Bess Foley

Through her consulting practice, EHF Nonprofit Financial Management Consulting, Elizabeth (Bess) Hamilton Foley has provided consulting, training, and technical assistance as a finance specialist for a wide range of small and midsize not-for-profit organizations in Washington, DC since 2000, taking a holistic approach to building financial management capabilities for her clients. She also worked on multi-year capacity building projects in Cleveland, Baltimore, New Haven and Arizona as an associate with National Arts Strategies from 2001 through 2006. Ms. Foley then served as co-administrator of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ UPSTART Capacity Building Program for nine years, from its inception in early 2006 through 2014. She is a finance consultant/trainer for capacity building programs for Arlington Economic Development (Virginia) and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region/Nonprofit Montgomery (projects in Maryland). Ms. Foley serves as a teaching fellow for the Executive Program in Arts and Culture Strategy, developed by National Arts Strategies working with the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to consulting, Ms. Foley had extensive experience working in finance and administrative staff positions for several nonprofit organizations in the DC Metro area. She is an associate member of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs, a contributor to their award-winning website, www.NonprofitAccountingBasics.org. She serves as chair of the Nonprofit Operating Reserves Initiative Workgroup and was co-author of its Nonprofit Operating Reserves Policy Toolkit. She has also served on a variety of nonprofit boards and finance committees.