# Giving > The Shafiq Foundation, named after my father. Sadqa-e-jaria, healthcare access, engineering education in Pakistan, mental health awareness, and religious institutions. Anonymous-by-default for recipients, disclosed-with-permission for programs. Source: https://waqaspitafi.com/giving/ --- ## The opening principle I give back, and I have a strong preference for giving quietly. The structures I support are listed below only when public visibility helps the cause more than it helps me. The recipients of personal giving are not listed. This is not modesty as a brand. It is the version of philanthropy I believe in, drawn from the religious tradition I was raised in and the family that taught me what it meant to take care of people without making the giving a story about yourself. One structure on this page carries my father's name. That is the only place I have set the rule aside, because honoring him is itself the point. ## The Shafiq Foundation **The Shafiq Foundation** is the structure I run my long-horizon giving through. It is named after my father, Shafiq Khan Pitafi, the man who refused to give up on me at the worst point of my life and who taught me, without making a speech of it, what it means to take care of people. The foundation's thesis is simple. It funds work that can continue after I am gone, sadqa-e-jaria in my tradition, and it heals the immediate problems of people who are alive now. The two halves of that mandate run in parallel. The foundation organizes its work along the seven categories of sadqa-e-jaria from the hadith. # Category What we fund 1 Knowledge that he learned and then spread Platforms and programs that share knowledge, including this site 2 A righteous child he leaves behind Tarbiyat work for the next generation in the family 3 A copy of the Qur'an he leaves as a legacy A Quran left in every new mosque visited 4 A mosque he built Sponsoring or contributing to mosque construction 5 A house he built for travelers Free accommodation for travelers; long-term project 6 A canal he dug Water coolers and access to clean water in public spaces 7 Charity given in his lifetime, in good health Ongoing contributions to relatives and community The foundation does not publish dollar figures. It does not publish recipient names. The framework above is the most public it gets. ## What I support, by area ### Engineering education in Pakistan. I have employed Pakistani engineers for sixteen years. The talent layer that produced them is real and underfunded. I support training programs and scholarship structures that move first-generation students into the profession. ### Healthcare access in underserved communities. Most healthcare engagements I have run on the company side are with large institutions. The giving side moves in the opposite direction, toward the patients and clinics that no super-app gets built for. ### Mental health awareness in Pakistan. Pakistani society has an unmet need around mental health that intersects with religious literacy and family structure. I am working toward an institutional contribution here. Specifics will appear when there is something specific to point to. ### Religious institutions in Pakistan and the United States. Mosques, madrassahs, and community centers that anchor families are themselves operating organizations with payroll, repairs, and bills. They are easy to overlook. I do not. ### First-generation scholarships. A specific kind of scholarship for students who would be the first in their family to attend university. My own path was a version of this story, several decades earlier. ## The posture, in one paragraph Four percent of revenues from each of my businesses goes to charity. I aim to give one percent of personal cash on top of that. I keep no-interest loans (qarz-e-hasana) running with people I have known for years. I do not list any of these recipients. The giving is structured to compound over decades, not to look impressive over months. ## How to reach out If you are running a cause, a program, or a structure that fits the areas above, you can reach me through the contact form. I read every message. I support far fewer programs than I would like to. Please do not take a slow or absent reply as an invitation to follow up; assume it is the most honest answer I can give that week. [Contact form](https://waqaspitafi.com/connect)