The What If I Could Foundation
What if I could…
Founded by two parents in tech, preserving imagination and nurturing curious young minds in a changing digital world.
This is a creative moment, and young minds belong at the center of it, bringing their own ideas to life and asking, “What else could I do?” We are building creative experiences, AI-powered programs and practical guidance for parents and educators to help them find out.
Read our missionWhat else could I do?
Our Mission
Preserving imagination and nurturing independent thinkers in a rapidly changing world.
How we began
The What If I Could Foundation was started by Brittany and Tony Passavanti, two parents in tech with elementary-aged children. As their children grew, they recognized that this is a pivotal moment in technology, and that the tools young people meet now will shape how they learn, play and make things.
They started the foundation so young minds can be part of this creative moment: inventing, questioning and bringing their own ideas to life, with the adults around them cheering them on.
What we believe
We are neither pro-AI nor anti-AI. Imagination is a human power. Where we use technology, including AI, we use it deliberately to expand a young person’s own imagination and thinking, never to replace them.
We’re developing creative experiences and practical guidance to help young minds explore what’s possible in a changing digital world. Alongside Imagination Studio, we’re planning guided AI practice for older learners and resources that help parents and educators talk about, teach and use AI thoughtfully. Imagination and critical thinking are at the heart of it all.
For Parents
Support for the everyday moments
Parents are often the first people to hear a brand-new idea. We are preparing plain-language resources to help you meet those ideas with curiosity, keep them growing, and talk openly about AI and screens along the way.
None of these resources is ready to download yet. Each one is marked as in development until it is.
Being prepared for parents
Talking about AI at home
In developmentWhat AI tools are, what they do well, where they get things wrong, and how to talk about them with young people.
Questions to ask about a new app
In developmentA short set of questions for deciding whether a game, app or tool leaves room for a young person’s own ideas.
Imagination at home
In developmentOffline activities and conversation starters for different ages, added as we develop them.
Classroom conversation guides
In developmentWays to discuss AI and digital tools with students, leaving room for their questions and doubts.
Creative prompts for class
In developmentOpen-ended, offline prompts that start from students’ own questions.
Workshops for educators
Future planWe hope to offer workshops and talks for schools and educator groups. Nothing is scheduled yet.
For Educators
Room for questions in the classroom
Educators see every day how differently young minds approach a problem, and how far a good question can travel in a classroom. We are preparing resources that support creative and critical thinking, designed to sit alongside what teachers already do.
If you work with young people and would like to follow this work as it develops, Instagram is the best place for now.
Keep Imagination Growing
Small ways to make room for big ideas
Leave some unplanned time
Time with nothing scheduled and nothing on a screen is often when young people start inventing their own games and stories.
Ask a question back
When a young person asks “what if…”, ask what they think first. Their answer is worth hearing before anyone looks anything up.
Make things by hand
Cardboard, tape, clay and paper give an idea a shape you can hold, and mistakes are easy to fix or keep.
Keep the first draft
Save early drawings and stories next to the finished ones, so young people can see how an idea changed as they worked on it.
- In developmentA longer guide on preserving imagination, with ideas by age.
- In developmentAn idea for a What If I Could book. It is not written or available yet.
One of our programs
Imagination Studio
In developmentA place for young minds to stretch their imagination and discover what they can create.
The Imagination Studio is one program within the foundation, and it is built around AI. We are planning it as a free resource for schools and families. It is in development and not open yet, and the details here describe current plans that may change as we learn.
In the studio, young people would invent characters, write stories and build connected story worlds, where characters and places from one story can turn up in the next. It is a space for writing and creating, not a video game.
Keeping young people safe is a central goal in how we design and test the studio. It is a goal we are working toward, not a certification or a guarantee.
Where AI fits
AI (artificial intelligence) will be a foundational part of the studio. Here, AI means software that produces text or pictures in response to a written request, based on patterns in a large amount of existing material.
We plan to use it deliberately: to respond to the characters and stories a young person creates, to suggest directions they might explore, and to help them keep track of and extend the story worlds they build. The ideas start with them, and the choices stay theirs.
AI can be helpful and it can be wrong. It has no ideas or experiences of its own, and what it produces is always open to question. We want young people, and the adults around them, to understand what it is doing and feel free to push back on it.
Also planned
Guided AI practice for older learners
In developmentA second planned resource, for older learners. It would guide them through using AI thoughtfully: writing clearer prompts, asking better questions and follow-ups, looking for alternative perspectives, checking and revising what comes back, and taking an idea deeper. The aim is creative AI skills they can carry anywhere, with their own imagination and critical thinking leading the way.
It is not planned as an open-ended chatbot or a way to get homework answers. Nothing is live yet, and we make no claims about results.
Get Involved
This is just the beginning
Follow along
Instagram is where we share progress for now.
Workshops
Future planWe are exploring workshops for families, educators and schools. None is scheduled, and none can be booked yet.
Partnerships
Future planIn time, we would like to explore partnerships with like-minded parents, educational institutions and organizations. Partnership opportunities are not open yet; we will share news on Instagram when that changes.
The What If I Could Foundation is a nonprofit initiative in development. There is nothing to sign up for, buy or donate to right now, and this site has no forms and does not ask for any personal information.