I'm Olivier, a dad and a trustee at an independent school near Princeton. I built KadoPool because the simplest thank-you, a group gift for a teacher, had turned into a chore, and because I've seen how much a little help means to our schools and the causes around us.
Teacher Appreciation Week. Silence in the class group chat. My wife's evenings disappeared into chasing payments from “SteveJ44”, reconciling a spreadsheet, and deciding whether to cover the $40 shortfall herself.
What should have been a thank-you had become a project. She felt like a debt collector, not a neighbor. Watching her, I knew there had to be a better way.
As a trustee, I've seen how tight school budgets are, and how much a few hundred dollars can do for a classroom: art supplies, new library books, a field trip.
So every pool can be linked to a school, club or nonprofit, and KadoPool gives it 30% of our fee, never taken out of the gift. Over a school year, the thank-yous a community already gives quietly add up.
For schools and nonprofitsFundraising often turns giving into a game: leaderboards, class competitions, lists of who gave what. I've always felt awkward about it. Families have different circumstances, and the pressure to give more than is comfortable is real, especially when everyone in the community knows who gave what.
That's why KadoPool has a Privacy Shield: nobody sees what anyone gave, not the organizer, not the other families, not the person you celebrate. Every name on the card counts the same.
The gift carries the gesture, not the math.
When my son asked to give his birthday money to our local food bank instead of getting presents, it took me back to our wedding. We had replaced our wedding favors with a donation and asked our guests to give to local charities alongside us, but there was no good way to do it.
Both gave me the idea of donation pools: friends give to a charity in someone's honor, from a link or a QR code on the tables at the event, and the person they celebrate still gets a KadoBook full of everyone's messages.
Giving together should feel good for everyone: nobody chasing, nobody judged, and a gift that says what everyone feels. And whenever we can, it should help the places that help our kids.
Your group chips in from a link, with no app needed.
On a computer? Scan with your phone's camera.
Questions first? Read the honest answers