By Richard S. Towne, KUNM General Manager

Last month we paid a fond adieu to KUNM’s System Administrator Jonathan Longcore and our Senior Fiscal Services Analyst Linda Morris, thanking both for decades of service to KUNM listeners. This month, we do the same for KUNM Development Director Mary Oishi. Mary will retire near the end of January after committing more than a decade to raising the funds for our non-commercial radio service.

Mary has led a team of five fundraisers at KUNM including Cris Nichols, Chanda Shaw, Catherine Heyne and Erin Brown. Together, they are responsible for leading our staff in raising about $1.4 million per year from KUNM contributing listeners, business sponsors, and non-profit organizations in our service region. You’re receiving this newsletter because you contributing to KUNM. It is most appropriate for us to thank you now for your support of our work together.

Beyond the pure financial results of fundraising lies the far-more important commitment to mission and serving the community with integrity. Mary has been exceptional in her commitments to you. I know you can recognize this from the many letters Mary has written to you and the many times you have called with your contribution in response to Mary’s work. By doing so, you have helped us sustain a critical community service.

All of us working at KUNM extend our gratitude for the great work and leadership Mary has provided here at KUNM. We wish Mary the most enjoyable retirement imaginable. Well-earned, well-deserved! I believe there is such a thing as a “debt of gratitude”. We at KUNM will repay that debt of gratitude every time we step into the studios.

KUNM’s Sales Manager Chanda Shaw will replace Mary in the Development Director’s hot seat. Chanda competed in our national search for that perfect person to lead our fundraising and marketing efforts. Chanda has worked at KUNM since May of 2011, although the bulk of her work has been behind the scenes. She currently works to produce sponsorship support (aka underwriting) from the for-profit companies in our region who support our work together.

Chanda has also spent many years at KUNM as a specialist working to develop partnerships with the non-profit organizations serving our community. Those of us working at KUNM can tell you - Chanda’s work is amazing. As a KUNM contributing listener, you will enjoy getting to know Chanda as she steps into bigger shoes to lead the Development Department at KUNM.  All to the Good in 2019.

By Mary Oishi, Development Director

Development work is actually a career in manifesting. For me, I really have to believe in something to garner support for it. But when the mission captures my heart, it becomes my passion to manifest what it takes to support it and keep it thriving, a quest I gladly undertake with imagination and dedication. It gives me great joy to manifest solid and consistent results. There is a sense of empowerment (and perhaps a little magic) in it.

In my twelve plus years serving as KUNM’s Development Director, I have had the privilege of working with a great team of people equally dedicated to KUNM’s mission. Together we have successfully manifested the results envisioned at the outset, and in several areas have significantly exceeded the original goals. It was a true team effort to build on the groundwork of my predecessor and realize such gratifying results.

Cris Nichols joined us early in my tenure leading the Development Department. Her wealth of experience, impeccable follow-through, and stellar service to our members have contributed significantly to building our monthly sustainers well past the original goal for growth. We put in place the technology to accommodate what I planned ultimately to be a 150% increase. Believe it or not, monthly support is now 400% of what it was twelve years ago! Like I said, a little magic. I owe a debt of gratitude to Cris. It would not have been possible without her. (Or you!)

Two people preceded me in retirement and one moved on to other pursuits: Linda Rodeck, Carol Boss, and Rob Raucci, respectively. Each brought a wealth of experience and a real heart for the work we do at KUNM. Both Carol and Linda have returned to help us during pledge drives, and of course, Carol remains as volunteer host of Wednesday afternoon Freeform and Women’s Focus.

Catherine Heyne joined our department, having been a long-time KUNM member herself. In addition to her belief in KUNM, she brought great database knowledge and skills. Catherine helped tremendously in implementing a new program that allows for monthly contributions through our on-line donation form. Many of the efficiencies she introduced have enabled us to serve you, the rest of our members, even better.

Erin Brown joined our team to help non-profits get announcements on KUNM. She does much more behind the scenes, such as running the program log (the schedule on-air hosts follow each day during their broadcast shifts). Her role is essential to serving our community well.

Last but by no means least, is Chanda Shaw. She became part of the KUNM development team with a strong background in media sales, both radio and print. She also had worked in both the private and nonprofit sectors. Her cheerful demeanor and positive outlook quickly endeared her to the KUNM staff and volunteers and to the nonprofits she was hired to work with after Rob left. She eagerly took on many additional responsibilities. She was quick to learn complex computer software, and managed to handle even the most tedious and thankless tasks without hesitation or complaint. When Linda Rodeck retired, Chanda stepped into those big shoes with initiative and competence—and successfully filled them.

When I hand in my office keys at the end of January, Chanda will take on a new challenge. I have every confidence that she too will manifest—with your help and the help of KUNM’s great Development team—whatever KUNM needs to thrive well into the future. Please join me in welcoming Chanda Shaw as KUNM’s Development Director in 2019!