Ohio · Nonprofit
DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE
DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE (Ohio) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,657,176 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION ($2,310,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $9.0M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $3.7M
- Net assets
- $3.1M
What Downtown Cleveland Alliance does
Mission
Downtown Cleveland Alliance is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to building a dynamic downtown. It is committed to making downtown cleveland the most compelling place to live, work, play, and visit in the region.dca, working hand in hand with downtown property owners, creates forums for communication and involvement by a diverse group of downtown stakeholders, including local development corporations, city and county governments, civic and arts organizations, residents, young professionals, and business stakeholders. By facilitating the collaboraiton of these groups, Downtown Cleveland Alliance strives to enhance the quality of life in the urban core by implementing initiatives like the clean and safe program, economic development assistance, marketing and special events, advocacy and strategic projects.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Downtown ambassador program (clean & safe) - working from our central operations center with full communications capabilities, dozens of cross-trained team members work shifts spanning 18 hours a day to create a cleaner, safer, better environment for everyone downtown. Our clean and safe ambassadors spend most of their time providing hospitality services. They're trained to help with information on hotels, restaurants, attractions, events, conventions, and parking locations and costs. They're also knowledgeable about local ordinances such as panhandling, loitering, and solicitation and are in contact with peace officers if a situation requires action.
$3,992,927 spent49% of program spendingHoliday lighting ceremony (winterland) - winterland is one of cleveland's most beloved traditions and well attended events. The lights and decorations that are activated during this holiday lighting ceremony create a festive atmosphere in public square and playhouse square to accompany the full schedule of activities that continue downtown throughout the holiday season. Dca has proudly been at the helm of winterland since 1998. The program is both more economical for the alliance and manageable for visitors, while providing a spectacular holiday experience for the greater cleveland community. Winterland attracts an estimated 30,000 visitors downtown each year. We continue to maintain and build our strong partnerships in the public and private sector that make the event possible. The winterland committee we organize works hard to collaborate with venues and vendors to design a downtown experience that will attract local participants, as well as visitors from throughout the region and state. Winterland is a family-oriented initiative that aims to make it easy and appealing for families to spend an entire day and evening downtown.
$369,289 spent5% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$3,716,560 spentof which $121,635 as grants$693,829 earned by the program46% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,078,776.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.9M to $3.6M (−26%).
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 3% · 2018 2% · 2019 6% · 2020 9% · 2021 5% · 2022 6% · 2023 10% · 2024 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% 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
Michael Deemer
President and CEO
Board chair
Rob Falls
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $348k → $398k.
5 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $42M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Downtown Cleveland Improvement Corporation). These are real filings, and they are not money DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE raised.
From the IRS filings of DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 funders by total. 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
DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 88% · 2019 50% · 2020 54% · 2021 49% · 2022 73% · 2023 63% — diversifying over time.
“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
52% of DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
96% of DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $74k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE's funding base is broadening — from 6 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE: 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 DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE?
- DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE (Ohio) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,657,176 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION ($2,310,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $3,657,176 in grants to DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE?
- THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,310,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 31 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