A Labor Day letter from Put Me In!
Put Me In! is a nonprofit that increases access to sports for children of incarcerated parents. In our second annual Labor Day letter, we share our results, look ahead, and ask for your support
Greetings!
I’m Matt Blodgett, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Put Me In!
I wrote this letter to:
Ask for your support to fully fund and enroll our 2023 Cohort with a 1:1 match on the first $150,000 of donations received through October
Explain what Put Me In! does and why it matters
Celebrate our 210% program growth in 2022
Introduce our first two full-time leaders: Alex and Khalid
Present software we designed, built, and deployed
Share a mother’s direct feedback (with audio links) on our impact
Share our 2023 and 2024 growth plan
Acknowledge and thank our donors, partners, and team
We ask for your support
We are building a waitlist of 25+ children of incarcerated parents for our 2023 Cohort in the Bay Area, Boston, Austin, and Minneapolis.
A generous Bay Area supporter will match up to $150,000 of all contributions to Put Me In! through October: this will double your impact.
Let’s team up and fully fund the 2023 Cohort waitlist by Halloween!
What Put Me In! does
Founded in 2020 by Matt Blodgett and Robyn Glaser, Put Me In! provides recurring annual financial aid packages of $1,000 per year to children of incarcerated parents (“CIPs”) to increase their access to sports. Our financial aid automatically renews yearly through 12th grade, provided the child remains in school.
Why it matters
210% year over year program growth in 2022!
31 enrolled CIPs: +14 in Bay Area; + 7 in Boston
Expanded to Boston, partnering with Northeastern University and Friends of the Children Boston
Deepened Bay Area partnerships with Project Avary, Friends of the Children SF, The Place 4 Grace, and the San Francisco Public Schools
Accepted into the All-Stars Helping Kids 2022 Cohort
Our first two full-time leaders: Alex and Khalid
Alex Horvitz - Boston, MA
Our first team member in 2020, Alex launched our website and communications (2020) and designed and led the development of our software (2021). In 2022, Alex became our first full-time employee and first Chief Program Officer. She led the Boston expansion, built and deployed our software, and adopted Goose the Golden.
Our caregivers and kids love Alex and the software she builds.
Alex will return to her her pre-MBA employer, Accenture, in October. We are thrilled to welcome her to Put Me In!’s board as an Observer. She is a spectacular leader, colleague, and partner. I am grateful for all she has taught me and excited to collaborate and partner with her in the years to come.
Khalid Cannon - Austin, TX
I’m pumped to announce that Khalid has joined Put Me In! full-time as President and Chief Program Officer. A Put Me In! volunteer since inception, Khalid previously worked as an operational consultant to software companies. He moonlights as a professional rugby player for the Austin Huns and is quite tall.
Like me, Khalid brings authentic lived experience in perfect alignment with our mission and model. He grew up in rural Alabama with an incarcerated father. Access to sports built a bridge to Yale, where Khalid earned a double major in Chemistry and Geology and starred as an offensive tackle on the Yale football team. I’m fired up to partner and work with Khalid every day!
Designed, built, and deployed software to grow
As shared in last year’s Labor Day letter, we build software to get better as we get bigger. Led by Alex Horvitz and starting in 2021, a stellar team in Boston, San Francisco, Uruguay, and Ukraine designed, built, and deployed our first software application for program delivery and management.
Here’s a demo:
Our software works: the average time required to process a financial aid request has dropped by 93% as compared to manual processes from 2021.
Nicole, mother of J, shares the impact of sports
Meet J. He’s a 4th grader and a proud purple belt, growing up in Oakland.
At the beginning of 2021 our partner program Friends of the Children SF introduced J’s mother, Nicole. We enrolled J in the middle of his 2nd grade year and committed $11,000 of financial aid (through 12th grade). So far, we have invested approximately $1,700 to help swim and learn karate.
With our support, J is fully accessing sports for the first time.
Listen to these outcomes from our annual caregiver survey. We have tangible proof of significant, tangible, and compounding impacts. We’ll share a longer summary of this survey (including video) in early November.
Increased self-confidence (audio link)
“With swimming, it…boosted his self-confidence because once you're in the water, you have to rely on all of your tools. So once he got that accomplished, he feels like he is a professional swimmer. Now he can swim in any type of environment….The next sport he did choose was karate. So now he's currently a purple belt. And with purple belt came a higher level of practice that he has to learn. So with the purple belt, he actually got more tools and more supplies…It's like he is a master ninja, and I just love seeing how he…transforms…his self worth is growing because he knows he can do this. He can do this. He applies himself. He can accomplish this. And so, with every level and every belt he goes, he's trying to be a black belt. He is going to be the best kid and young adult…
Improved physical fitness and nutritional focus (audio link)
He keeps himself self-monitored…he monitors what he eats. No sugary, fatty stuff. He wants to have a six-pack; we’re working on that now.
Improved academic performance (audio link)
…last year when he started third grade, he was at a pre-K reading level. When he ended third grade, he was at a fourth grade and third grade reading level. So he jumped two or three grades in that year.
Builds self-esteem in young boys of color (audio link)
It's important…especially boys of color growing up. They're constantly…talked down to…they're taught that they're not there… don't have much to contribute to the world. But now with Put Me In! you have a lot to contribute…it definitely gives him a sense of importance. I've seen a lot of growth in him…just based off of his self-discipline…I don't have to ask him to practice…I don't have to ask him to do his workout because he knows this is what he has to do. So he has that mental capacity already established that this is important, and he is privileged to be in this program.
A message for our donors and team (audio link)
I want to thank you guys. All of you every single person that has played a part in this organization, because not only are you enriching our kids, you're giving them…opportunities to better their future that they didn't even think was possible. You know, especially some homes we don't even bring up the word college, you know, but…they have the opportunity…to be able to be a part of it. To be able to aspire…so I want to thank all you…I am so appreciative and I love each and every one of you guys and like I said, we're family at this point.
It’s Time to Build
2023: 85%+ program growth
Enroll 25+ CIPs and finish 2023 with 56+ enrolled CIPs in Put Me In!
Pilot expansions to Austin and Minneapolis (3 to 4 CIPs total)
Launch social features for caregiver community in our mobile app
Identify and recruit an A+ leader for fundraising and development
Raise capital to support 100% program growth in 2024
2024: 100%+ program growth
Execute on our vision and compound our impacts
Explore long-term partnerships with scaled philanthropic funders
Begin earning the trust of scaled funders with impact and accountability
Build community with the 2.7 million American CIPs and their caregivers
A heartfelt “thank you” from Put Me In!
To our incredible donors, partners, and team: thank you.
We are grateful, blessed, and having a blast on this joyful marathon.
Let’s Go!
Matt Blodgett
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Put Me In!
San Francisco, California