Radio Drama Network Inc.

Radio Drama Network Inc. (EIN 13-3253712) is a small, tightly held private foundation based in Stamford, CT, created out of the estate of legendary radio producer Himan Brown to perpetuate his legacy in audio drama and "the spoken word." It is run entirely by the Brown family and a longtime associate: Melina Brown (Himan's granddaughter) is President at a $128,000 salary, with Barrie Brown as Vice President and Eli Kopelman as Treasurer/Secretary — neither of whom draws compensation. This is not a foundation built for broad public solicitation. Every data point — its own DB record marking it "preselected_only," the absence of a published application form or online portal, and consistent third-party confirmation (Zeffy, Grantable, Grantmakers.io) that it "does not accept unsolicited applications" — points to a relationship-driven, invitation-based grantmaker. With only 9 grants totaling $1.1M on file across all captured years, and just three states represented (NY: 6 grants, CA: 2, MO: 1), this is a founder-legacy foundation, not a competitive open-call funder.

For organizations that do secure a relationship, the profile is clear: theater and audio-production companies producing specific plays or seasons (Intar, Ensemble Studio Theatre), general operating/production-assistance grants to spoken-word and poetry organizations (Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Poetry Society of New York), and niche audio-craft programs (National Audio Theatre Festivals' audio production class, Bay Area Video Coalition's production assistance, Reel Stories' filmmaking camp for young women). The through-line is direct artistic production in spoken-word mediums — not research, advocacy, or capacity-building grants.

First-time applicants should not expect a cold-application pathway to succeed. The realistic path in is relationship-building: personal introduction through the New York theater/audio-drama community (where 6 of 9 known grantees are based), alignment with Himan Brown's specific legacy (radio drama, audio storytelling, playwriting for audio), and visibility to the foundation's very small leadership team. Given the 2026 pivot toward the foundation's own CUNY TV podcast and documentary projects, expect a shrinking pool of dollars available for outside grantees in the near term, with the foundation directing more resources into its own archival/production work.

Across the 9 grants captured in the record (total $1,108,574, average $123,175), grant sizes ranged from $20,000 (Hispanic Organization of Latin Artists) up to $525,000 (International Arts Relations/Intar, across 2 grants for specific plays). The DB's own typical-grant-size calculation, based on 4 distinct grant instances, shows a median of $102,500 and a tighter working range of $50,000–$280,000 — Intar's $525,000 combined total is really two grants and skews the simple max. Mid-size awards cluster around $50,000–$75,000 (National Audio Theatre Festivals $50,000; Bay Area Video Coalition $75,000), suggesting that is the realistic ask range for a new, well-aligned applicant, with six-figure awards reserved for long-standing relationships like Intar and Ensemble Studio Theatre ($280,000 for specific plays).

Geographically, funding is concentrated in New York (6 of 9 grants — Intar, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Poetry Society of NY, Hispanic Organization of Latin Artists, and National Audio Theatre Festivals), with California (2: Bay Area Video Coalition, Reel Stories) and Missouri (1) rounding out the geographic footprint. There is no grantee data outside these three states, reinforcing that this is a New York theater-world funder first, with occasional national or regional outreach to audio-specific organizations.

On the balance sheet, total assets have declined steadily and substantially: from $15.1M in FY2011 to $9.7M in FY2022 (most recent year on file) — a roughly 36% drawdown over 11 years — while total giving has swung widely year to year: $2.1M (2011), $1.3M (2012), $2.6M (2013), $391K (2014, an outlier low year), then a gap in filings before $839K (2018), $2.5M (2019, boosted by a one-time $3.66M investment-income spike), $1.4M (2020), $1.6M (2021), and $2.6M (2022). Officer compensation to Melina Brown has risen steadily from $100,000 (2018) to $128,000 (2022 filing, though listed at $110,307–$113,230 in intervening years), tracking modestly upward as the foundation's asset base has shrunk. With net investment income the primary revenue source every year (contributions received: $0 in all captured years), this is a closed-fund, endowment-spend-down model rather than an actively fundraising public charity — capacity to give is a function of investment performance and the family's giving decisions in a given year, not new contributions.

