Foundation Center, the leading authority on information about philanthropy worldwide, has announced the launch of Foundation Maps Professional 2.0, a data visualization platform that displays the distribution of grants through interactive maps and charts.

First launched last October, Foundation Maps shows who is funding what and where around the world, helping funders and other nonprofit organizations gain insights into the philanthropic landscape that, in turn, inform strategic decision making. The updated platform incorporates two new features: The geographic "Area Served" functionality shows where grant dollars are targeted — apart from where the grantee organizations are located — while the "Constellations" functionality provides a hub-and-spokes view of the ecosystem of funder-grantee networks, highlighting organizational connections within an issue area and the relative size of funding relationships within a network. The Foundation Maps database currently includes more than three million grants awarded by thirty-eight thousand foundations to three hundred and fifty thousand recipients, with new data added every week.

"Funders are skilled at using their networks, practical experience, and issue-based knowledge to be effective in their work," said Lisa Philp, Foundation Center's vice president for strategic philanthropy. "Foundation Maps Professional 2.0 greatly supplements this personal expertise by revealing potential new partners with similar interests, assisting in a strategic analysis of trends, and providing data that can tell stories through compelling visuals."

To register for a free trial of Foundation Maps Professional 2.0 or the first of a series of free monthly webinars to help users better understand the platform's interactive features, visit the Foundation Center website.