The company taking Salem Media private isn’t a broadcaster, a private equity firm, or a media holding company, which has left many in the industry asking, “Who is WaterStone?” — the Colorado nonprofit that will likely soon own a Christian radio giant.
WaterStone is the operating name of The Christian Community Foundation, Inc., founded in 1980 by Douglas Kiesewetter Sr. and his son as an early pioneer in donor-advised funds. Since its founding, the organization has guided donors through more than $3.2 billion in contributions, advises roughly $2 billion in assets, and distributes approximately $4.6 million weekly in grants to Christian causes.
The organization is led today by CEO Ken Harrison, a former Los Angeles police officer who built the largest independent real estate valuation firm in the US before selling the majority interest to Colliers International in 2006. Harrison became WaterStone’s CEO in 2017 and two years later resurrected the male-centric evangelical Christian organization, Promise Keepers.
The Salem relationship has been shaped since the two sides first met roughly 24 months ago by a different face: WaterStone President Rick von Gnechten, who now serves as Chairman of Salem’s Board of Directors. Before WaterStone, von Gnechten held CFO roles at Sapere Wealth Management, the Ravon Corporation, and Hawaiian Electric Company, and served as CEO of the Council on Health Costs.
WaterStone had already accumulated its voting interest through multiple preferred stock investments made before the acquisition announcement. The largest and most public was a $40 million Series B preferred stock investment that helped Salem retire $159.4 million in senior secured debt. By the time that deal closed, von Gnechten was already on Salem’s board, and by August, he was its Chairman.
The acquisition fits a model WaterStone describes as venture philanthropy: deploying charitable capital into mission-aligned enterprises rather than simply distributing grants. The foundation operates without a public market exit obligation or a financial return requirement beyond mission advancement.
What makes the Salem deal interesting is that media investment isn’t WaterStone’s core business. The foundation doesn’t hold a portfolio of broadcast properties the way a traditional group owner or private equity firm would. Its known investments, per tax filings and InfluenceWatch research, flow to its own supporting trust structures and organizations like the America First Legal Foundation and Focus on the Family, though the latter has a longstanding syndication relationship with Salem.
Of course, because WaterStone operates donor-advised funds and is not required to disclose the full scope of what clients direct those funds toward, client-directed investments may touch other Christian media properties in ways that don’t surface in public records. As WaterStone itself goes, however, Salem appears to be its only direct media holding.
