
Advancing bold solutions to the world's most urgent problems through expert-led grantmaking.
Navigation Charitable Fund (fka Further Future Foundation) uses large, expert-led grants to back new program areas and movement infrastructure. One of its clearest signals is the $5,000,000 grant to New York University for a new program area, alongside major general support for Humane America Animal Foundation and Vanguard Charitable. The foundation’s portfolio also includes targeted support for open science, criminal justice reform, climate change, farm animal welfare, and digital sentience-related project logistics. Its recent awards show a mix of institutional grants and smaller specialized contracts, with funding directed to researchers, advocates, and organizations building capacity or testing prototypes. The funder’s active programs emphasize ambitious ideas, institutional change, and non-carceral or non-animal agriculture solutions, while the open science program has already concluded and future work continues through a program housed at Astera. Across the recent grants list, the pattern is not limited to one issue area: it includes general support, prototype development, movement support, and project-specific logistics funding.
In criminal justice reform, the foundation gave $1,750,000 to Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program for criminal justice reform, reflecting support for non-carceral solutions and system change. In open science, it awarded $70,000 to Fideus Labs LLC for an open science project, matching the fund’s prior support for researchers, tool builders, and communities advancing open science practices. For movement work, it made smaller operating-style awards such as $51,000 to Liana Paris Consulting LLC for movement support and $6,700 to Stb Consulting LLC for movement support. The grant list also includes a $47,270 award to Fortier Public Relations for logistics to support a digital sentience project, showing support for project-level coordination tied to technology and AI ethics work.
Typical awards are large: the 25th percentile is $1,906,250, the median is $2,062,500, and the 75th percentile is $2,218,750. The recent list also shows a few much smaller grants for prototype development, movement support, and project logistics. Recipients can appear in multiple years; Humane America Animal Foundation received grants in both 2024 and 2025, and Vanguard Charitable appeared in both 2024 and 2025 as well. The foundation does not fund individuals and does not make program-related investments. The active programs described here generally use invitation-only funding cycles, and the open science program is no longer accepting new proposals.
$35.1M
$1.3B
$19M
$39.3M
Most grants fall between $1.9M and $2.2M, with a median of $2.1M.
25th Percentile
$1.9M
Median
$2.1M
75th Percentile
$2.2M
About 50% of grants go to recipients in RI.
SEEMAY CHOU
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Giving is regional, with recipients in the United States only in the recent grants list. California accounts for 50% of grants to recipients in the foundation’s HQ state, but the top state by grant count is Rhode Island, driven by awards in Warwick. Other recipient cities in the recent list include New York, Claremont, Denver, Durham, Albany, Los Angeles, and Carmel Valley. The country distribution shows 11 grants, all in the US.
The active programs cover climate change, farm animal welfare, transforming criminal justice, and open science. The recent grants also show work tied to digital sentience and new program area incubation, along with movement support and logistics funding.
The grant-size distribution is large: p25 is $1,906,250, median is $2,062,500, and p75 is $2,218,750. Recent awards also include smaller grants for prototype development, movement support, and project logistics.
The active programs described here generally use invitation-only funding cycles, and the open science program is no longer accepting new proposals. The climate change, farm animal welfare, and criminal justice programs are described as grantmaking programs rather than open application programs.
The active climate change and farm animal welfare programs list geography as United States and International, while the criminal justice program is United States only. In the recent grants list provided here, all 11 grants went to US recipients.
Yes. Humane America Animal Foundation received grants in both 2024 and 2025, and Vanguard Charitable also appears in both years. That suggests the foundation does fund some recipients more than once.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VANGUARD CHARITABLE | WARWICK, RI | $15,375,000 | 2025 | GENERAL SUPPORT |
| HUMANE AMERICA ANIMAL FOUNDATION | CLAREMONT, CA | $14,240,000 | 2025 | GENERAL SUPPORT |
| NEW YORK UNIVERSITY | NEW YORK, NY | $5,000,000 | 2025 | NEW PROGRAM AREA |
| VSV LEADERSHIP | DENVER, CO | $300,000 | 2025 | PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT |
| FIDEUS LABS LLC | DURHAM, NC | $70,000 | 2025 | OPEN SCIENCE PROJECT |
| LIANA PARIS CONSULTING LLC | ALBANY, NY | $51,000 | 2025 | MOVEMENT SUPPORT |
| FORTIER PUBLIC RELATIONS | NEW YORK, NY | $47,270 | 2025 | LOGISTICS TO SUPPORT DIGITAL SENTIENCE PROJECT |
| STB CONSULTING LLC | LOS ANGELES, CA | $6,700 | 2025 | MOVEMENT SUPPORT |
| MEGAN P WHEELER CONSULTING LLC | CARMEL VALLEY, CA | $6,500 | 2025 | MOVEMENT SUPPORT |
| HUMANE AMERICA ANIMAL FOUNDATION | CLAREMONT, CA | $2,375,000 | 2024 | GENERAL SUPPORT |
| VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM | WARWICK, RI | $1,750,000 | 2024 | CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM |
VANGUARD CHARITABLE
$15,375,000GENERAL SUPPORT
HUMANE AMERICA ANIMAL FOUNDATION
$14,240,000GENERAL SUPPORT
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
$5,000,000NEW PROGRAM AREA
VSV LEADERSHIP
$300,000PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT
FIDEUS LABS LLC
$70,000OPEN SCIENCE PROJECT
LIANA PARIS CONSULTING LLC
$51,000MOVEMENT SUPPORT
FORTIER PUBLIC RELATIONS
LOGISTICS TO SUPPORT DIGITAL SENTIENCE PROJECT
STB CONSULTING LLC
$6,700MOVEMENT SUPPORT
MEGAN P WHEELER CONSULTING LLC
$6,500MOVEMENT SUPPORT
HUMANE AMERICA ANIMAL FOUNDATION
$2,375,000GENERAL SUPPORT
VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM
$1,750,000CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM