Miftah Foundation
مفتاح
Miftāḥ is Arabic for the key. Every program here hands someone a key to a door that was locked: a first line of code, a visa pathway, a clean block, a secure codebase. The key is free.
Mission
One sentence, and we mean all of it.
Miftah Foundation removes the cost barrier to opportunity — teaching computer science in a learner's own language, guiding immigrant and international students through the systems that govern their futures, restoring local environments, and securing the technology of nonprofits that cannot afford to protect themselves.
The Programs
One organization. Four programs.
Not four nonprofits. One corporation, one board, one bank account, four things it does. Cheaper to run, harder to kill, and the programs feed each other.
Program 01
CodeBridge
Free bilingual computer science, Spanish and Arabic alongside English, taught at partner high schools and released openly online. For students who think in one language and are being taught to code exclusively in another.
Read about CodeBridge →Program 02
Passage
Plain-language guides, eligibility-filtered scholarship matching, and referral to accredited legal help for immigrant, international, TD, F-1, and undocumented students. Information and referral only, never legal advice.
Read about Passage →Program 03
EcoImpact
Organized neighborhood cleanups in the least-serviced parts of San José, with an app that turns each event into an auditable, quantified record of waste diverted and emissions avoided.
Read about EcoImpact →Program 04
Shield
Free security audits and plain-English remediation reports for small nonprofits holding donor and beneficiary data on infrastructure nobody has ever checked. Delivered by trained student volunteers, only under written authorization.
Read about Shield →The Flywheel
Why this is one organization and not four hobbies.
Each program is both an intake and an outlet for the others. A student can enter anywhere on this loop and keep going. That is the whole design.
-
Step 1 · CodeBridge
A student learns to code in their own language
The barrier was never the logic. It was being asked to learn two hard things at once.
then ↓ the skill needs somewhere to go -
Step 2 · Passage
The same student gets visa, scholarship and career navigation
So the skill can actually turn into a life instead of expiring with a status date.
then ↓ they need proof they can do the work -
Step 3 · Shield
They run a supervised real security audit for a nonprofit
Real client, real scope, real report. A portfolio piece, a résumé line, a reference letter.
then ↓ and service hours, with no prerequisite at all -
Step 4 · EcoImpact
Local service hours, logged and quantified
The lowest-barrier entry point in the foundation. Anyone can show up to a cleanup on day one.
then ↺ back to the top
↺ And the loop closes: they come back as a CodeBridge mentor, teaching in the language they were taught in. CodeBridge is Shield's labour supply. Shield is CodeBridge's proof of competence. Passage is what stops a trained student from aging out of the country. EcoImpact is the door that needs no key at all.
Shared Measurement
One ledger, not four spreadsheets.
Every program event, whichever program it belongs to, records the same seven fields. That gives the board one dashboard, the 990 one number set, and every grant report one export.
The ledger is currently a schema and a design, not a populated dataset. It has no rows in it, because no program has run.
Honest Status
Where this actually stands.
Plainly: this is a design on a page. Nothing has been filed and nothing has been delivered to anybody.
What is not true yet
- not yetArticles of Incorporation have not been filed with California.
- not yetNo EIN, no bank account, no insurance policy.
- not yetIRS Form 1023 has not been submitted. There is no pending 501(c)(3) application.
- not yetNo board has been seated. Three to five directors are needed.
- not yetZero programs have run. Zero students served, zero cleanups held, zero audits delivered.
- not yetNo minors-safety policy set, so no program touches under-18 participants.
What is real
- realThe tooling exists and works: the EcoImpact app, the DIRA scanner behind Shield, the visa planner and scholarship matcher behind Passage.
- realThe CodeBridge approach has published research behind it. Two SIGCSE TS 2026 papers, one on bilingual coding for inclusive CS learning.
- realThe founder already runs CS programming at a San José high school.
- realEvery legal document is drafted and waiting on attorney review.
Next steps, in order
- 01Confirm with an immigration attorney that an uncompensated volunteer directorship is compatible with the founder's TD status.
- 02Recruit three to five directors, at least two of them independent of the founder.
- 03File the California Articles of Incorporation and adopt bylaws plus a conflict-of-interest policy.
- 04Obtain the EIN, open the bank account, register with the CA Attorney General's Registry of Charities.
- 05File Form 1023 and wait. Nothing is described as tax-deductible until the determination letter is in hand.
- 06Write the safeguarding policy before a single minor is in a room.
How To Help
Three ways in, and all of them are useful.
Take a board seat
Three to five directors are needed to incorporate. Most useful right now: a nonprofit finance person, an educator, and someone with immigration or legal experience. Board service is unpaid and takes roughly four meetings a year.
Ask about a board seat →Volunteer
Bilingual CS mentors, cleanup organizers, and student security auditors. Nothing needs a credential except the willingness to be trained and supervised. Adult volunteers working with minors will need a background check once that policy exists.
Ask about volunteering →Partner
High schools that want a bilingual CS cohort. Nonprofits that want a free security audit. Neighborhood groups that want a cleanup on the calendar. Partners cost nothing and shape the programs more than money does at this stage.
Ask about partnering →Before you consider donating
Miftah Foundation is not yet incorporated and has not applied for recognition of exemption under section 501(c)(3). No application is pending. Contributions are not tax-deductible.
We are not asking for money yet. There is no bank account to put it in. The useful things to give right now are a board seat, a partnership, or an afternoon.