Michael Kraft
Sarah Starck homeschooled her son Gardner. While a young boy, as part of his education, he got involved in KMUD, starting as a guest on a show. He participated in the radio station, in some way, from age 8 – 18. Gardner eventually had his own show. As his mom, Sarah stepped in to help with her son’s volunteering, participating in fund drives and other volunteer roles.
In 2017, Sarah became a board member and helped KMUD come “into the
now” with best business practices, things like understanding financials, SOPs, and compliant practices. When her board term was up, the organization asked her to stay on as a paid consultant. After some management turnover, she was willing to step in and, in October 2024, was hired as Redwood Radio’s financial manager.
It’s been a saddle bronc ride so far. Like with so many nonprofits, 2025 proved to be unkind. The funding cut taken by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting meant that 30% of KMUD’s annual income was gone overnight. “We relied on that grant, we had it for years,” Sarah says. The board and staff are currently discussing what they will do next year. The solutions look to be three-fold: 1) some kind of staff reduction of around 20%; and, 2) trying to create a news-centric website where the organization can sell advertising and make up some of the lost budget…they are hoping for about $50,000 in advertising, which is well short of the budget cut, and 3) they have a staff member focused on increasing funding from things such as major donations, advertising, and sponsorships.
KMUD has benefited from major donors who stepped up in the last few months in response to the federal cuts. One gave $20k in no-longer-wanted Tesla stock. Another donor contributed $10k from their retirement fund. (Note tax laws allow such donations directly to a nonprofit tax free.) A lot of people have started giving monthly donations, and existing donors have increased their monthly donations. Interested folks can go to https://kmud.org/donate/ and look for the support drop down tab.
Despite these bright spots, there’s a new and concerning trend. KMUD’s membership drives have been down recently largely, Sarah believes, due to the near collapse of the cannabis economy. This year’s drive, “Rooted Strong,” is underway. To engage, call the station at (707) 923-2513 or go directly to the website. The donation options are endless: you can send checks, walk cash in, donate stock, or provide gift certificates, among others.
Short on money? “We’re always looking for volunteers,” Sarah says. Volunteer roles include tabling, programming (all content except news is provided and performed by volunteers…as Sarah puts it, “all of the things that give voice to the community”) and answering phones during membership drives. Some specialize in events. Some of the station’s original founders are still volunteering, all these decades later.
As with Sarah’s young son, KMUD really encourage youth participation. There is a commitment to youth journalism. The station currently employs four young interns. “There are youth in our community who really thrive at KMUD,” Sarah says.
Community radio stations play a linchpin role in disaster planning and response. KMUD has an emergency response team, primarily volunteers who monitor public service scanner traffic and watch the fire and emergency apps. That team notifies the news department. When there’s an emergency, they network out, everybody steps up and, when things are confirmed, the team goes on air reporting what they know.
Sarah says that it’s worth knowing about IPAWS, a FEMA warning network. This backbone disaster service will likely suffer from holes because public radio and TV stations are going to fail and drop from the network. Some communities will simply find themselves siloed out. It wasn’t only NPR and PBS that took those budget cuts. These are things that will affect safety, especially in rural communities.
Prior to 2025, there already had been losses in local news coverage in both SoHum and northern Mendo. To cope with the new fiscal and journalism realities, Redwood Radio seeks to digitize its content, creating podcasts, while the website becomes more news centric to fill the gaps.
Returning to the budgetary situation, Sarah says “there’s nothing easy about reducing staff and services. We’re going to have to really look at what our priorities are.” The organization will need community input on that, to make these hard decisions, which they plan to seek via some combination of surveys and public meetings.
From where I sit, KMUD shines as this little gem, with a mission to inform, educate, entertain, and inspire the listening community. There are bunches of ways to step in and help out to ensure this mission continues.
Michael Kraft writes the Good Work series, volunteering on behalf of the Northern California Association of Nonprofits (NorCAN). NorCAN supports connections between people and organizations that work every day to keep our communities healthy and strong by offering professional development, board support, networking connections and more. Learn more at https://norcal-nonprofits.org/. To nominate a deserving nonprofit organization to be profiled, email michael@kraftconsultants.com
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