PRESCHOOL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

for non-profits, and independent for-profits

Enrollment Management & Attendance

Manage class rosters, waiting lists, authorization of caregivers to volunteer in the classroom, and more. We also offer time-tracking for students, teachers, and classroom volunteers.

Tuition Billing

Automate tuition billing, tracking, and invoicing. Easily add scholarships and volunteer discounts.
Optional: Automate tuition billing using e-payments.

Forms & Requirements

Track and process Forms, Volunteer Jobs, Immunization Requirements, Contracts, Questionnaires, and more.

Our Mission

To help lift early childhood education, across the US and Canada, by offering preschool management software -- at no charge. Our software is designed to ease the administrative burden of running a preschool. Our goal is to release educators and volunteers to invest their time in more valuable activities: educating kids, community-building, or catching up on sleep!

Reduce back-office work for staff and volunteers

Jovial was inspired by our desire to spend more time in our community of kids and families, and less with burdensome back-office tasks.

Parents need convenience

Jovial makes it easy for parents to access their child's up-to-date class roster, communicate with teachers and other parents, submit forms electronically, and pay their monthly tuition.

Improve record-keeping and compliance

Jovial automates most of your school's recordkeeping requirements -- forms, attendance, immunizations, etc. Jovial helps you run your school professionally.

Jovial Screenshot

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It's not.

- Dr. Seuss -

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who uses Jovial?

Jovial preschool management software is used and loved by non-profit and independent for-profit preschools, across the U.S. and Canada, representing thousands of families.

Camps, after-school, and similar programs, also use and love Jovial.

Jovial's roots are in co-op preschools. The majority (> 50%) of all co-op preschools in existence use Jovial. A few years ago, we opened Jovial to all non-profit preschools, and to independent for-profit preschools.

2. Does Jovial handle co-op specific issues such as parent leadership, parent participation in the classroom, and other requirements such as background checks?

Yes!

Jovial can track parent jobs, participation/attendance in the classroom, and more. Jovial also tracks requirements for parents who work in the classroom, such as background checks, CPR training, and more.

Every school is different. Jovial is highly customizable to your school's unique requirements.

3. How does Jovial's tuition billing work with our existing accounting system?

Jovial works with any double-entry accounting system, including QuickBooks.

Jovial is not designed to replace your existing accounting system. You will continue to run payroll, pay vendors, track budgets, report out, etc., using all of your current accounting practices. Jovial only replaces "accounts receivable" with respect to the families in your school.

Jovial makes it very easy to transfer your summarized receivables into your existing accounting system on a periodic basis (such as monthly).

4. Who will manage Jovial at our school?

Jovial is a collaborative tool designed to help everyone at your school with their job. Jovial provides various levels of access appropriate for staff, teachers, and volunteers, depending on their job. For example, teachers may only be allowed to view and edit class rosters.

A typical school will have one or more people designated as "administrator" who will be able to manage user access, view and edit all content, etc.

Jovial is easy to use and does not require IT expertise. We will help you set it up to work for your school.

5. Is there some way for parents to access Jovial?

Yes! Jovial has a "Family Portal". The Family Portal can be used to view billing information, make tuition payments (with optional E-payments), submit electronic forms, access up-to-date class rosters, check pending requirements, review contact information, and more.

6. What technology or software do we need to use Jovial?

All you need is a computer with an internet connection and a relatively modern internet browser. Jovial is also mobile- and tablet-friendly and will work well on iPhone and Android devices. Jovial is 100% cloud-based. There's nothing to download, install, or update.

7. Where is our data kept? Is our data safe? Can we download our data if we decide to stop using Jovial?

Jovial runs on Google Cloud, one of the world's top cloud-computing providers. Our standards for data safety meet or exceed industry standards:

  • We utilize multiple data centers to provide geographical redundancy of all data.
  • We backup all data daily. We maintain daily backups for at least 2 weeks, and weekly backups for at least 2 months. In the very unlikely event your account experiences any sort of critical failure, we are able to quickly restore your data from any available previous backup.
  • We use an encrypted connection (https://) for ALL access to Jovial. This happens automatically, without you having to do anything.
  • We train our employees in data security, audit regularly, and always require the use of multi-factor authentication.
  • We require strong passwords, and all passwords are internally encrypted using modern encryption algorithms.
  • We never store payment/financial information; all such data is stored & managed separately by financial-industry providers with dedicated expertise and security teams.
  • Each school administrator maintains the user access list for his/her school, and each user's access permission is individually customized.

If you decide Jovial is not for your school, it's easy to download your data into an Excel-compatible format (CSV) at any time, and take it with you.

8. What will we need to get started?

Once we setup Jovial for your school, we will hand-hold you through all the initial customization. Everyone's needs are different, but these are the typical things you can either do yourself, or we can help you setup:

  • Import a list of your families/students from an Excel spreadsheet
  • Configure Jovial with your school's tuition policies and to work with your existing accounting system
  • Configure Jovial with your school's requirements -- such as immunizations for students, background checks for volunteers, and anything else -- and Jovial will automatically track all requirements for you
  • Upload your school logo, and customize the color-scheme of your account to your school's colors!

