Eliza K. Quigley, MSW

Director
Galveston, Texas

Eliza Quigley has more than fifteen years as a senior leader within nonprofits, charitable foundations, and social service organizations with a deep understanding and expertise in program development and donor relations. Eliza was the President of the Harris & Eliza Kempner Fund from 2018-2024, having previously served on the Board of Directors for 14 years in various roles before becoming the first of her generation to lead her family’s philanthropic endeavors into the sixth and seventh generations. As President of the Board, she oversaw a 50 million corpus and the 2.7 million annual grant allocations.

Eliza is the Director of the Friends of the Israel Defenses Forces (FIDF) South Texas Chapter. As Director she is responsible for all aspects of fundraising, local board management, donor cultivation and solicitation, as well as overseeing and executing events for the South Texas chapter in Houston, Galveston, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso. In less than four years, Eliza has grown the annual revenue from ~$800,000 in 2021 to more than $4.3 million in 2024.

Eliza has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Boston University. While at the University of Texas School of Social Work, she specialized in Administration and Planning and studied at the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. In addition, she is certified in Alcohol and Drug Counseling Skills by the University of California, Los Angeles. She also holds a certification in Fine & Decorative Arts from Christie’s Auctioneers & the Royal Society of Arts in London and worked for a private art dealer in New York and for Sotheby’s Auctioneers in Los Angeles.

Eliza has lived and studied abroad in Florence and Rome, Italy; Cuenca, Spain and the United Kingdom, and has traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East. While completing her master’s degree, she lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico and studied conversational Spanish for social workers. Eliza sits on various boards as a trustee and as an advisor to the following organizations: The University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing, The Galveston Roundtable of Foundations, The Galveston County Recovery Fund and is a lifetime Trustee of the Harry Rosenberg Library. She is a member of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, the Galveston Historical Society, Temple B’Nai Israel and the Ball High School PTO.