00:00Cities and towns across the country celebrated America's 250th anniversary.
00:03A bipartisan initiative mandated by Congress, I should say.
00:06America 250 was striving for what the organization called 350 for 250.
00:10The goal was to engage all 350 million Americans in the commemoration of the country's milestone.
00:16Joining us now is Reginald Brown. He's a commissioner for America 250 and also a principal at GTS Securities.
00:23I want to ask you, I used the past tense there, but that may not be accurate
00:26because I understand this is an ongoing effort just because, you know,
00:30if you didn't see something this week, this is a year-long, multi-year, multi-month celebration.
00:34You guys are trying to get 350 million Americans to take part.
00:39Well, good morning. I would say Miss and Achieve. Yesterday was amazing.
00:43We entered a time capsule yesterday in Philadelphia that will be opened up 250 years from now.
00:51So I think it's ongoing because I think the last event will be 250 years from now.
00:57We'll open a time capsule. But yes, this is an ongoing endeavor.
01:01We have four or five things planned that will conclude over the next couple of years.
01:07You know, something we've been focused on here is this schism between your organization,
01:13again, I want to emphasize an organization that was created by Congress back during the Obama administration
01:17to commemorate this anniversary and this other group, more nascent, just a few months old,
01:22that the Trump administration created. That's Freedom 250.
01:25And I wonder if you could help us, help our viewers, help our listeners understand the distinction between these two
01:30things.
01:30My understanding is that in the immediate run-up to yesterday's commemoration,
01:34Freedom 250 took a lot of the oxygen maybe out of the celebrations that were taking place here.
01:40How has that played out in real terms?
01:42You as a commissioner, how have you seen that play out, having these two organizations kind of doing work on
01:47the same issue,
01:47on the same commemoration?
01:50Well, look, my view, when you have two organizations that are trying to include all 350 million Americans,
01:59missing achieved.
02:00You know, I didn't see this competition.
02:01I saw it as a broadening of the umbrella to include more people.
02:06America 250, we were focused on, or focused on, for example, America Gives,
02:12where we have cataloged 39 million volunteer hours a year to date.
02:19And then we also started Giving Fourth, where we're trying to change philanthropy
02:24and make the 4th of July a day of giving to nonprofits.
02:30And so with Freedom 250, you know, President Trump and his group wanted to do things like
02:38ultimate fighting on the White House lawn.
02:40And then, you know, just things that we could not do.
02:45And so I saw it as a broadening, not competition,
02:48and then an opportunity to engage all 350 Americans based on what do they want to do.
02:54Picking up on the money side of this, I know there was some reporting back in June
02:58that your organization didn't get the amount of funding that it was promised.
03:02And I'm curious if that's kind of something that's shaken out well here in the last few weeks.
03:06Are you still operating with a deficit relative to what you thought you were going to be able to get
03:09from the federal government?
03:11Well, fortunately, we have great sponsors like Stellantis, Coca-Cola,
03:18and, you know, just a broad range of consumer companies that stepped in
03:23and helped us fill the gap that we did not get from the federal government.
03:28But this also was a public-private partnership that we weren't depending 100%
03:34on the federal government in the first place.
03:36And so were some of the monies diverted into Freedom 250?
03:40Absolutely.
03:40That was well documented.
03:43But was it a difficulty for us?
03:46We got over it.
03:47And so I think that, you know, the celebrations happened yesterday,
03:52amazing fireworks in Washington, D.C.,
03:55amazing town, a black party in Los Angeles last night.
04:02And so if I think about just the overarching opportunities, you know, mission achieved.
04:08Was there anything you would have liked to have seen had you gotten that full
04:12tranche of government funding?
04:14Was there anything that you think you would have liked to have done but were unable to do?
04:21Yeah, I mean, listen, I think we had a whole list of technical ideas that we wanted to unravel.
04:28And some of them were pretty big and bold.
04:31And some were just, you know, weren't able to achieve.
04:34But I think, look, as you plan for 10 years, we were in planning stages for 10 years.
04:39And then as we got down to, let's say, the last 25%, the last two and a half years, we
04:46started to understand what can be achieved based on money, but also time and talent.
04:52And so I'm not going to focus on just what could have happened.
04:57I'm pretty happy about America's field trip and how we included children to get behind the scenes in some of
05:07the nation's largest and most treasured treasures so they can experience that.
05:11That will live on beyond this period of time because we're going to dial that and so it can continue
05:18with other partners into our state and country parks and so they can participate there.
05:29So there are a lot of great things.
05:31I think we spent a lot of time contrasting between America 250, which was an act of Congress, and then
05:38Freedom 250, which was an act from the White House starting October 2025.
05:44And you just can't beat when you plan something for 10 years versus something that just came through executive order
05:52based on our request, actually, because we wanted to work with the various agencies.
05:57Last question to you. I think a lot of our audience knows you as the godfather of ETFs.
06:01I'm curious, sort of, when you were offered this position as a commissioner on this organization's board, what was the
06:07feeling to it about you?
06:08What does this anniversary mean to you in the minute that we have left with you?
06:12Honestly, this is an opportunity, I think, to bring all Americans together.
06:15And I'm also a board chairman of Creative Capital, which endows, funds artists.
06:21And this is an opportunity to let this nation be led by artists and their views.
06:27So this is really about artists and a nation creating memory.
06:33So think about it.
06:35In 1976, at the 200th of the Bicentennial, you can think about a song or some emotion that drew everyone
06:44back to that time period.
06:45And this is the same time period.
06:47You know, so this is a fun time.
06:49And I think bringing business, art, philanthropy all together, what I brought to the commission is just that.
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