RNC Host Committee raised $92M to organize event in Milwaukee 

The committee tasked with running the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee raised over $90 million to put on the event.

A filing with the Federal Election Commission showed the Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee raised just over $92 million since they began receiving donations in 2022. The filing also revealed the committee has around $3.9 million remaining in the bank.

Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee Treasurer Tim Sheehy said the original budget for the large-scale event was around $65 million, but that figure grew over time due to inflation and increased costs.

“I think costs increased more than we thought,” Sheehy said.

The Republican National Convention was held in downtown Milwaukee July 15-18.

“Milwaukee put a full court press on to get the convention,” Sheehy said. “We wanted to make sure we backed it up with our fundraising capability and goals.”

Sheehy said the money went into transforming Fiserv Forum, UWM Panther Arena and the Baird Center to ready them for delegates and media coverage, transportation for the thousands of delegates who were in town and the welcoming party held the night before the convention began. 

Several groups and individuals donated to the committee, including the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce’s Community Support Foundation, which donated $53.8 million, according to the filing. 

That foundation is the charitable arm of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Sheehy said donating to the foundation was a way for groups to remain nonpartisan.

“So it was both a vehicle to contribute and then a place for companies in the region to contribute who also had some concerns that their contribution might be viewed as political versus community,” Sheehy said. 

Both corporations and individuals donated to the foundation, but Sheehy said it was mostly corporations.

“Most of them (businesses) were in Wisconsin and most of them in the (Milwaukee) metro area,” he said.

“So it was more, I think, companies for whom this was an unusual contribution, and they did it to support Milwaukee,” he added.

Other larger donations to the host committee included $5 million from Hendricks Holding Co., which is owned by Wisconsin businesswoman and Republican donor Diane Hendricks. We Energies Foundation donated $2 million, while the conservative Heritage Foundation donated $1 million to the host committee. Blackstone, a New York based investment firm, donated $750,000.

With around $4 million left in the bank, Sheehy said the committee still has to pay some final bills, but he believes they’ll have a “couple million dollars remaining.” He said that money will likely be donated back to the community to support education, workforce development and resources for veterans.

“We hope with the funds that are remaining, we’ll be able to continue to make those kinds of contributions to support Greater Milwaukee,” he said. 

A report detailing the economic impact of the convention should be made public before the end of the year.

Before the event , supporters said it would bring in $200 million in economic impact for the city. However, during the week of the convention, some businesses owners and employees said the event was a bust for local businesses.

According to Visit Milwaukee, hotel revenue increased during the RNC, with hotels in Milwaukee County bringing in $30.5 million from July 14-20, 2024, compared to $10.4 million from that same seven-day period in 2023.