Wisconsin · Nonprofit
CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC
CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $177,313 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE FOX VALLEY REGION INC ($59,180). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $176k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $177k
- Net assets
- $105k
What Creative Downtown Appleton Inc does
Mission
To create and enhance the cultural environment of downtown appleton by providing opportunities for community access to arts, music and cultural activities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Cda partners with adi to produce the light the night market series - supporting live music and performance acts. Cda produced the november holiday night market which include free activities such as live music, games, smores, a treat walk, wagon and train rides, reindeer, also food vendors and art and craft vendors. All sponsorship - no direct revenue generated.
$44,256 spent36% of program spendingArts and creative placemaking and public art is another main focus. Cda coordinates the mobile parklet on washington street which includes public seating. Images of world music instruments and fresh herbs for the public. Cda is a partner in street music week, make music day, chalk walk, and other small scale art projects throughout the year. We assisted in raising the dollars and coordinating logistics for the large scale mural project that includes 20 students, a local artist and several teachers that participate in the mural development. The program has become a skills training opportunity for the students as well. Cda partners with adi to produce free live music concerts in jones park - cda partners on two event nights. Cda also hosted a ticketed event including the dueling pianos.
$57,242 spent$15,576 earned by the program46% of program spendingAvenue of ice is a display of handcrafted ice carvings throughout the mile of downtown appleton. Carvings are sponsored by companies and cda covers the cost of a larger scale carving. In 2024 we also hosted a free trolley for those unable to walk the downtown to be able to see the carvings. This is a february event.
$18,200 spent15% of program spendingCda is a mile of music production partner. The event features original live music from more than 600 performances and provides a music education series free to the public throughout the four day festival. Outdoor free music was presented in several accessible areas of downtown including jones park, houdini plaza, and the lawrence university campus area. Cda manages jones park logistics and helps to oversee houdini plaza. We receive a stipend for our support.
$4,870 spent$10,000 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $124,568.
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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $68k to $105k (+56%).
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 2% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 25% · 2021 2% · 2022 24% · 2023 4% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $10k → $11k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON 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
CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
87% 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 CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 54% · 2021 57% · 2022 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.
How long its funders stay
25% of CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 20% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
56% of CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON 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. $79k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. 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.
Against its field
CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$6k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON 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.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Appleton Downtown Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON 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 CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC?
- CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $177,313 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE FOX VALLEY REGION INC ($59,180). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $177,313 in grants to CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON INC?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE FOX VALLEY REGION INC is the largest funder on record, with $59,180 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CREATIVE DOWNTOWN APPLETON 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.
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 10 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