Military Gallery construction project stalls with fundraising lagging in North Dakota

Construction of the Military Gallery at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck is paused through at least July 31 due to insufficient private fundraising, the State Historical Society announced Friday.

Half of the $78 million facility on the Capitol grounds is supposed to be supported by private fundraising, but pledges so far are at $4.1 million of the total $38.8 million fundraising goal.

The project has only collected about $800,000 in private donations so far, said Shannon Schweigert, principal manager with PACE Fundraising, a Fargo-based consultant working on behalf of the North Dakota National Guard Foundation.

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The project needs to reach one-third of its fundraising goal, or about $12.8 million, before it can access $15 million in state funding under the requirements approved by lawmakers last year.

Bill Peterson, director of the State Historical Society, said Friday the committee advising the project had “really high confidence” before breaking ground a year ago that the project would soon hit the $12.8 million milestone.

“At the time, we had every reason to believe that this would be a slam dunk,” said Peterson, who chairs the Joint Military Museum Advisory Committee.

But since then, the project has encountered economic headwinds organizers didn’t anticipate, Peterson said, citing tariffs and the overall economy.

At one point, the project had about $9.4 million in private fundraising pledged, Schweigert said. 

A donor tied to the oil industry rescinded a $5 million pledge in February amid low oil prices at the time, Schweigert said, adding that conversations with the donor are ongoing.

Most pledges are to be paid over five years, he said. 

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The 70,000-square-foot facility is being developed in partnership with the State Historical Society and the North Dakota National Guard and their foundations to preserve the history of the state’s military members.

North Dakota lawmakers have committed $39.2 million in state funding. That includes a $20 million line of credit from the state-owned Bank of North Dakota, which has been expended, Peterson said.

Lawmakers will need to budget for $20 million in the 2027 legislative session to repay that line of credit, not including interest.

Lawmakers also approved $4.2 million for the library last year to repay a separate line of credit that was used for planning and design.

Peterson said the project has no unpaid bills at this point. But it can’t proceed without more money.

Peterson, Schweigert and Jackie Huber, president of the North Dakota National Guard Foundation, all said Friday they remain confident that the private fundraising goal can be met.

“From the onset, this project has had just immense community support,” said Huber, who also is brigadier general with the North Dakota National Guard.

The State Historical Society Foundation has also been traveling the state to promote the project and connect with potential individual and family donors, Huber said.

The fundraising campaign has overlapped with the campaign for the $450 million Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in western North Dakota. Schweigert, who is focused on raising corporate gifts, said the timing has affected the military project fundraising.

“On the heels of TR, we’ve had a number of donor prospects tell us, ‘Can you please allow us to just take a breath,’” Schweigert said. “So we do think time is going to be important to us. We do think now that TR is open we can finish our project.”