About Elizabeth Murdock

Elizabeth Murdock brings over 10 years’ experience in wildlife conservation and nonprofit management. Her expertise includes environmental advocacy, campaign and program development, fundraising, strategic planning, executive leadership, and organizational development. Elizabeth’s work has spanned local, regional, national and international issues.

Prior to launching her own consulting practice in San Francisco, Elizabeth was the Executive Director of Golden Gate Audubon Society in Berkeley, California. There she led an extremely successful effort to transform a small local group into one of the Bay Area’s most effective conservation organizations. Elizabeth helped Golden Gate Audubon grow significantly in multiple arenas, including: strengthening the board of directors; expanding the organization’s conservation, education, and volunteer programs; quadrupling the membership base; crafting and executing a plan to secure the organization’s long-term sustainability; and effectively engaging diverse communities in the organization’s programs. During Elizabeth’s tenure, Golden Gate Audubon’s environmental education programs were honored with the 2008 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award.

Before joining Golden Gate Audubon in 2003, Elizabeth managed high-profile campaigns for two leading wildlife conservation organizations—a national endangered species campaign at the National Wildlife Federation and the Shark Conservation Program at WildAid. Elizabeth has designed and implemented successful public education, social marketing, advocacy, and on-the-ground conservation initiatives for numerous imperiled species in the U.S., Asia, and Latin America. Her conservation accomplishments include playing an instrumental role in securing the historic CITES Appendix II listing of the whale shark in 2002, and leading globally significant efforts to reduce illegal avian mortality at California’s Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, the oldest, largest, and most deadly wind farm in the U.S.

As an independent consultant, Elizabeth has helped organizations by:

• designing and implementing successful fundraising strategies;
• connecting organizations with donors, funders, and prospective board members;
• training conservationists in areas such as fundraising, board development, and volunteer development; and
• advancing conservation and policy initiatives, including providing programmatic guidance and identifying potential funding sources to support the work.

Elizabeth has served on the board of directors for the Planning and Conservation League, the Shark Research Institute, and Earthshare of California. She holds a degree in Humanities from Yale University. She has also studied in Vienna, Austria and taught courses on language, environment, and cross-cultural understanding at the University of Leipzig in Germany through the Robert Bosch Foundation.