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Navigation Charitable Fund

Annual Giving
$36.8M
Grant Range
$20K - $5.0M
00

Navigation Charitable Fund (The Navigation Fund)

Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: $36.8 million (2024), projected to double in 2025
  • Success Rate: Not publicly disclosed
  • Decision Time: Rolling review, three annual grant cycles for some programs
  • Grant Range: $20,000 - $5,000,000 (varies by program)
  • Geographic Focus: International
  • Total Assets: $1.31 billion (2023)

Contact Details

Website: https://www.navigation.org/

General Contact: Available through program-specific "Introduce Yourself" forms

Program Officers:

  • David Coman-Hidy, President (overall grantmaking)
  • Karthik Ram (Open Science)
  • Jesse Marks (Farm Animal Welfare)
  • Erin Keith (Transforming Criminal Justice)
  • Liam St Louis (Climate Change)

Overview

The Navigation Charitable Fund (doing business as The Navigation Fund) was founded in 2023 by blockchain pioneer Jed McCaleb and Arcadia Science CEO Dr. Seemay Chou, with tax-exempt status granted in March 2023. The fund reported $1.31 billion in assets as of 2023 and distributed $4.1 million in grants that year, growing to $36.8 million in 2024 with projections to potentially double in 2025. As a public charity rather than a private foundation, it can accept outside contributions. The fund's mission focuses on supporting high-impact organizations addressing urgent global problems through five program areas: Open Science, Farm Animal Welfare, Transforming Criminal Justice, Climate Change, and Digital Sentience. The Navigation Fund is notable for its trust-based approach, empowering expert program officers with significant autonomy and embracing well-planned risk in pursuit of transformative change. The fund owns Voltage Park, a for-profit AI cloud computing company valued at $883 million, which represents approximately 75% of the fund's assets.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

Open Science Initiative

  • Innovation Fund (Prototype Development): Typically under $500,000 for infrastructure and community building
  • Innovation Fund (Expert Gatherings): $20,000 - $100,000 for focused working meetings
  • Validation & Scaling Fund: $500,000 - $2,000,000 for proven projects expanding to new communities
  • Growth Fund: $1,000,000 - $5,000,000 for projects beyond proof-of-concept
  • Special initiative: AI for Open Science (applications reviewed rolling basis)
  • Open Science Meeting Fund 2025 (rolling review of 2-page letters of intent)

Farm Animal Welfare

  • Grant amounts not publicly specified
  • Three annual grant cycles (Q2, Q3, Q4)
  • Supports unrestricted, project-based, and multi-year grants
  • Recent grantees include Sinergia Animal, Animal Justice, Animal Advocacy Careers, Worldshapers, Animal Defense Partnership, and others

Transforming Criminal Justice

  • Grant amounts not publicly specified
  • Early grants distributed through regrantors to organizations including Recidiviz, Bonafide, Just Impact, Council on Criminal Justice, and Homeboy Industries

Climate Change

  • Grant amounts not publicly specified
  • Recent grantees include Environmental Defense Fund, [C]Worthy, Spark Climate Solutions, Carbon to Sea, Degrees, Ocean Visions, Cascade Climate, and Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development

Digital Sentience

  • Grant amounts not publicly specified
  • Currently only two grantees: NYU Center for Mind, Ethics and Policy and Professor Jonathan Birch of the London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Partnership with Longview Philanthropy for Nuclear Safety

Priority Areas

Open Science

  • Data infrastructure improvements
  • Novel publishing models
  • Persistent identifier ecosystems
  • Projects that improve collaboration, data sharing, and scientific impact
  • Prioritizes "new voices in the open science space" beyond traditional actors

Farm Animal Welfare

  • Institutional impact (policy changes in corporations, government, public institutions)
  • Movement power (capacity building, people mobilization, narrative influence, policy expertise)
  • Target audiences (youth engagement, elite/decision-maker influence)
  • Capacity building (operational support, training, movement collaboration)
  • New funding (bringing additional resources into animal advocacy)
  • Innovation (underfunded approaches, solutions in underserved regions)

Transforming Criminal Justice

  • Legislative policy
  • Indigent defense
  • Legal services
  • Criminal justice reform initiatives

