Living Tree

Every student deserves to tackle the challenges they face with excitement. We believe in connecting schools with their communities for students to succeed beyond the classroom.

In 2012, two parents became frustrated by the number of websites, apps, emails, calendars, newsletters, and folders they were juggling to stay involved in their children’s academic lives. With each new grade, class, and school activity, things became more chaotic. As parents, they simply wanted to be more engaged in their children’s lives and know what was happening that day in school BEFORE they got home. Surely the social network giants of today would have created a private and safe social network specifically for the K-12 Education System?

They didn’t. So those two parents set out to take a bold step to revolutionize how families and educators could connect, collaborate, and coordinate. They leveraged the power of Web 2.0 principles to build a unique, social network that replaces the multitude of outdated tools such as mass emails, notification systems, web/parent portals, websites, teacher blogs, volunteer websites, printed handouts, etc., almost all of which served as one-way communication devices. Livingtree became the only platform built in the context of optimizing community, family, and student engagement for the full range of K-12 school systems. It empowered education leaders to connect, share, and engage their families at every level.

Why was it named Livingtree? Well, there is a tree native to Africa called the Baobab Tree. It is referred to as the “tree of life,” providing shelter, food, and water for the animal and human inhabitants of the desert regions. Because of this, savannah communities formed and connected around these trees. The story of this tree struck the two parents and led to the brand name, Livingtree.

It became Livingtree’s mission to improve student outcomes by helping classrooms, schools, and districts connect with their communities. Along the way, Livingtree discovered Edbacker. The district-wide online fundraising platform connected parents, local communities, corporations, and school districts to address America’s education funding gap while eliminating the surprises and liabilities associated with today’s crowdfunding sites. It was a perfect fit, and in January of 2018, Livingtree added the platform to its solution set.

Today, Livingtree’s original platform is known as Livingtree Engage, and Edbacker is known as Livingtree Give. The company is fulfilling its mission to help better serve and connect school communities, and continues to grow every day. School districts across the country are turning to Livingtree to improve family engagement and communication within their schools, as well as their online fundraising systems.