Elizabeth “Beth” Folcarelli, Ph.D. is an experienced nonprofit leader who has served with multiple C-Suite teams since 2008. Within nonprofit organizations both large and small, Beth has twice served as Chief Executive Officer and fulfilled roles as Chief Strategic Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
In these roles Beth has had a direct hand in Board relations and development, organizational planning and culture-building, financial performance, marketing and fundraising, legal, regulatory, and accrediting compliance, and employee recruitment, retention, and professional development. In December 2024, Beth retired from formal organizational life to contribute more fully to the broader nonprofit sector.
She founded Catalyst Nonprofit Solutions in May 2025 with the aim to maximize mission impact by focusing on five key Performance Pillars integral to non-profit organizational success:
Resource Cultivation
Strategic Assessment, Planning, & Execution
Organizational Marketing, Advancement, & Fundraising
Operational Quality & Accountability
Business Intelligence
“Since the beginning of my professional career I have held…with strong fascination…an unwavering interest in factors differentiating high-performing and evolving nonprofit organizations from others. I examined key variables for success as part of original, doctoral research, centered my leadership practice in these domains as former CEO, and continue to focus on these differentiators today. Nonprofit organizations fill such an important community need. As purpose-driven entities, nonprofits address society’s most complex needs and often pursue their missions with changing or limited resources. Delivering exceptional service requires top talent and teamwork, strategic vision and operational “know-how,” business continuity and execution, passion and perseverance, and sustained openness to innovation and growth. No doubt – it IS a tall order! I opened Catalyst to work more closely with nonprofit organizations to actualize goals, cultivate teams, and build resources. It is my hope to strengthen the sector through this work, one organization at a time. Catalyst embeds within your organization and becomes a trusted, reliable, and responsive resource to address critical strategic and operational imperatives. We truly look forward to working with you.” ~ Beth Folcarelli, PhD