NGP VAN Launches Navigator, Bringing the Power of Natural-Language Search to the Progressive Ecosystem's Most Powerful CRM

Navigator lets campaign staff search their CRM the way they think by simply describing who they want to find.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NGP VAN today launched Navigator, a natural-language search assistant built directly into Create a List (CAL), NGP's core segmentation tool. Navigator uses AI behind the scenes to turn plain-language requests into the filters and criteria needed to find the right people. Create a List allows campaigns and organizations to search their databases and identify specific groups of supporters based on their giving, activity, contact information, and other criteria. It's the foundational tool for surfacing the most critical data in order to take action.

Beginning today, a fundraiser or digital director can go into NGP's Create a List tool and simply describe the people they are looking for using natural language. Navigator translates that request into the appropriate search criteria. The fundraiser can see exactly what Navigator has selected, change anything they want, and then run the search.

NGP VAN is developing additional Navigator capabilities to make other everyday campaign tasks easier, including bulk uploading data and analyzing canvassing notes, along with more ways to use Navigator to create lists.

"Our mission has always been to empower the people driving the progressive movement forward – the organizers, fundraisers and digital teams doing hard work to engage people on the ground. We're not interested in duct-taping AI into our products just to say we can," said NGP VAN General Manager Chelsea Peterson Thompson. "The test for us has always been simple: Will this save a campaign time? Does this help a first-time candidate get started? Can an organizer or fundraiser use this to have the right conversation with the right person at the right time? Ultimately, does it help elect more Democrats? If the answer is yes, that's where we want to invest."

For decades, Democratic and progressive campaigns have used NGP VAN to track the people who power the progressive ecosystem: voters, volunteers, activists, and donors. Teams use this critical information to run data-driven campaigns and programs.

Traditional software has forced users to learn and then translate searches into the system's language through a combination of searches, filters, and criteria, not their own. For first-time organizers, fundraisers, or candidates, it slows critical work down. Today, NGP VAN is starting to break down those barriers to the first knocks, calls, and conversations.

"Navigator is about meeting our users where they already do their work and making it easier to find the right people," said Lou Levine, Senior Vice President at NGP VAN. "You tell Navigator who you're trying to find, it builds the search, and then you can run it as-is or tweak anything you want. This is just the beginning of how we're thinking about making the tools campaigns already rely on easier and more intuitive to use."

Importantly, the user stays in control. Navigator is an optional starting point inside the existing Create a List page. Users can use it, skip it or switch to a manual search at any point. Every criterion Navigator generates is visible and editable, and nothing runs without the user's approval. Previously saved searches are unaffected.

At launch, Navigator can work with eight commonly used search options: Activist Codes, Addresses, Email, Online Forms, Recurring Commitments, Contributions, Contribution Summaries and My Saved Lists.

Navigator is available beginning today to NGP VAN users with Create a List access in NGP databases, with additional capabilities coming soon.

About NGP VAN
NGP VAN is the winningest technology platform in the history of democratic and progressive causes, working tirelessly to innovate and advance the technology our clients rely on to bolster our democracy. A proud unionized employer, we help power the trailblazers, campaigners, and advocates fighting up and down the ticket for equality, racial justice, reproductive freedom, democracy, climate reform, and more— including the national Democratic committees and progressive organizations, thousands of Democratic campaigns, hundreds of labor unions, advocacy organizations, progressive and non-partisan PACs, and other organizations.

Press Contact:
Simone Hassan-Bey
NGP VAN
[email protected]

SOURCE NGP VAN