9. Who is behind Jovial?

Jovial was proudly co-founded by Hermann and Helen Calabria, based in Seattle, Washington, in 2016. We are on a social mission to support early-childhood education. Jovial is full-featured, professionally-built, easy-to-use, preschool management software. Jovial is offered at no charge, but is only available to non-profits, and independent for-profits.

The inspiration behind Jovial started when we volunteered at our local preschool. Only then did we realize and appreciate the overwhelming amount of time & effort required to professionally administer a school! Hermann and Helen felt the little time available to staff, teachers, and volunteers is best spent working with kids, meeting families, planning community and social events, fundraising, and catching up on sleep!

Jovial helps by automating and organizing the administrative tasks, including paperwork, enrollment, maintaining waitlists, collecting tuition, and more, therefore releasing thousands of hours to educators nationwide.

Sustainability is important to Hermann and Helen. Jovial is very high-quality software, relying on decades of software engineering experience and our first-hand experiences as volunteers. Our first priority is making Jovial useful, user-friendly, and secure.

Hermann and Helen's family have gained so much from their preschool years. It is their sincere hope Jovial will help lift the early child education community, coast to coast.

10. We're really interested in Jovial. Does our school qualify?

Although we support and believe in all forms of early-childhood education, Jovial is only available to the following:

  • Non-profits
  • Independent for-profits, meaning owned/run by a small number of individuals. We will review case-by-case.
  • Some government-run / school districts. We will review case-by-case.
  • Schools located within the U.S. or Canada.

On a case-by-case, we also make Jovial available to camps, after-school programs, and to smaller elementary schools.

If you're not sure, please reach out and we'll be happy to discuss your school's specifics.

11. I'm thinking about starting a preschool. Can Jovial help?

Yes!

If you're wondering if the preschool you're thinking about starting would qualify for Jovial, or have other general questions about starting a preschool, just contact us!

12. What if we have additional questions?

We are happy to answer any questions you may have. Please fill out the “Get Started” form below, and we will respond to you by phone or email within 2 business days.

Pricing

Jovial is offered at no cost to qualified preschools
U.S. and Canada only

Jovial

$0/forever
  • Family/Student Data Management
  • Enrollment Management
  • Waiting Lists
  • Tuition Accounting works with QuickBooks, others
  • Electronic Forms go paperless!
  • Attendance
  • Sign-in/Sign-out includes contactless
  • Requirements Tracking
  • Family Portal
  • Schoolwide Dashboard

(Yes, free!)

We also offer optional e-payments at competitive per-transaction rates.

What Schools Say

Jovial Review by Alexa G.

I am so thankful for Jovial! Before Jovial, we used a patchwork of internal spreadsheets. Now, everyone sees the same information, vastly improving communication among our volunteer administrators and our families, including tracking tuition payments. The automation of charges and notification emails are a dream. Thank you, Jovial!

Alexa G. Treasurer
Valley Drive Cooperative Preschool
Alexandria, VA
Jovial Review by Cynthia H.

Jovial has brought co-ops into the 21st century! Even better, I feel like the Jovial team is invested in our success. I enjoy having a consolidated view of the application, waitlist, and billing status of my families. My work is so much faster and less error prone. Updating our applications is a breeze. A lot of our families enjoy being able to pay online. Thanks Jovial!

Cynthia H. Registrar
Latona Co-Op and NEST Infants & Toddlers
Seattle, WA
Jovial Review by Kate B.

Jovial was a lifesaver for our school during the pandemic. For the past 20 years, we distributed paper forms at in-person meetings - not possible this past spring. Our families appreciate being able to access everything in one central place online. The Jovial staff was so helpful both in their general technical assistance and also in customizing solutions for our needs.

Kate B. Business Manager
Families Together Cooperative Nursery School
Chicago, IL
Jovial Review by Kelly G.

I am incredibly grateful for Jovial. Jovial has made my life as volunteer treasurer so much easier and made tracking our tuition and registration much smoother. Before Jovial, we used a patchwork of spreadsheets and an outdated database. The Jovial team really holds your hand through setup, and has continued to support us through the various changes due to COVID. I highly recommend Jovial.

Kelly G. Treasurer
San Marcos Parent Child Workshop
Santa Barbara, CA
Jovial Review by Erica S.

Our little school thrives with Jovial! Parents can easily manage their own accounts; they can see what forms need to be submitted, pay tuition online, be alerted of due dates and important notices, and even do contactless sign in which has been invaluable during the pandemic. With the teachers spending less time as administrators, we can spend more time with students!

Erica S. Owner/Head of School
Wind Rose Montessori
Seattle, WA
Jovial Review by Dianne R.

We've been using Jovial for a few years now, and it has really made coordinating communications and payment collections so much easier! Jovial's electronic forms were easy to set up, and make it much easier for prospective members to complete their applications, and for our parents and staff to process them. Also, the year-to-year transitions for board members (especially the treasurer!) are greatly simplified by using Jovial!

Dianne R. Head Teacher
Hunters Woods Cooperative Preschool
Reston, VA

Get Started

If you have questions or want to explore using Jovial to help administer your preschool,
please complete the form below. We will respond within 1-2 business days.

Thank you!

Your contact request was successfully received.

We will email and/or call you back within 1-2 business days
(usually within hours during weekdays)