About The Curtis & Edith Munson Foundation

The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation began making grants in 1987-88. Over the past three decades, we have emphasized partnerships, collaborations, and seed funding for new projects and organizations within the framework of our programs as defined by our guidelines and priority setting by our Board.

Wolcott Henry

Underwater photographer Wolcott Henry is president and chair of The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation and The Henry Foundation, both of which support marine conservation projects with an emphasis on fisheries and coral reefs. From 1989 to 1993, he published Conservation Digest, a newsletter for environmental grantmakers. He is the co-founder of the marine funders working group.

In the non-profit field, Mr. Henry is the co-chair of the advisory committee of Ocean Unite. He served as a director on the boards of Earth Echo International (also as chair), World Wildlife Fund-Philippines, and The Ocean Foundation (of which he was the founding chair). His prior board service also includes the International League of Conservation Photographers, World Wildlife Fund—US, FotoWeek DC, the Divers Alert Network (DAN), and the Ocean Conservancy. He has served on advisory boards for the Smithsonian Ocean Science Initiative and on the national council of World Wildlife Fund-US. He serves on advisory boards for the Frost Museum of Science and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation.

Mr. Henry has also collaborated with Dr. Sylvia Earle on two children's books published by the National Geographic Society, titled Hello Fish and Sea Critters. In 1999, he co-authored a large format book with Dr. Earle on our national marine

sanctuary system called Wild Ocean, also published by the National Geographic Society. His photography has been published in a variety of mass media and academic journals, and deployed in exhibits such as the Ocean Hall of the Smithsonian's natural history museum. In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Because of his interest in both conservation and photography, Mr. Henry has worked hard to promote the concept of "conservation photography," using high quality images to illustrate environmental problems as well as natural wonders. He helped found www.marinephotobank.org to provide such marine images to the global nonprofit community for use in public outreach and education projects.

Prior to joining the Munson Foundation in 1986, he worked for two management consulting firms in Chicago. He received his B.A. from Denison University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.

Angel Braestrup

Since 1994, Ms. Braestrup has been executive director of the Munson Foundation. She is concurrently the Program Director for the Henry Foundation. She serves as chair of the board of the Norcross Wildlife Foundation and was also the chair of the Center for Agricultural Partnerships. She serves on the Board of The Ocean Foundation. In the past, she served as a director on the boards of the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity, the Association of Small Foundations (now Exponent Philanthropy), and the Sheridan School. She also served on the steering committee of the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network until January 2016. She also served as the first co-chair of the Marine Funders Working Group (now the Marine Conservation Program) of the Consultative Group on Biodiversity from 2004 to 2008.

Prior to becoming executive director of the Foundation, Angel Braestrup served as founding editor of the Foundation's bimonthly newsletter, Conservation Digest. She compiled and edited the Environmental Sourcebook for Journalists (Center for Foreign Journalists, 1994), co-authored a manual for corporations on hazardous waste minimization (Grace Creek Press 1994), and was a contributing editor to A Field Guide to Environmental Literacy: Making Strategic Investments in Environmental Education (Environmental Education Coalition, 2003).

A 1980 graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in history, Angel worked for the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981-1989, specializing in transportation, energy, agriculture, water resources, and other environment issues.

The Edith Cummings Munson Award