long-term contract. You can end our work together with 30 days' notice.
Dear executive director,
Managing your organization's finances is work that matters a great deal but that you can't easily check yourself. Most of the leaders we work with have hired someone to handle it before. What they usually found was someone skilled at the mechanics: keeping QuickBooks in order, closing the month, paying the bills. That work matters, and we do it too. But it isn't the same as knowing your programs, your funding sources and your budget well enough to explain the numbers and what they mean for the decisions in front of you.
In finance, there's a real difference between keeping the books and understanding the business.
Understanding the business is the work we've done since 2017, mostly for organizations like yours: grant-funded, lean, often with no finance staff at all. It takes real time with each one, so we keep our client list small.
If you're looking for someone who will take that time to understand your organization, I'd love to hear about it.
What kinds of issues do you help with?
Each of these comes up regularly in the organizations we serve. Open one to see how we would handle it.
Are we the kind of organization you work with?
Not a nonprofit? We still keep the books for a small group of businesses and online shops, and we're glad to talk.
What does the engagement include?
These are the four areas covered in our standard service agreement. Your proposal spells out exactly what's included for your organization.
Transactions recorded on a GAAP basis and reconciled monthly, with functional allocations and supporting schedules. Your CRM kept in sync with the books, and payroll, benefits, expense reporting, invoicing and bill pay run through clear workflows.
A treasury plan that matches your cash to your priorities, and internal controls with approvals and separation of duties. Insurance renewals, state filings and fees, and your 990 handled with your auditor and CPA.
Budgets by program and project, forecast updates, KPIs and a live dashboard, and regular management and board reports. Grant costs allocated to each agreement's terms, with the figures you need for applications and progress reports.
Staff questions about pay, deductions and PTO, ad hoc reports and corrections, and a finance partner to think through issues as they come up.
How many months could our reserves cover?
| Cash & cash equivalents | $612,400 |
| Less payables | (48,150) |
| Available cash | 564,250 |
| Plus pledges & receivables | 221,000 |
| Less restricted funds | (184,000) |
| Reserve | $601,250 |
Months of reserves tells your board how much time the organization has to absorb a shortfall in revenue, take on a new commitment or change course. Tracking it every month gives your treasurer an early warning while there's still room to act, instead of a surprise when options have narrowed.
A sound reserve policy builds on that number. It sets a floor and a target in months, so the board has agreed in advance on how much cushion is enough and at what point spending from reserves becomes a concern.
What are your terms, and what does it cost?
We work for a flat monthly fee, on a month-to-month basis. Over the years we've learned to judge what an organization needs, price the work fairly and deliver it well, so we don't need a long contract to make the relationship work. We'd like you to stay because the work is good. The terms below come directly from our service agreement.
Service runs month to month. You give us 30 days' notice. We owe you 60, so if we ever part ways, you have time to find the right next person.
You won't be billed by the hour or charged for calling us. Onboarding is a one-time fee, starting at $2,000, that we quote before we begin. If your needs change, we'll talk with you about the scope before anything on your invoice changes.
Our office hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. You can call, email or text whenever something comes up, and we'll respond during office hours. We offer flexibility in scheduling meetings as needed.
Our fee increases by 5% each year on your service anniversary. It's written into the agreement, and we'll always let you know ahead of time.
We work in your QuickBooks file and your own filing system. Everything we do stays under your ownership, and if we ever part ways, you keep all of it.
"Contractor is responsible for ensuring transparency and clarity pertaining to the client's financial performance."
That line is in our service agreement because we believe it's central to the work.
Monthly fees begin at$2,500
One-time onboarding begins at $2,000.
You get a written quote after our first call, based on the scope and complexity of your organization's accounting operation.
How do you actually get to know our work?
Beyond researching your grants, programs and financial history, we work alongside your staff in the systems and conversations where decisions are made. That's how we learn who each program serves, how it's funded and what each funder expects.
A few problems that understanding helps us catch early:
A multi-year grant that pays for two positions ends in March, and next year's budget still assumes it's there. We track the terms of every award and flag funding cliffs months ahead, while there's still time to renew, replace the funding or plan the transition.
Many awards pay for the program but not the full cost of running it: the rent, insurance, audit and finance staff behind it. We work out what each program really costs and build that into proposals and indirect cost requests, so overhead isn't quietly absorbed by unrestricted funds.
Restricted gifts land in the same bank account as everything else, and the record of what each one is for often sits in an email or a grant file. We track every restriction in the books and release it when the restriction is met, as qualifying expenses are incurred or a time restriction ends, so you know what's truly available for operations and your auditor finds a clear paper trail.
In a small office, the same person often sets up vendors, approves bills and sends payments. It's one of the most common audit findings in small nonprofits, and it makes mistakes and fraud hard to catch. We separate those steps with approvals that fit your staffing and review access whenever someone joins or leaves.
What happens when we start?
Whatever the state of your organization is today, we'll meet you there. The full transition usually takes about a month, or longer if there is catch-up work to be done. We use that time to get onboarded, read your grant agreements, bring your accounts up to date and learn how your organization actually runs. It's covered by a one-time onboarding fee that we quote before we begin, so you know the cost of the transition before you commit.
We meet with you and anyone involved in your organization's finances. We review your accounting system, financial platforms and grant agreements. Then we tell you what we found, including any unreconciled accounts, overdue filings or other loose ends.
We reconcile back to the last clean point and, where needed, rebuild the structure of your books around your programs and funders. Any catch-up work is scoped and priced before we begin.
We complete your first monthly close, build a budget with full operational context, and prepare your first board report. We review it with you before it goes to the board.
Once we're in place, we work alongside your board, staff, funders, CPA and auditor, and coordinate with each of them directly so you don't have to be the go-between. Here's how it fits together.
Works
Who will actually be doing the work?
Lyra Works started in 2017, when two independent bookkeepers were introduced to each other and decided they'd do better work together. Our clients have always been a mix, but nonprofits kept finding us, and we kept learning what it takes to serve them well. Today most of our work is with grant-funded organizations that need more than bookkeeping and aren't ready for a full-time CFO.
Lydia manages each client relationship, supported by a team that handles bookkeeping and accounting operations. You always know who's working on your finances.
Co-founder & managing partner
Lydia has more than 15 years of experience in financial planning and analysis, including seven years in corporate financial planning before starting her own practice in 2014, which became Lyra Works in 2017. She's grown it from a bookkeeping firm into a controller and CFO practice focused on grant accounting, board reporting and planning. From 2023 to 2025, she also served as interim Director of Finance for Giving Kitchen, an Atlanta nonprofit that provides financial assistance to food service workers in crisis.
Co-founder
Cara grew up around family-owned businesses and spent more than ten years at multinational investment firms. She co-founded Lyra Works in 2017 and helped shape the hands-on, process-first approach that still guides the firm.
The initial consultation is free. Bring whatever is on your mind, whether it's an audit request, a spreadsheet or a question from your board. We'll tell you plainly whether we can help.