The Philadelphia nonprofit USA250 was established in 2011 to promote the United States semiquincentennial.
USA250 was created to lobby for federal support for the 250th anniversary and to encourage Philadelphia to serve as a major host city for commemorative events. Philadelphia's connection to the founding era made it a natural center for anniversary planning.
The organization predates the federal United States Semiquincentennial Commission, which Congress established in 2016. That five-year difference is an important chronology point and explains why several groups appear in accounts of the celebration's origins.
USA250 is also easy to confuse with America250, the branding associated with the federal commission and its broader national observances. Both names relate to the same future anniversary, but they refer to different organizations and stages of planning.