Radio Drama Network sits in a narrow niche — private, family-run, spoken-word/audio-drama funders — where true apples-to-apples peers are scarce nationally. No peer foundations were returned in the underlying data bundle, so the comparison below uses foundations identifiable from its own grantee and program overlap (National Audio Theatre Festivals as a field convener, and comparably sized founder-legacy arts foundations) for context on scale and access model.

Radio Drama Network's asset base and giving level place it at the small end of even this narrow peer set, and unlike many mid-size NYC theater funders that run at least an LOI intake cycle, it offers no public application pathway at all. Its distinguishing feature versus peers is the singular focus on "spoken word" as a medium (radio, podcast, audio drama, poetry, slam, audiobooks) rather than theater or the arts broadly — a narrower thematic lane than most comparably sized arts funders.

The most concrete recent activity is programmatic, not grantmaking: on 2026-06-04, CUNY TV and Radio Drama Network launched "If You Please... Himan Brown's Radio Mystery Theater," a weekly archival anthology podcast rebroadcasting episodes of the original CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974-1982), with each season's 13 episodes contextualized by radio historian John Slavney. This followed CUNY TV's earlier premiere of its first original podcast/documentary exploring Brown's legacy as part of a 9-part "Audio Maverick" documentary series. Both projects are foundation-driven productions rather than third-party grants, and the foundation's own site describes using "AI imagery" alongside vintage audio in the new series while emphasizing fair compensation for creative talent — a notable, specific detail for any applicant working at the intersection of AI and audio production.

No news of new grant awards, leadership changes, or funding announcements for 2025-2026 surfaced in web search; the searches returned only aggregator/database listings (Zeffy, Grantable, Candid, Grantmakers.io) repeating the same historical filing data already captured in the underlying record. Leadership remains stable: Melina Brown as President (compensation rising from $100,000 in 2018 to $128,000 in the most recent 2022 filing), Barrie Brown as VP, and Eli Kopelman as Treasurer/Secretary, both uncompensated — no turnover detected. The most recent financial filing on record is FY2022 (total assets $9.7M, total giving $2.6M), meaning grant seekers should assume the foundation's current capacity may differ from these three-plus-year-old figures and should not rely on this report for up-to-the-quarter dollar amounts.

This is an invitation-only funder — there is no published application form, portal, or public grant guidelines on radiodramanetwork.org, and every independent database (Zeffy, Grantable, Grantmakers.io, Candid) confirms the foundation "does not accept unsolicited applications." Do not spend time preparing a cold LOI or hunting for a portal; none exists. The single highest-leverage move is building a warm introduction into the New York theater and audio-drama community, where 6 of the foundation's 9 known grants originated (Intar, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Poetry Society of New York, Hispanic Organization of Latin Artists, National Audio Theatre Festivals).

When you do get a conversation, frame the ask around Himan Brown's specific legacy — radio drama, audio storytelling, playwriting for audio, poetry/spoken word performance — rather than generic "arts and culture" language. Grant purposes on file are narrowly worded ("grant is for a specific play during season," "audio production class & various performances during festival"), which suggests the foundation prefers funding a named, discrete production or program rather than general operating support with vague deliverables; where general support was given (Bay Area Video Coalition, Nuyorican Poets Cafe), it was still labeled "production assistance," tying dollars to tangible output.

Realistic ask sizing: a first-time or smaller organizational relationship should anchor around $50,000-$75,000 (the National Audio Theatre Festivals and Bay Area Video Coalition range) rather than the $280,000-$525,000 tier reserved for established, repeat relationships like Intar and Ensemble Studio Theatre. Given the foundation's 2026 pivot toward producing its own content (the CUNY TV podcast and "Audio Maverick" documentary), consider pitching a partnership or co-production angle rather than a pure funding ask — the foundation has shown recent appetite for being an active media partner, not just a check-writer. Common mistake to avoid: treating this like a typical foundation with a fiscal-year RFP cycle — with $0 in contributions received every year on file, this is an endowment-funded family foundation whose annual giving swings with investment performance and family discretion, not a calendar grant cycle, so there is no fixed "deadline" to target.