In Palm Beach, where philanthropy typically takes familiar forms, West Palm Beacher Nancy Marshall is focused on something more elemental: protecting South Florida’s abundant but delicate natural world.
A longtime environmental advocate and community leader, Marshall has spent decades championing conservation and education across our area. As co-founder (alongside Dianne Bernstein) and co-chair of Wild About Wildlife (WAW), a local initiative supporting the National Wildlife Refuge Association and its South Florida Urban Wildlife Refuge Project, she’s helped shape an effort rooted in the simple but powerful idea that exposure to nature, especially at a young age, fosters lifelong stewardship.
For Marshall, the work isn’t only practical—it’s deeply personal. She’s the widow of pioneering Everglades conservationist Colonel John Arthur Marshall and formerly served as president of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades, where she expanded community engagement to reach more than a million people annually. Today, that same ethos carries through WAW’s programs across Palm Beach County.
Through initiatives like Pocket Refuges (small native habitats installed in schools) and Floating Wetlands that improve water quality while doubling as living classrooms, the organization meets communities where they are. Furthermore, the Conservation Ranger Camp introduces high-school students to careers in environmental science through immersive experiences in the field.
Marshall explains that WAW grew out of her years spent helping wildlife refuges across the country build awareness and stronger community ties. Its name came about roughly six years ago, around the time the group held its first fundraiser—memorably, on the eve of the COVID-19 shutdowns. That event raised $17,000; this year, the organization’s gala at The Ben raised more than $329,000, marking what Marshall describes as a transformational period and underscoring not only how far the initiative has come, but also locals’ eagerness to rally behind it.
It makes sense, because Palm Beach County is a particularly vital place to focus. Home to the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge—one of the country’s largest urban-adjacent refuges and part of the northern Everglades—and a whole lot of philanthropists, the county has both extraordinary natural assets and the influence needed to engage the public. “We have a national wildlife refuge in our backyard,” Marshall says. “It’s really so significant.”
Next up is growth. WAW has plans underway to expand its advisory board, sharpen communications and donor strategies, and welcome author and journalist Richard Louv to West Palm Beach this fall. The organization also recently launched a new website to open its doors even wider.
It’s all in service of Marshall’s larger goal to ensure the next generation not only inherits South Florida’s ecosystems but values them accordingly—as both the backdrop and the lifeblood of the abundant, beautiful place we all call home.
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