American Battlefield Trust

American Battlefield Trust, doing business as Civil War Trust, is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that receives federal grants as a prime recipient to produce historical interpretation and preservation planning for American battlefields, focusing on video production, augmented reality experiences, interpretive signage, and battlefield documentation. The organization competes entirely in the federal grant space and does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles; 89% of its recent federal awards are prime grants.

The organization's customer base is concentrated in the National Park Service. The Department of the Interior National Park Service accounts for 23 of 27 awards (100% coverage across two NPS organizational lines: 18 awards through the National Park Service National Office and 5 through the National Park Service directly), funded primarily through the American Battlefield Protection Program (CFDA 15.926). The National Endowment for the Humanities provides the remaining customer engagement, with three awards.

American Battlefield Trust's grant work spans historical interpretation, preservation planning, and public-facing digital media. Representative prime grants include a June 2026 National Endowment for the Humanities project grant to film seven long-form videos on Revolutionary War sites across New York (completion by September 2026); an October 2025 NEH grant to produce four augmented reality experiences that overlay Revolutionary War scenes onto North Carolina historic sites via mobile devices (completion September 2026); an October 2025 National Park Service project grant to design, fabricate, and install four interpretive "gateway" signs recognizing Medal of Honor recipients at Virginia battlefield sites, in collaboration with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society (completion April 2027); and a November 2023 NPS American Battlefield Protection Program preservation planning grant to map and assess eleven sites of armed conflict associated with the Great Sioux War of 1876–1877 in collaboration with state and tribal historic preservation officers (completion December 2026). The organization also produced virtual field trips, animated short-form video content, traveling exhibits, and interpretive plans for battlefields associated with the Black experience across multiple American conflicts. American Battlefield Trust acts as a sub-recipient on three grant sub-awards from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, providing land-acquisition support at Gettysburg Battlefield sites.

Activity has remained consistent at two to five awards per year over the past five years, with four awards completing inside the next twenty-four months. Combined federal dollars obligated across all 27 awards total $4 million, with award size and completion timelines concentrated in the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program cycle structure.