What is GoodNest, in a sentence?+
A simple page for your child where family and friends can give toward their future, once or whenever they like, and leave a letter or message for them to open when they grow up. The money goes straight to you, and you save it however you choose.
How do I ask family without it feeling awkward?+
That is what GoodNest is for. Your child’s page does the explaining, with your dream for them right at the top, and we write a warm message for you to send along with the link. There’s never any pressure and no wrong amount. Most family are glad to be asked: they want to be part of your child’s future, and this gives them a way that feels personal.
Does a grandparent need an account or an app?+
No. They open the link, choose an amount, and send it to you with the Zelle, Venmo or PayPal they already have; the page opens it for them with the amount filled in. They can come back and give again whenever they like. No password and no phone call.
What can the money be used for?+
Whatever you and your child need it for. GoodNest never holds, invests or chooses where the money goes: family send it straight to you by Zelle, Venmo or PayPal, and from there many families move it into a 529 college plan, a savings account, or a child’s investment account. Your dashboard shows when gifts you’ve marked as arrived haven’t been moved to savings yet.
Is GoodNest a bank, or an investment account?+
No. GoodNest is the page and the link. Gifts go straight from your family to you, by Zelle, Venmo or PayPal, and never pass through us. We never hold, invest or move the money.
What does it cost?+
Nothing, for your family or for the people who give: no subscription, no setup fee, and GoodNest adds no fee to a gift and takes nothing from it. Zelle is free; Venmo and PayPal are free from a bank or balance, and can charge the sender for a credit card. Sealed letters and messages are free. The one thing we sell is an optional keepsake book: a print-ready PDF of every note your child has received.
How do I know who gave?+
When someone gives, they tell us on your child’s page and we let you know straight away. We can’t see the money itself, so once it lands you tap “It arrived — say thank you”, and that one tap puts it in your child’s record and opens a thank-you already written. A check at a party or cash in a card can be added the same way.
Who can see my child’s page?+
Only the people you send the link to. The address can’t be guessed, it’s hidden from search engines, and there’s never a photo of your child on it. Your child appears as a storybook picture you choose. The one line you write about your dream for them is shown on the page and in the link preview, so keep it to a hope, never their school or street.
Can I send photos of my child to the people who give?+
Yes, and only to them. A postcard (a few words and up to four photos) appears on the private page of each person who has given, and nowhere else. Photos are stripped of location data on your phone before they’re uploaded. You can hide anyone, or take a postcard back, at any time.
Who can see the sealed letters and messages?+
You read every message first and approve it before it’s sealed. After that, nobody opens it until the birthday you chose: eighteen, or later if you like, up to twenty-five. Once a message is sealed, you can move that birthday later, never earlier, and every sealed message moves with it. You can name a custodian, someone who knows what’s being kept and when it opens, but never sees what’s inside.
Can I keep my own copy of everything?+
Yes. You can download the whole time capsule any time as a simple zip file, with letters as text and recordings as they arrived. Nothing in it needs GoodNest to open.
What if something happens to me before it opens?+
You can name a custodian, a second keeper for the time capsule. They get an email and a page of their own showing what’s being kept and when it opens, never what’s in it. If they ever need to claim it, they talk to a real person at GoodNest, on purpose, so that no email link on its own can ever take over a child’s time capsule.
