Questions we’ve been asked

Why?

People across Kirkland are hungry for trusted local information. They want to know where to go for fun, what’s new in local businesses, which activities are kid-friendly, what’s happening in city government and schools, and how they can have a voice in our city.

Today, various organizations publish newsletters that are useful, but it’s hard to follow them all and they don’t always interpret what that information means for people in Kirkland. There are multiple social media channels that are fun, but the quality is mixed. Kirkland deserves reliable and unbiased information presented by professional journalists.

Will this project succeed?

The odds are significantly stacked for success. The project leaders did extensive research and are leveraging proven models for independent local journalism. They started by getting to know two of the many similar digital newsrooms nearby, myedmondsnews.com and gigharbornow.org, both nonprofit tax-deductible operations that have been active for over 5 years. Their leaders have been mentors and shared many details about how they got started, operational details, how they manage the operation, and what they learned along the way. In June 2026, issaquahspotlight.org successfully launched and is also a significant resource. These local newsrooms serve as a pattern for The Kirkland Pulse which will be unique to Kirkland.

The Kirkland Pulse will join two national organizations that exist solely to support and advise local nonprofit news: inn.org and lionpublishers.com. The Kirkland Pulse is following well-established patterns for success as part of a nationwide and Seattle-area local news ecosystem.

The founding Board Members are all experienced businesspeople with extensive backgrounds in finance, tech, and nonprofits. The broader leadership team includes a growing group of advisors with deep experience in finance, business operations, publishing, technology, and community service. Everyone involved with this project is passionate about bringing a community newsroom to Kirkland.

Who will write it?

A professional managing editor will be hired by the Board of Directors of The Kirkland Pulse. This person will have total and independent control over content and will write some articles while recruiting freelancers and volunteers to write other articles. Nearby schools have expressed interest in giving students the opportunity to write articles and help with marketing.

Where will the start-up money come from?

To get the operation started, The Kirkland Pulse aims to raise $90,000 in tax-deductible donations by December 31, 2026. This will cover start-up business costs (insurance, bookkeeping, etc.) and operations costs (managing editor’s salary, web site operations, freelancer fees, etc.) while operating income ramps up.

Where will the operating money come from?

After the news site is launched, income will come from 5 major sources:

• Small recurring tax-deductible donations by readers, “Like NPR”. Once someone registers their email address, they get free access to all the content. Subscribers will receive a weekly email linking to new articles on the news web site. They will be asked to enroll and become members, donating “what they think it’s worth”, similar to NPR and local radio station KNKX. The target is $10 to $20 per month per member.
• Annual donations from Leadership Circle donors.
• Digital ad sales to businesses. Kirkland’s small local businesses are hungry for ways to get their message out to the Kirkland community.
• Sponsorships of news sections. For example, in Gig Harbor, a local real estate firm sponsors the local community events calendar.
• Grants. National organizations like inn.org both directly support local news operations through NPR-like “matching grants” and offer access to various national charitable foundations who support local nonprofit news operations.

The Kirkland Pulse has a three-year financial plan that projects becoming cash-flow positive during 2028.

When will the paper start publishing?

If the start-up fundraising goal is achieved on time, the objective is to advertise to hire the managing editor in January 2027 and start publishing in March.

What about the Kirkland Reporter?

The Kirkland Reporter is no longer a viable news source for Kirkland. The Reporter stopped printing their hardcopy edition during COVID. There is still a website, but it isn’t about Kirkland. Instead, it offers stale news from many cities and no local Kirkland events. A November 9 visit to kirklandreporter.com found only 1 fresh news article about Kirkland in the “Top News” section, headlined “Kirkland teen located and is safe” which is 49 words long and seems to have been automatically copied from the FOX 13 web site. A related 82-word story dated 5 days earlier is also shown. Stories in Auburn, Renton, King County, and Federal Way are published as other “Top News”.

After several ownership changes, the Kirkland Reporter is owned and operated by Carpenter Media Group which is based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and serves 246 communities. The very large Carpenter Media Group could decide to revive The Kirkland Reporter. So far, there are no signs of the needed investments.

The Kirkland Pulse will report local news and information with local reporters from a local operation: reporting that is fun, trustworthy, entertaining, keeps people connected to government, and builds community.

What next?

Please take three actions to help make The Kirkland Pulse launch successful:

• Make a tax-deductible donation to help your new newspaper reach the $90,000 start-up goal by clicking here.
• Send an email to info@kirklandpulse.org telling the team what topics and subjects you’d like to see on your local news web site.
• Spread the word to your neighbors and friends!