As a board member of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, an organization that was critical of the George W. Bush administration's widespread encouragement of industry self-regulation,Mass Audubon opposes weakening of the federal Endangered Species Act , August 2004, Massachusetts Audubon Society, accessed July 15, 2008 Ellis led fundraising efforts to establish Belize's Rio Bravo Conservation and Management AreaBelize & Tikal, January 2006 , Massachusetts Audubon Society, accessed July 15, 2008 and the environmental conservation program Programme for Belize. She was also a member of the nongovernmental organization Pact.
