How Plinth helps Fitzrovia Youth in Action

How would you describe Plinth generally?

It's a free online data system which keeps all your info in one place. You can take registers, keep forms in there, and so much more.

It's ever-changing and flexible. It's not a one-size-fits-all situation. You guys at Plinth have moved the world for us to get the system exactly how we need it.

If you want something that has great, accessible insights and reports, it's great.

How does it compare to what you were using previously?

Before, we never really used a system for any more than data input. It was never useful for reporting or having a section where we could easily get insights back.

We were using Lamplight before, but also a mix of Excel spreadsheets. When we moved over, it cut out all those extra spreadsheets for each project, because it felt like Plinth could do all that we wanted to do.

It holds a lot more data. We didn't used to be able to easily collect demographic information, or baseline/exit forms. We can do all this on Plinth.

Specifically, it's great because people can fill out membership forms themselves.

But also, with Lamplight, we didn't get instant replies from support. It wasn't easy to contact someone. It didn't feel accessible or welcoming. But we can contact you even just for small things. That's the best part. I love it.

How have the rest of your organisation found it?

It's interesting. I showed our CEO the insights. That we can say like "This many people, from these backgrounds, these postcodes have attended our sessions". He was very excited. I've never seen him that excited about any data or system.

Before, he was not at all interested, now he asks "can you do this?" or wants to see the results himself

He does not care about CRMs, but he does care about this.

How do you find Plinth for data input?

It doesn't look boring.

I've seen Salesforce, and I've used Lamplight. Compared to that, it's not overcomplicated.

It's really intuitive, and easy to use.

What was it like changing systems?

To be honest, at the start, we crapped ourselves.

I was dreading it. I was absolutely hating the idea.

CRMs/Databases are definitely at the back of your mind. You might have set something up a while ago, but it feels scary to move.

It was probably such a pain to get your old database set up in the first place, and that trauma stays with you. So you don't want to touch it

But actually, this was very easy.

And once you move, you discover that you were adapting yourself around problems in your old system. Whereas now, it feels like the system fits how we want to work.

What inspired you to push through with the change?

When I saw the insights, that's what sold me.

On our previous system, I gave up easily. The reporting was so hard to fit what you wanted from it, so when you ran through the whole process, you just got a report and it looked like nothing.

I lost the motivation to want to try and fix it. Clearly there was something wrong with the data, or the system was just too limited.

I saw Plinth, and realised how useful it would be for internal reports, for funders, partners or for end of year impact reports.

Any advice for other organisations?

I would recommend Plinth.

I would recommend it knowing that you guys are there to support them.

Even if you have any issues or want to change anything, you've always got support on hand.

How could we better persuade more people to try it out?

Show it to people. You have to see it to believe it.

It can sound too daunting to get started, but once you show it, you can tell it does a lot of things for you.