Which organization became the administrative secretariat for the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission in 2018?

The American Battlefield Trust became the administrative secretariat for the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission in 2018.

The organization was selected after the Department of the Interior conducted a competitive application process. At that time, the American Battlefield Trust was known as the Civil War Trust; it later adopted its current name after expanding its preservation work to battlefields from multiple American wars.

As administrative secretariat, the trust provided financial, staff, legal, and organizational support while the commission developed its nationwide anniversary program. It helped establish governance structures, supported commission meetings, and assisted with relationships among federal agencies and outside partners.

The trust is a nonprofit battlefield-preservation organization, not a federal department. That distinction matters because the National Park Service and other government institutions also participate in America250-related work, but they are not the commission’s administrative secretariat.