Climate Change

  • Reducing derailment risk for decarbonization (systemic obstacles, clean technology innovation, political polarization prevention)
  • Neglected levers of decarbonization (superpollutant emissions, durable carbon removal)
  • Public understanding of emergency climate interventions (Sunlight Reflection Methods research, glacier stabilization)
  • Emerging and early-stage projects with potential for major long-term impact

Digital Sentience

  • AI consciousness research
  • Ethical implications of AI sentience

What They Don't Fund

Open Science

  • Scientific open-source software
  • General operating funds for established projects
  • Basic research on open science

Farm Animal Welfare

  • Individual diet change campaigns
  • Farm sanctuaries and direct animal care
  • Institutional plant-based advocacy (currently deprioritized)
  • Incubation programs (currently deprioritized)
  • Alternative proteins (currently deprioritized)

Climate Change

  • Deployment or advocacy for deployment of emergency climate interventions (focus is on research and public understanding only)

Governance and Leadership

Board of Directors

  • Seemay Chou (Chair) - Scientist, Pew Scholar, Co-Founder and CEO at Arcadia Science, Board Member of Astera, former Assistant Professor in Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF, PhD in Molecular Cell Biology from UC Berkeley
  • Adam Fisk (Secretary) - role details from public sources limited
  • Jed McCaleb (Founding Donor) - Blockchain pioneer, co-founder and CTO of Stellar, co-founder of Ripple, creator of Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, major donor to Machine Intelligence Research Institute and OpenAI

Executive Leadership

  • David Coman-Hidy, President - Leads charitable grantmaking with strong background in nonprofit advocacy and philanthropy; previously grew a major farm animal advocacy organization; BS in Political Communication from Emerson College. Quote: "We have an unusually high level of agency and trust for program officers because we're kind of betting on their theses."

Operations Team

  • Kristen Diederich, Director of Grants and Operations - Ten years of nonprofit fundraising experience; degrees in Biology and Psychology from Penn State; Master's in Primate Conservation from Oxford Brookes University
  • Taylor Denson, Program Manager - Oversees special projects and grantmaking; experience from The Rockefeller Foundation and World Food Programme; Master's in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins SAIS
  • Katie Ly, Operations Manager - UC Berkeley graduate with nonprofit operations background

Program Officers (Former practitioners/experts in their fields)

  • Karthik Ram (Open Science) - PhD from UC Davis, Berkeley Institute for Data Science fellow
  • Jesse Marks (Farm Animal Welfare) - Over two decades of global animal protection experience; previously at Animals Australia (10 years) and Mercy for Animals (5 years)
  • Erin Keith (Transforming Criminal Justice) - Legislative policy, indigent defense, and legal services expertise; law degrees from Georgetown
  • Liam St Louis (Climate Change) - Previously worked in Office of the Prime Minister of Canada; co-founded carbon dioxide removal policy nonprofit in Brussels

Leadership Philosophy Quotes

  • David Coman-Hidy on risk-taking: "If you're not regretting, you're not trying hard enough" (contrasting with traditional "no regrets giving")
  • On their model: "We have an unusually high level of agency and trust for program officers because we're kind of betting on their theses"

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

The Navigation Fund does not have a traditional open application process. They operate primarily on an invitation-only basis to minimize wasted application effort by organizations they cannot fund.

Initial Contact - "Introduce Yourself" Forms

For organizations not already known to the fund, each program area offers an "Introduce Yourself" form:

  • This is NOT a formal funding application
  • It allows organizations to share their mission and work for future funding consideration
  • Program officers review submissions to identify potential fits for current or upcoming funding cycles
  • Organizations should spend only a few minutes on the form, keeping details minimal and focusing on big-picture mission
  • Can copy/paste or attach existing materials rather than generating new content
  • Think of it as a quick introduction at a conference designed to spark interest

If staff identify a potential fit, they will reach out for more information or extend a formal invitation to apply.

Identification Process

The Navigation Fund identifies potential applicants through:

  • Year-round research and engagement with organizations in their issue areas
  • Attending conferences and sector events
  • Organizations can request in-person meetings at conferences via email or event apps
  • Reviewing "Introduce Yourself" form submissions
  • Request-for-Proposals (RFPs) to "catalyze something in the space" given nascent state of target fields

Formal Application (By Invitation Only)

Once invited, selected organizations complete a short questionnaire tailored to the specific grant opportunity and program priorities.

