Elizabeth “Betsy” Soete brings over three decades of development experience to her work with nonprofit organizations. She is recognized for having achieved outstanding fundraising results on behalf of the performing arts for two major university capital campaigns. Her expertise includes campaign planning and implementation, organizational assessments and feasibility studies, major and principal gifts, board development, donor relations/stewardship, and special events.
Betsy Soete has worked with a broad range of clients, including arts and culture organizations, higher education and human services clients, with budgets ranging from $500,000 to $35 million. Recent consulting engagements include the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Northeastern University.
Her professional experience includes serving as Assistant Vice President of Development at DePaul University, where she directed the performing arts campaign, benefitting the School of Music and The Theatre School, for which she raised significant funds for new facilities, programs, and scholarship support. Previous positions included serving in Director of Development positions at both DePaul and Northwestern University, and as Director of Development Special Events at Northwestern.
Betsy has been active as a volunteer with several Chicago-area professional organizations, including Women in Development (now Professionals in Development North), where she held a number of leadership positions including serving as President. She also serves on the boards of several community organizations and has presented at regional and national conferences and workshops for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the School of Music at Northwestern University.
