At The Santanero, we love transparency. But producing journalism isn't free. That's why we're launching this fundraiser not just to keep the lights on — but to grow, evolve, and better serve you, our readers.
Here’s a breakdown of how your support helps:
Upgrading our publishing tools 🛠️
Creating our digital e-editions has been incredibly time-consuming. Right now, every article is cut, pasted, and formatted manually in Canva — not ideal.
We’re raising funds to purchase Adobe Publisher or Affinity Publisher, industry-standard software used by both independent and large-scale newspapers. This will allow us to:
- Release free weekly e-editions in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese
- Distribute free monthly printed editions in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese which are especially valuable for our elder community members
Expanding community participation 💬
We want to hear from you — literally. That’s why we’re introducing:
- Opinions & Columns
- Letters to the Editor
- Ask & Tell Advice Section
- CommuntyCal (pending form for submissions)
While we can collect responses via Google Forms for now, we need to upgrade our website hosting tier to:
- Support more user profiles
- Let readers contact contributors directly
- Open the door to a more interactive news platform
A multilingual, mobile-friendly website 🌐
Santa Ana speaks in many voices — and our website should too.
We’ve already maxed out our translation word count under our current website plan. With your help, we’ll invest in:
- More translation credits for English, Spanish, and Vietnamese of our articles, pages and newsletters
- A mobile-friendly redesign from the ground up — not just pretty, but accessible and functional for everyone
- Long-term hosting, domain security, and updated licensing for fonts, themes, and graphics
Supporting our future staff 🤑
This one’s big.
The Santanero has gotten this far thanks to one team member — Daniel, who’s been doing this for free for over two years and used $23,384,24 of his own wages to maintain it. But as we grow, volunteer labor isn't sustainable or fair to any future team members who join the paper.
We want to bring on more contributors — especially rising local journalists — and actually pay them for their work, so our community is effectively informed.
This includes:
- Reporters/newswriters
- A podcast editor (see below)
Because the value of their work deserves compensation. Journalism is labor, and Santaneros deserve a newsroom that reflects — and respects — the work it takes to keep it running.
Launching our video podcast 🎙️
We’re hoping to launch a video podcast that brings together the people shaping life in Santa Ana before the next election season kicks off. We'd like to invite:
- Local elected officials
- City and school district staff
- Community leaders, educators, artists, and residents
This podcast will spotlight the issues affecting us all — from housing to education to public safety — with honest, face-to-face conversations.
The Santanero already has much of the core equipment, but we still need funds to:
- Pay for editing and post-production
- Create or license theme music
- Cover podcast hosting and distribution platforms (Spotify, Apple, etc.)
This will help us get our voices out — clearly and consistently. The podcast will also give opportunties to local Santanero businesses to advertise on episodes. Ad guidelines will be published later this year once all our ducks are in a row.
Becoming an official circulated newspaper 📰
We’re working toward official recognition from both:
- The City of Santa Ana — we plan to file for a tax business license this year!!
- The Superior Court of California — so we can publish public and legal notices, as well as allow birth and death announcements
Once recognized, we’ll be able to charge a small fee for publishing these, which will help us:
- Stay paywall-free
- Support ongoing translation, hosting, and printing
- Keep the lights on without having to fundraise throughout the year
Better inform during emergencies
The Santanero has suspended regular reporting several times since 2022 to cover emergency-related happenings such as Hurricane Hilary, round after round of flooding due to atmospheric rivers, and wildfires.
With plans to have an internet radio station and have an app (newsletters already exists), we'd like to invest in technology that will be able to carry out alerts to the community of such events. One of these includes investing in a specific radio that can receive several frequencies from the National Weather Service and Local Area Alert radio stations (KWVE 106.7 FM/KVNR 1140 AM for Orange County).
Emergency alerts such as AMBER alerts, weather and local area emergency alerts are relayed from either the National Weather Service, law enforcement or governments.
Even after an earthquake or another tragedy, it is critical to inform the community in any emergency and we extend a hand to the City of Santa Ana, the Orange County Fire Authority and local law enforcement to allow the use of our publication and future internet radio station to inform Santaneros during such emergencies (and/or the rest of the county when needed).
The investment will also allow The Santanero to publish information faster on our social media handles and website.
Advertising opportunities
The Santanero will be under an umbrella DBA called the 'Santanero Media Group' and will also be with its sister media branch KSNG Radio, an internet radio station that will bump oldies while informing the community in 2026 (hopefully).
The Santanero will continue to be what it has been, a community newspaper. Hopefully by Q1 2026, a form will be published to allow local businesses to advertise on our digital weekly and monthly print editions.
The podcast will be under the 'media group' solely and published on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Advertising for the podcast will also come from the same form and will have slightly more criteria as each episode is different.
For all advertising, there is an emphasis on supporting local Santa Ana businesses!
KSNG Radio will likely not allow sponsorships, but will allow volunteers to virtually guest-DJ or participate in requests for music.
The Santanero Media Group holds all oversight in any advertising request it receives and prohibits advertising that promotes or depicts the following: marijuana (including CBD/THC products), cigarettes, cigars, vaping products, firearms or weapons of any kind, beer, liquor, or any other form of alcohol. This includes both direct promotion and any implied endorsement of these products, even in editorial or entertainment contexts. All ad submissions are subject to review, and the Santanero Media Group reserves the right to reject any creative at their discretion. The Santanero Media Group also prohibits its sub-DBA's from endorsing or funding candidates, their campaigns, receiving monies through a campaign, paying to attend their events, and advertising their election campaigns on any digital, print, or social media post, including reposts. Exceptions are resource fairs or townhalls that are free for the community to attend. If free parking isn’t available, then it will not be reposted too. Because free means free.
Future goals: app and copyright application
By mid-2026, The Santanero hopes to release a mobile app on Google Play & the Apple App Store. With it, we can send push notifications to alert you of local stories, events, and emergencies in real time.
We have established brand identity among the community and to better protect what we publish, we'd like to file with the United States Copyright Office and Patent/Trademark Office to make our logos, slogans, and publications better protected under copyright and trademark law.
What We Are (and Aren’t)
- We’re not a nonprofit — this means we’re fully independent and make our own editorial decisions
- We’re soon to be a registered business (run independently!)
- We will accept ads soon, but with strict editorial guidelines, especially favoring local small businesses at discounted rates (guidelines published later this year)
- Advertisements will not appear on our website (too glitchy)
Show Me the Receipts!
The Santanero will publish its first transparency receipts on October 1st, 2025 right here on this page. This will include how much money was raised, how many orders came through, what the money was spent on, and how much was left—with attached receipts and invoices.
Our Mission, again!
The Santanero exists to bridge the gap between the people of Santa Ana and the systems that affect our daily lives. We report local stories with heart, and aim to uplift every Santanero voice — in three languages and across all generations.
Thank You 🙌
Whether you donate or just keep reading — you’re a part of this! This isn’t just about news. It’s about belonging and knowing someone out in the city is fighting to bridge the gap between Santaneros and our electeds :)