National D-Day Memorial Foundation

The National D-Day Memorial Foundation exists to memorialize the valor, fidelity, and sacrifices of the Allied Armed Forces on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The Foundation recognizes that intergenerational awareness of D-Day's significance and sustained appreciation of its legacy, more than a half-century after the fact, necessarily depend upon education. Thus establishment and operation of ongoing innovative education programs is central to the Foundation's ability to respond to its memorial purpose.

The Foundation has four mission-related objectives:

• To ensure the operation, integrity, and security of the D-Day Memorial.

• To sponsor innovative commemorations, educational programs, projects, and exhibits that foster an awareness of D-Day's historical significance.

• To seek and provide educational opportunities that will preserve, for present and future generations, the meaning and lessons of D-Day.

• To continue D-Day research that will support the educational effort

The Memorial's primary strategy includes effectively growing its target audiences, further leveraging current donor relations while cultivating fresh opportunities, expanding educational opportunities and programming and using the site to its fullest capacity regarding revenue generation. Executed in a manner careful to preserve the integrity of the site, these approaches will help to develop and ensure financial sustainability by increasing awareness, donations, visitation, and revenue, while fulfilling its mission to honor and educate.

The Memorial will continue in its work of making the D-Day story relevant to both current and expanded audiences, as well as establishing and retaining relevancy to coming generations. The Foundation's work in more than ten countries over as many years has cemented strong relationships and forged external partnerships.

The National D-Day Memorial also continues its scholarly research. The Foundation is the only organization in the world to research name-by-name D-Day fatalities. The Foundation worked closely with governmental and military officials of the twelve AEF nations to identify the 4,413 people who died on June 6, 1944. D-Day research is ongoing. The Memorial added another name to its Memorial wall in 2012.

Each year, Memorial staff evaluates its programs and services to determine which services are best utilized by the public and how those services and resources can be improved. Though a small staff (less than 20 employees) the Foundation completes a wide array of activities, both educational and scholarly.

The Foundation has provided programs for tens of thousands of students over the years and a great deal has been accomplished in terms of educational programming, large commemorative events, the collection of oral histories, artifacts, and D-Day research. The Foundation is looking to the future with the construction of an educational facility that can house its collection of over 10,000 archives and artifacts related to the D-Day story.

The Memorial continues to educate, is eager to remember and is committed to memorialize. Remembrance is central to any lasting memorial. And education is central to remembrance.