Appleton Downtown Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
391727622
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Appleton, WI, USA
Phone
9209549112
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,040,608
Expenses
$1,043,246
Assets
$772,436
Liabilities
$326,024

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LYSSA KING (PRESIDENT)
  • STEVE LONSWAY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • LAURA VARGOSKO (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • JENNIFER STEPHANY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER STEPHANY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $100,248 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

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.

What it reported doing in 2024

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 and sponsors. $104,690 of our marketing and printing expenses are covered by bid funding.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.3%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.6%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 13 of 14 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.