The way our society communicates has changed, drastically! Data, that's now over two years old, shows that 96% of Americans own a cellphone, and 81% of Americans own a smartphone. The technology available today is faster and easier to use than ever before. And now the millennials that grew up using

“Family engagement means more than simply informing parents about their child’s progress or challenges” [IRIS Center] When it comes to one of the most important components related to student success and school improvement, it’s mission critical to understand family engagement. While m

Family engagement is a key component in both school improvement and student success. Research shows that when families engage in their child’s learning, students demonstrate better grades, test scores, attendance, and behavior. The problem that many face is that traditional family engagement p

Looking for a communication alternative to SchoolMessenger that families will love? SchoolMessenger is a good platform for sending mass notifications and communications. However, many schools and districts want a better solution for connecting their families to the classroom, school, and distric

If your PTA could run one fundraiser for the whole school year or run several throughout the year, which would you choose? Most would likely choose the first. Because let’s be honest, organizing fundraisers isn’t necessarily a quick and easy process. It takes a lot of administrative time, en

No matter the scale, when you are dealing with an emergent situation, you should notify all of your staff and families in as many forms as possible to ensure the message is received. That’s why Livingtree developed its new Urgent Alert feature on the Engage platform. The new feature is now ava

What is Teacher Appreciation Week? Teacher Appreciation Week, which also incorporates National Teacher Day, is a week-long celebration that honors and celebrates teachers for the contributions they make to education. It offers students, families, and administrators an opportunity to show their a

How do you replace face to face school fundraisers? The current global health crisis has thrown a wrench in a lot of activities related to K-12 education. School fundraising is an essential activity that happens in the background of the school ecosystem, so it's not typically top of mind for mos

With millions of students experiencing school disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both teachers and families are making plans to keep students on track and learning while at home. That means that students and their families are now in the position of driving that learning. But, teachers are s

As recently featured in a CNN article, the educational company Scholastic “has launched a ‘Learn at Home’ website that has daily courses for students from Pre-kindergarten to grades 6 and higher.” This free, open-access digital hub was created to help keep students learning while school sc

Just last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus (COVID-19) spread a global pandemic. What we know for sure is that this virus is at the top of everyone’s mind, especially the minds of family members with children in school. This pandemic is something the world has nev

First and foremost, we hope you are healthy and safe. Our thoughts are with everyone and all of the school communities affected by this phenomenon. This is something the world has never dealt with before, and these are uncharted waters for leaders across the globe. COVID-19 is at top of mind for al

Whether you are a district administrator, a school administrator, an educator, or even a community member, chances are you've seen an online fundraising campaign from one of your local school classrooms or programs. With the reported rise in school crowdfunding campaigns across the country, it's cl

Crowdfunding provides enormous opportunities for today's classrooms and school programs to raise money because of its efficiency. Organizers can create campaigns in no time, and share them with hundreds if not thousands of people online. However, these same opportunities also pose serious risks

As a growing number of school communities turn to crowdfunding and raise more money than ever before for their classrooms and programs, what should be celebrated as a victory has turned into a concern for school district administrators. The concept of online fundraising in K-12 schools has erupt

Livingtree Give’s new feature centralizes fundraising procedures and equips school districts with a comprehensive process to pre-approve fundraising requests from any programs or sites like DonorsChoose, GoFundMe, SnapRaise, and more AUSTIN, TX, October 7, 2019 – Livingtree, a fundraisi

Livingtree introduces program in North Dakota focused on bringing families closer to their child(ren)’s learning experiences at school through innovative strategies and technology. AUSTIN, TEXAS -- OCTOBER 28, 2019 Schools across North Dakota have officially began a partnership with Living

Teacher crowdfunding can bring important resources - tied to specific classroom needs, where government funding falls short. But it also opens educators up to substantial liabilities. It's crucial for school districts to understand how to manage the risks that are associated with crowdfunding campa

Are you preparing to be a family engagement rockstar next year? We're here for you, and we've made some new feature updates on Livingtree Engage to make engaging families a little easier! We are constantly working on new features that benefit the Family Engagement process, and remove barriers for ed

School districts across the country are faced with a new challenge when it comes to funding: managing the liabilities of crowdfunding (online fundraising). With the number of school teachers spending money out of pocket for classroom projects, and the after-school clubs and teams in need of addition

https://youtu.be/WxyEuydR-SQ In this week's episode, Livingtree CEO Gary Hensley discusses the current situation in K-12 schools when it comes to crowdfunding and the risks that teachers, donors, and the district all face when it's not done right.   Hi everybody, welcome to this week’s editi

AUSTIN, TX — May 21, 2019 —Livingtree, Inc., today announced the launch of The Family Efficacy Score™ (FES). Creator of Livingtree Engage platform, the private, safe, and secure community for teachers and families to engage in support of better learning outcomes for children announces a major

https://youtu.be/_vVyMc71NMA "Why is it that I have to buy something in order to support my child?" is the question that Livingtree CEO Gary Hensley poses. Over the last decade, there has been a shift in the way that parents prefer to interact with school fundraising.   Hey everybody and welco

The Basha High School Air Force JROTC program in Chandler, AZ had used Snap-Raise in previous years, but they made the switch to another online fundraising platform, and this move likely added an additional $4,000 to their bank account that they would have otherwise lost to the costs of Snap-Raise.

https://youtu.be/0MSy-HFfutQ Do you know how school districts are funded? Livingtree CEO Gary Hensley took a moment in the first of our new vlog series to address the confusion of where districts receive their funding and the challenges they face. What are your thoughts? Hey everybody, my name

https://youtu.be/5pR0105g2K0 In this video, Livingtree CEO Gary Hensley talks about the beginning of Livingtree Give and why he originally started the company.  "I wanted to take an opportunity to talk a little bit about something that really was the beginning of Livingtree Give. The prod

Sarah Schwartz’s Education Week blog follows the recent Crowdfunding Research Report published by EdSurge, and outlines many reasons why a multitude of school districts like Metro Nashville Public Schools are banning the use of school crowdfunding sites like DonorsChoose.org. With the recent boom

Online fundraising is a growing area in K-12, and crowdfunding has exploded onto the scene over the last decade. While many students, families, teachers, and schools have embraced this new type of fundraising, school districts are facing unintended liabilities from these types of campaigns. EdSurge

In our increasingly digital world, there’s an app (or a dozen) for every need and/or want we can imagine. Education technology is no different. Every week, it seems like there is a different app for behavior, communication, attendance - you name it. With limited direction from the school or distri

Livingtree Give just added a little competition to education fundraising… We’d like to introduce the “Leaderboard” Feature! The "Leaderboard" feature is an option that you can choose to set up when you are creating your online campaign, which allows you to create a "competition" for donatio

Sixty years of research have lead to family engagement strategies like Family Academic Socialization, Home Visits, Phone Calls, Parent-Family Conferences, and Academic Nights. However, a commonly overlooked component is a district-wide platform that allows families to engage in their child’s lear

Every model of reform has as a necessary component: the idea that families need to be connected to learning. Family engagement is therefore not a nice-to-have, but a MUST-have if schools want to meet the goals they have for all students. Leaders in education can no longer ignore what sixty years of

When you hear the word “homeless” the first image that comes to mind probably isn’t a child, is it? And yet there are more than 2,300 students in the Austin Independent School District that experience homelessness each year. The effects of that are something that no child should experience, es

Every year on Livingtree Give, we see projects from outdoor gardens to programs for the arts. Every project has an outcome directly related to students. Where else can you have such an impact on the future of our country and the world to inspire a life-long journey of learning? One of the biggest p