Wisconsin · Nonprofit
APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC
APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $84,500 to it, the largest being FOX COMMUNITIES CREDIT UNION ($59,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $85k
- Net assets
- $446k
What Appleton Downtown Inc does
Mission
Our mission to establish a vibrant and accessible destination for business, learning, living and leisure is anchored in our focus to create an environment of success and sustainability for the new exhibition center, a robust employment center and a more livable downtown. Our strategic initiatives build support for an exceptional visitor experience, a strong business climate and an attractive, accessible and inclusive downtown where more people want to live.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Downtown vitality through promoting and managing downtown events and promoting a clean, safe and friendly environment is another area that dominates our task list. Events provide quality of life experiences, generate foot traffic for the businesses and provide additional opportunity to showcase the distirct. Our events typically generate support dollars for the organization however some are strictly designed to drive traffic to the businesses and are not considered fundraisers. The downtown summer farm market, which featured 88 local and regional vendors, the heid music summer concert series featured top local acts and put on 11 free live shows. We hosted two night market events free to attend featuring culutral performances, artistic experiences, live music, vendors and food. Our events included a variety of experience events including death by chocolate, soup walk, cultural cuisine walk, craft beer walk, wine walk, and cafe walk. These events are designed to get people moving around the district and visit venues. We are the management arm for the community parades handeling logistics. We are also a contracted partner of octoberfest helping to manage the arts and crafts area and…
Our efforts in district marketing are focused on showcasing the downtown as a destination for business, arts and leisure. Advertising ranges from image marketing to event marketing that draws thousands of visitors to our downtown. We use a variety of avenues including radio, digital billboard ads, print ads, tv ads, kiosk and window displays, and social media. Our social media advertising includes email, eblast, a web page with 195k total active users, facebook with 26,511 likes, and instagram with 8,995 followers. We produce an annual downtown guide and distributed 15,000 of them to visitors and local residence, expense of $8420. Weekly communication to the businesses and general public keeps everyone informed on issues and happenings in the district, we switched to constant contact this year $1344 for the subscription. An image marketing campaign was launched investing a total of: $55,150 invested. We contracted with coalsce marketing and invested $21,100 to have our website rebuilt. A total of $59,042 was invested in content development and graphic design. The downtown guide and small business saturday program attract cooperative investment of $25,700 from downtown businesses…
We support programs for the recruitment, improvement and retention of 206 property members in downtown appleton. Bid building improvement funds are designed to improve physical appearance. In 2024 the bid distributed $49,079 for building and signage improvement grants and $10,650 in new business support grants from the business improvement district. Support for business recruitment through our searchable online property tool helps connect building owners with potential tenants or buyers. We also provide a resident and employee welcome packet program. All programs are bid supported. We continue to partner with the city of appleton to execute the downtown plan chapter 14 of the city's comprehensive plan.
Our partnership with riverview gardens care program continued to provide general cleaning services to the downtown district. In 2024, the program provided 656 hours of sidewalk cleaning service, with 131 bags of trash collected. We contracted with pfefferle management for 370 hours of additional cleaning services including graffiti removal. We also provide the flowers for the sidewalk planters, and lights in houdini plaza. The program is bid supported.
In partnership with valley transit we support the downtown trolley in downtown and the riverfront. In 2024 we were awarded a grant from the convention and visitors bureau to fund our portion of the trolley. Additional expenditure was for the public brochure.
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $579k to $880k (+52%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 25% · 2018 23% · 2019 26% · 2020 47% · 2021 47% · 2022 31% · 2023 25% · 2024 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Jennifer Stephany
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $25k → $15k.
From the IRS filings of APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
100% of APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Creative Downtown Appleton Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC?
- APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $84,500 to it, the largest being FOX COMMUNITIES CREDIT UNION ($59,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $84,500 in grants to APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC?
- FOX COMMUNITIES CREDIT UNION is the largest funder on record, with $59,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like APPLETON DOWNTOWN INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Appleton Downtown →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 2 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing