It is with great pleasure (and a considerable amount of relief followed by utter exhaustion) that I share with you the news that CodeChix has achieved 501c3 status through fiscal sponsorship.

I have been trying to get to this stage for the last two years and I cannot describe the quantity and type of hurdles I encountered in trying to do this. Frankly, it was really, really tough – similar to fish swimming upstream.

BUT – we’re there. Finally.

Our project name is the “CodeChix Education Fund“. We are a fiscally-sponsored project under Community Initiatives in San Francisco.

And, yes, donations are tax deductible through Network For Good –https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/communityin.  Make sure you specify CodeChix Education Fund in the Description so it goes to us.

I am still waiting for the IRS to bless us as an independent organization (they take two years to just look at the paperwork), but, in the meantime, we have a fiscal sponsor, Community Initiatives who has accepted my application and, so, we are now 501c3 qualified. Yaaay !!

One of the hurdles to getting to this stage was to raise a minimum of $25K in funding. We raised $5K through our Indiegogo campaign and that wasn’t enough (Thank you to all who donated ! Your perks should be coming soon.). I was going to fund the rest of it from my own pocket (the dwindling Bank of Rupa), but, I am expecting a corporate donation that has been promised and that will carry us for this year. Another Yaaay !!

We really need tech companies to sponsor us and be corporate sponsors, so we can continue to be trailblazers. We are the only tech-women-targeted non-profit to take on the challenge of the alarming dropout rate of women engineers on the technical ladder at tech companies across all industry regardless of technology. And to focus on TECHNICAL events and promoting awesome technical women who are being overlooked and unappreciated. And to be inspirations to the next generation of fresh college graduates as well as women returning to the industry who may or may not know what they are getting into and feel abandoned/isolated in these tough environments.

So, if you work at a company that has a foundation and/or matches donations, please put our name forward so we can get some financial support. If you need more info, email me directly at rupa at codechix dot org. If your company uses EasyMatch, please add us as the following organization. This way, your donation has twice the impact.

“Community Initiatives / CodeChix Education Fund”

Thank you for being our supporters and for volunteering with us. Stay tuned for announcements on our upcoming events !!! See you all there !

May the code be with you…

– Rupa