What We Achieved in 2025… By the Numbers

500,000+

Average views of Hearthstone videos per month on Tik Tok because of our new social media programming through Social Buzz Collaborative.  Social media metrics have exploded!  Here’s just a sample…

  • “House Tour” teaser alone generated 412,607 views in November and over 116,000 likes!

  • 5000+ followers on Tik Tok

  • 33,303 views of “House Tour” teaser on Instagram in November

  • 6000+ followers on Facebook

9016

Guests through the museum in 2025

410%

Increase in annual attendance from 2017 to 2025. 

$19,963

Record revenue raised by our theatrical performance Sequential Killers of the Victorian Age – Season Eight through remarkable talents of our gifted volunteer performers.

998

Guests for the 90 performances over 10 nights of Sequential Killers.

92

volunteers who actively participated at the museum this year, the most since 2018.

4

Title 1 schools in AASD (Dunlap, Edison, Jefferson, Huntley) that are/will be participating in the first phase of Operation Everybody.

3

Public libraries (Appleton, Menasha, Neenah) that have partnered with Hearthstone to provide a family of four with a library card with free regular tour. This is part of Hearthstone’s Access for All programing initiative.

1

National inclusivity program Museums for All, another part of Access for All programing initiative, whereby any family of four with a SNAP card can get a free regular tour.  Museums for All is an initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

154

Badges earned through the expanded and immensely popular Girl Scout program, a record number.

15

College interns from four institutions of higher education gaining practical real-world skills and experience in museum work through Hearthstone’s Career Choice Program and “The Big Project”

5000+

Artifacts inventoried, researched, acquisitioned this year as part of “The Big Project.”

5

Exhibit and special tours given as part of the 2025 summer exhibit entitled Gemeinschaft: Lessons from German Immigration and Integration exploring how Hearthstone’s two sides (the English-speaking and the German-speaking) mimic the history of Appleton, Wisconsin, and America.

28

Other specialty tours and presentations provided including Nooks and Crannies (10 - a record), Horrors of the Household (6), How Victorian Invented Christmas (6), Don’t Worry Your Pretty Little Head:  Patriarchy, Paternalism, and Women’s Rights in Victorian America (2).

28

Evening fundraising events including Mystery at the Museum (6), Summer on the Veranda (4), Sequential Killers (10), Victorian Christmas (8)

0%

The amount of credit card processing the museums and our supporters pay on our donations and memberships. Overhaul our donor and membership systems now use a new program called “Zeffy” that not only automates many of the renewal tasks but more importantly eliminate ALL CREDIT CARD CHARGES from donations, and membership fees with no increase in cost to our supporters.

  • In other words, 100% of your donation comes to Hearthstone: You donate $100 and the museum receives $100, not $96 after fees are taken out.

  • This ZERO FEES approach means that neither to you nor Hearthstone are charged anything.

  • Keep an eye out for Zeffy no-fee charitable giving in your email in-box.

And finally

63.3%

The amount of the annual budget that earned revenue (tours and events) covers each year.  The remaining money needed for operations depends on your generosity.  Please help us continue the great work that Hearthstone does by donating to our Making A Difference campaign