Year 1 Progress Report July 2025 – June 2026
On its 25th anniversary, June 6, 2025, The National WWII Museum
formally launched its $300 million Victory’s Promise campaign to sustain, expand, and transform the Museum’s work over the next decade. At its heart, the campaign is a call to the Museum’s community of supporters to join us in ensuring the stories of the WWII generation continue to educate and inspire future generations. To achieve this, the Museum has established three overarching goals—to engage visitors, embrace innovation, and inspire learners of all ages. Collectively, these goals support the Museum’s vision to become the most accessible resource for trusted knowledge on the American experience in World War II. Much progress has been made in the first year of the campaign, and this report provides a snapshot of the major impacts that have already been achieved as of June 30, 2026. While the Museum has always served K–12 students and teachers, fulfilling our obligation to this core audience was a top priority for this year. From transforming the on-campus field trip experience to strengthening teacher training initiatives and bolstering digital resources, we have laid the groundwork to ensure the important history of World War II continues to reach young people in classrooms across the country. In addition, the Museum has made significant investments in its signature campus experiences, from the recent remastering of the Beyond All Boundaries 4D experience to the ongoing renovation of our flagship D-Day Invasion of Normandy exhibit. We have also introduced new ways to deepen our commitment to lifelong learners and our community of scholars through our newly announced Book Awards, our expanding educational travel program, and our on-campus conferences and symposia. As we reflect on a successful year, we look forward to building upon this strong foundation and continuing to broaden our educational impact in the second year of the campaign and beyond.
ENGAGE VISITORS
ENGAGE MORE VISITORS THROUGH THE MUSEUM’S WORLD-CLASS CAMPUS
REACH AUDIENCES NATIONWIDE WITH EXPANDED TRAVELING EXHIBITS PROGRAM
EMBRACE INNOVATION
EMBRACE INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TO EXPAND ACCESS TO THE MUSEUM’S UNPARALLELED COLLECTIONS, RESOURCES, AND EXPERTISE
ENHANCE CARE, PRESERVATION, AND ACCESS TO THE MUSEUM’S PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIALS, RENEWING OUR COMMITMENT TO DIGITIZATION OF THE COLLECTION
Reached
OVER 307,000 VISITORS in 5 states
Year One Progress
2035 Goal
• Welcomed 612,822 visitors in Fiscal Year 2026—a 3% year-over-year increase • Saw a 59% increase in specialty tours revenue • Reopened a fully remastered Beyond All Boundaries and developed the WWII Motor Pool • Advanced design and content for the renovation of The D-Day Invasion of Normandy exhibit
• Traveled 5 exhibits on the road, including 3 large-scale exhibits
Year One Progress
• Welcome 1 million visitors to campus annually • Complete the 10-Year Capital Projects Plan with more than $100 million in campus investments
• Travel a total of 11 exhibits simultaneously, including 3 new large and mega-exhibits • Engage 2 million visitors annually through traveling exhibits
2035 Goal
• Earned more than 51 million digital engagements • More than doubled annual video views to 34.7 million views • Audited 1,800+ web articles, drafted an AI policy, and began website redesign work, including developing future sitemap and taxonomy • Served as official partner on HISTORY Channel’s World War II with Tom Hanks series, with related content garnering nearly 10 million views across the Museum’s digital platforms
• In anticipation of the development of a new Digital Collections website, grew the digitization and publication pipeline to a cumulative total of: • 6,960 personal narratives • 65,000 historical images • 407,527 archival pages • 1,226 artifacts
• Garner 100 million digital engagements annually • Become a leading producer and distributor of high-quality content, distance learning programming, and digital primary source material
• Via a newly developed website, digitize and publish: • 10,000 personal narratives • 80,000 historical images • 500,000 archival pages • 12,500 artifacts
