In 2020, as the philanthropic world grappled with the incredible need generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vanguard Charitable donor’s greatest priority was supporting trustworthy organizations working on the front lines of  local communities. We convened partners from across the nonprofit sector and the Nonprofit Aid Visualizer™ (NAVi) was born. NAVi is a groundbreaking new tool that puts unprecedented data at donors’ fingertips via an interactive platform, making it easy to pinpoint charities solving the problems they care about most.

As the pandemic stretched into 2021, compounding other societal challenges, donors were focused most on hunger and homelessness in the United States, two interwoven problems that have been greatly exacerbated by the ripple effects of COVID-19.

It is estimated that close to 60 million Americans turned to food banks and pantries for help after experiencing hunger in 2020. Federal government estimates have put the number of Americans facing homelessness at over 500,000, a number that experts agree is almost certainly an undercount, but a figure that has risen consecutively over the past four years. While the severity of the hunger and homelessness crises varies by region, state, and community, what’s true across the board is that the nonprofit organizations and support systems currently in place lack the necessary resources to provide for everyone in need of services.

Inspired by the commitment to supporting these important causes Vanguard Charitable launched NAVi for Hunger & Homelessness a radically new way to search for charities working tirelessly to fight these crises in America.

The New York Times. “As Donations Shift in the Pandemic, New Databases Aim to Help.”
 

“Part of what we’re trying to correct for is the communities that are being overlooked with charitable donations,” said Magda Guillen Swanson, research project strategist at Vanguard Charitable.

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FA Magazine. "Pandemic Causes ‘Pronounced' Changes In Philanthropy."

"As more donors turned to Vanguard Charitable for assistance in targeting their donations, the fund developed a tool called the Nonprofit Aid Visualizer, or NAVi, a web-based program to help potential donors find charities by geography or mission. That program is available to the public."

Kiplinger. "Tax-Efficient Tips for 2021’s Charitable Giving Season."

"I’ve recommended they use the Nonprofit Aid Visualizer (NAVi), powered by Vanguard Charitable. This tool pinpoints charities most impacted by the pandemic, giving individuals a clear picture of the giving landscape and organizations most in need."

XYHT Magazine. "When Mapping Goes Viral."

“We developed the Nonprofit Aid Visualizer as a way to directly allow donors, both inside and outside of Vanguard Charitable, to easily search and identify nonprofits in the areas hardest hit by COVID-19,” says Swanson."