About Big Nest
Big Nest started with one school.
During the pandemic, founder Ben Downey wanted to help his kids’ elementary school keep serving families. What began as a way to accept donations online soon grew to handle yearbook orders, event tickets, and more of the work the parent group carried.
The goal was practical: let the website take care of the details so volunteers could spend more time helping kids.
Used by PTOs and PTGs from Washington to Wisconsin and beyond.
See how Big Nest works
How it grew
Good ideas were everywhere. They just were not connected.
Ben began calling other parent-teacher groups to understand how they worked. Every conversation uncovered something useful. One group had developed a better way to run a fundraiser. Another had found a clearer way to manage spirit wear sales.
Those ideas became improvements to the original school website.
Eventually, the website became a platform any parent-teacher group could use. Instead of every new board inventing its own system, more of the knowledge volunteers had already earned could carry forward.
What changed the goal
Saving time was only the beginning.
After a dozen schools had joined Big Nest, a pattern became clear.
The platform was saving volunteers time, but they were not using that time to step away. They were using it to do more for their schools.
Some groups expanded what they offered families. Others strengthened their fundraising and community participation. Better systems did not replace volunteer work. In fact, it make it easier to get more work done.
When volunteers spend less time managing tools, they have more time to strengthen their school community.
What Big Nest became
Carry the work forward.
Big Nest gives PTOs and PTGs a connected home for their public website and the work behind it.
Families can see what is happening and take part. Leaders can run the work today while leaving the next board a stronger place to begin.
The software handles more of the details. Volunteers build the momentum.
The point is not simply better software. It is a stronger, more connected school community.
Why it matters
Parent groups make schools stronger.
When a parent group is organized and active, families have more ways to participate and students benefit from a community that can keep showing up for them. Big Nest exists to make that support easier to sustain, year after year.
Help the next board start further ahead.
Give your parent group a place to keep building on what its volunteers have already learned.
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