Grantee Spotlight on ReSpawn Foundation
We’re excited to spotlight ReSpawn Foundation, a Gamers Engaged Play-it-Forward grantee working at the intersection of gaming, accessibility, and healthcare.
ReSpawn’s mission is both bold and beautifully practical: to make adaptive gaming a standard, expected part of rehabilitation in hospitals across the U.S. Their work is clinician-led and hospital-focused—meaning they’re not only creating joyful, inclusive gaming experiences for patients, but also building the clinical evidence and hospital partnerships needed to embed gaming into care plans as a documented tool for recovery, independence, and reconnection.
In this interview, you’ll hear how ReSpawn is using the Play-it-Forward grant as a strategic investment in long-term sustainability—strengthening their fundraising capacity so their clinical team can stay focused on what they do best: training healthcare providers and implementing adaptive gaming programs inside hospitals. We’ll also dig into their 2025 momentum, from major conference representation to expanding partnerships with leading rehab hospitals—and the powerful lessons they’ve learned by reconnecting with past patients and families.
Finally, ReSpawn shares clear ways the community can step in: fundraising streams, event volunteering, donating accessible equipment, and one of the most impactful actions of all—advocating for ReSpawn inside your workplace to help unlock the corporate partnerships that will take this work nationwide.
Let’s meet ReSpawn Foundation.
Our Interview with ReSpawn Foundation
Gamers Engaged: How will this Play-it-Forward grant support your organization?
ReSpawn Foundation: We are utilizing this grant as a strategic investment in our organizational capacity. Specifically, these funds allow us to bring on professional development expertise to secure long-term, unrestricted funding. By investing in our ability to fundraise sustainably, we ensure that our clinical team can remain focused on what they do best: training healthcare providers and implementing adaptive gaming programming within hospitals.
Gamers Engaged: What's your vision for the future?
ReSpawn Foundation: Our vision is for adaptive gaming to be a standard, expected part of rehabilitation across the U.S. We are building a national hospital alliance and generating the clinical data necessary to demonstrate how gaming supports recovery and independence. Ultimately, we want every patient in a rehabilitation hospital to have access to gaming as a formal tool for regaining their independence, reclaiming their social identity, and reconnecting with the world on their own terms.
Gamers Engaged: What opportunities does your organization offer for community engagement?
ReSpawn Foundation: The community can get involved by hosting fundraising streams, volunteering at events, or donating accessible equipment. One of the most impactful ways to help is by serving as an internal advocate within your own company; a gentle introduction to our mission can help us build the corporate partnerships we need to scale. We also collaborate with developers and esports teams to make gaming more inclusive at its source.
Gamers Engaged: What makes you stand out from the crowd?
ReSpawn Foundation: ReSpawn is uniquely clinician-led and hospital-focused. While many organizations focus on the broad gaming community, we operate specifically within the healthcare system. We speak the language of hospital administrators and therapists, ensuring that gaming interventions are not just a distraction for patients, but a documented part of their recovery and long-term wellness.
Gamers Engaged: What's something really cool you have done in the past year?
ReSpawn Foundation: 2025 was a year of incredible momentum for us. We were awarded a national two-year grant and represented the intersection of gaming and rehabilitation at major national conferences, in the clinical, educational, and gaming sectors. We’ve expanded our partnerships with top-tier rehabilitation hospitals and leading clinicians. Most importantly though, we’ve reconnected with past patients and their families to listen to their long-term success stories.
