KSER Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 911642834
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Everett, WA, USA
- Phone
- 4253039070
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Radio
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $382,042
- Expenses
- $441,377
- Assets
- $433,418
- Liabilities
- $4,823
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Eric Fetters-Walp (President)
- Michelle Dietz (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Eric Fetters-Walp (President)
- Ashley McDonald (Secretary)
- Lisa Utter (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To enrich our community through local, independent public radio and other services dedicated to arts, education, ideas, and civic engagement.
What it reported doing in 2025
The KSER Foundation delivers noncommercial radio programming to listeners in Snohomish and Island counties, as well as the surrounding areas via two radio stations 89.9 KXIR FM and 90.7 KSER FM. A paid staff of three and over 100 volunteers operated both stations and provide local news and information, national and world news, arts, and cultural programming 24 hours a day and 365 days per year. KSER and KXIR are committed to providing diverse points of views, encouraging civic engagement, promoting and exchange of information, and showcasing loal voices, community leaders and artists. The same programming is heard on both stations. KSER is the only independent public radio station in Snohomish County. We work diligently to be good stewards of our donors support and promote the value of community service.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 31
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.1%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 71.8%; rating input score 72
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -15.5%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.1% of revenue deployed · 71.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $317K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.