K–12 EDUCATION STUDENTS
LEAD EFFORTS TO TRAIN, SUPPORT, MENTOR, AND CONNECT FACULTY
ENCOURAGE THE STUDY OF WWII HISTORY AMONG HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS
LIFELONG LEARNING, PUBLISHING, AND LEADERSHIP
DIRECTLY REACH K-12 STUDENTS TO DEMONSTRATE THE ONGOING RELEVANCE OF WORLD WAR II
HIGHER EDUCATION FACULTY
ENSURE THE TEACHING OF WWII IS ACCURATE, ENGAGING, AND RELEVANT
HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS
K–12 EDUCATION TEACHERS
INSPIRE LEARNERS
Reached
ENGAGE LIFELONG LEARNERS AND PROMOTE STRATEGIC THINKING AND KEY LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES
GROW THE MUSEUM’S EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL PROGRAM WITH NEW OFFERINGS AND INCREASED PASSENGER ENGAGEMENT
18,831 total students through Operation Field Trip
Year One Progress • Engaged 4,554 teachers on-site, in webinars, and in their own communities • Launched WWII to You program, which hired 6 teacher ambassadors nationwide who are now leading trainings in their own communities
• Logged 1.2 million content sessions within Students and Teachers section of Museum's website • Launched Operation Field Trip • Provided Operation Field Trip for free to 5,000 students
2035 Goal
• Support 15,000 teachers annually across all 50 states on-site, in their communities, and online
• Teach and inspire 5 million students annually across all 50 states • Provide free field trips to Louisiana students, reaching 50,000 students annually
• Engaged 36 faculty members through expanded Faculty Seminar program
• Support 200 faculty annually
• Reached 663 higher education students through the Arizona State University partnership, teaching online courses, engaging ROTC groups, and additional programs
• Educate 1,000 higher education students annually
• Engaged 452,456 lifelong learners in person and online through conferences & symposia, lectures, historian-guided tours, educational travel opportunities, and Historical Research Services • Launched and opened submissions for The National WWII Museum Book Awards • Defined the two historical scenarios for the Sanderson Leadership Center’s role-playing programs
• Launched the Museum’s ‘Courage on the Coast of France’ Signature Cruise in October 2025, booking 85 past travelers within the month of launching • Toured over 1,700 guests and generated $14.5 million in revenue
• Engage, inspire, and educate over 300,000 lifelong learners annually • Open a custom-built leadership center that leverages role-playing programs based in WWII history
• Double the Educational Travel program’s offerings • Book 3,000 passengers and $28 million in revenue annually
FUNDRAISING PROGRESS To resource the Museum’s goals and secure the future of its mission, the Victory’s Promise campaign has a fundraising target of $300 million for two priority areas: • Supporting the Museum’s capital projects and educational initiatives and programs • Investing in the Museum’s endowment, ensuring we can fulfill our mission in perpetuity In FY26, the Museum raised significant funds toward the campaign, including $26.8 million in commitments from individuals, corporations, and foundations, in addition to $4.5 million in state and federal funds.
FY26 COMMITMENTS • Capital Projects, Education, and Programs:
State/Federal Funding
$16,852,549 • Endowment:
$5,658,463
Holding (to be allocated)
• Holding (to be allocated):
$4,294,979
Capital Projects, Education, and Programs
Endowment
• State/Federal Funding:
$4,500,000 TOTAL = $31,305,991
Since its quiet phase, more than $59 million in commitments from individuals, corporations, and foundations—along with $22.5 million in state and federal funds— have been secured toward the $300 million goal. This brings the overall total raised for Victory’s Promise to $81.6 million through June 30, 2026.
OVERALL COMMITMENTS • Capital Projects, Education, and Programs:
$37,634,018 State/Federal Funding
• Endowment:
$17,070,004
Capital Projects, Education, and Programs
• Holding (to be allocated):
$4,426,670 • State/Federal Funding:
$22,500,000 TOTAL = $81,630,692
Holding (to be allocated)
Endowment