I think that a community buy could work. With a clock ticking, it is just not feasible.
It could simply be ran like a GB for a percentage stake. Obviously, there would have to be restrictions (% of ownership cap). I think a lot of people would put in money to keep the site going and the money would be raised quick. Then a President, VP and "Board of Directors" (I am good with the mods) could be voted in. Having more people in the know would help things like this in the future. As many others have stated, I would like things to stay the same BUT, as Zeal posted earlier, there are things that could be capitalized on. He mentioned merch, which I think is a great idea. I would buy some. There could be designs donated as well as monthly shirts and stickers that would never be sold again. There are also vendors, artisans etc. that could do monthly raffles to help with the site costs (I think I saw Kudos mention that in Slack).
I hope the outcome still allows us to be able to be apart of this community based forum. I do not make caps or sell anything kb related etc. But I could help financially, with designs and just over all business knowledge.
EDIT: Personally, I do not think Zeal buying it would be the worst thing. The reality of the community being able to own it seems like a pipe dream.