Decision Timeline

Farm Animal Welfare: Three grant cycles annually (Q2, Q3, Q4)

Open Science: Rolling review for most programs; AI for Open Science deadline was July 15, 2025; Open Science Meeting Fund reviewed on rolling basis

Other Programs: Timeline not publicly specified; likely varies by program and opportunity

Specific decision timeframes from application to award are not publicly disclosed.

Success Rates

Success rates and application numbers are not publicly disclosed. The invitation-only model means the fund pre-screens for fit before formal applications are submitted, likely resulting in higher success rates than open-call programs but making comparison difficult.

Reapplication Policy

Not explicitly stated. Given the invitation-only model and emphasis on relationship building, unsuccessful organizations are encouraged to maintain contact through the "Introduce Yourself" forms and sector engagement.

Application Success Factors

Alignment with Program Officer Theses The Navigation Fund operates on a distinctive model where program officers have "an unusually high level of agency and trust" and the fund is "betting on their theses." Success depends heavily on alignment with the specific priorities and theories of change developed by expert program officers in each area.

Fill Funding Gaps with Ambitious Ideas The fund explicitly prioritizes "capacity building and ambitious ideas that would be severely limited without their involvement." President David Coman-Hidy states, "If you're not regretting, you're not trying hard enough," signaling appetite for well-planned risk over safe bets. They embrace that "not all ambitious projects succeed."

Be New Voices or Underserved

  • Open Science: Explicitly seeks "new voices in the open science space" beyond traditional actors
  • Farm Animal Welfare: Prioritizes "innovation (underfunded approaches, solutions in underserved regions)"
  • Climate: "Especially open to supporting emerging and early-stage projects with potential for major long-term impact"

Match Specific Program Priorities Each program has distinct priorities:

  • Open Science: Focus on collaboration infrastructure, data sharing, publishing models—NOT software development or general operating for established projects
  • Farm Animal Welfare: Institutional impact and movement power, NOT individual diet change, sanctuaries, or direct care
  • Climate: Research and understanding of interventions, NOT deployment advocacy
  • Criminal Justice: Legislative policy, indigent defense, legal services

Demonstrate Partnership Potential The fund views itself as "partners in this work" and emphasizes "building connections, sharing resources, and facilitating collaboration." Successful applicants should show openness to collaborative relationships beyond check-writing.

Support Fiscally Sponsored Projects The Navigation Fund explicitly supports fiscally sponsored projects and international charitable organizations, making it accessible to early-stage initiatives without independent 501(c)(3) status.

Recent Funded Examples

  • 2i2c: $1.5 million over 2 years for developing scalable sustainability model (Open Science)
  • Anima International, Albert Schweitzer Foundation, New Roots Institute (Farm Animal Welfare via regrantors)
  • Recidiviz, Bonafide, Just Impact, Council on Criminal Justice, Homeboy Industries (Criminal Justice via regrantors)
  • Environmental Defense Fund, [C]Worthy, Spark Climate Solutions (Climate)

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • Relationship before application: You cannot submit a formal application without an invitation. Focus first on connecting through "Introduce Yourself" forms and sector events where program officers engage.

  • High-risk, high-reward fits their model: Don't shy away from ambitious projects or well-planned risks. The fund explicitly seeks ideas that would be "severely limited" without their support and acknowledges not all will succeed.

  • Program officer expertise drives decisions: Each cause area is led by a former practitioner with deep expertise. Research the program officer's background and public statements to understand their thesis and priorities.

  • Early-stage and underserved welcomed: Unlike many major funders, the Navigation Fund is "especially open to supporting emerging and early-stage projects" and seeks "new voices" and "underserved regions."

  • Think capacity building and systems change: Across programs, there's emphasis on movement power, institutional impact, infrastructure, and long-term transformation over direct service or individual change.

  • Multi-year and unrestricted funding available: The fund considers multi-year grants and general operating support, signaling trust-based approach and recognition that overhead and flexibility enable impact.

  • Fast-growing funder with room to scale: With grantmaking growing from $4.1M (2023) to $36.8M (2024) and projected doubling in 2025, the fund is actively expanding its portfolio and looking for new grantees.

References

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