brightwheel vs. Submittable vs. VSTracking

Any preschool can benefit from brightwheel, no matter the size. Brightwheel is also excellent for billing, which is especially helpful for schools that do not have other databases and billing systems. Because our school is a PS-12, it is a little cumbersome to have brightwheel along with another management system that we use school-wide. It would be nice to have a separate price point that does not include the things that another database system does for schools that are required to use what the older grades also use.

Incentivized

Submittable is great for grant management, grantmaking, and scholarship awards. It's a very useful tool also when there are multiple reviewers and committees involved in the assessment of the application. The table feature is helpful, but to download the information in a usable report is a pain. Overall a very useful tool for funding.

Incentivized

• Recording data for students.
• Connecting to parents with photos, videos, and messages.
• Signing in and out electronically and saving paper daily.

Incentivized

• Form-logic: Allows application forms to adjust based on answers to crucial questions (if-then-else) so that all applications don't have to see extended questions that may not apply to them or their situation.
• Messaging Platform: This platform allows interactions with applicants or internal review teams to be associated with the specific submission, allowing for an easier, complete view of an application being considered and as an audit trail.
• Good Voting/Polling Management: It makes it easier to record the latest vote/feedback from assigned team members and allows customization of the vote/feedback review as a form. It also summarizes the votes for easy review in a submissions dashboard view.

Incentivized

• Offering a price point that does not include billing.
• Allowing more freedom of uploading own documents.

Incentivized

• We are some of the earliest users of employee volunteerism, so there have been some things to work out. However, because of that, we've gotten a lot of one-on-one support to help make minor tweaks to the system in a way that works for us.

Incentivized

We use this software annually to help with our grant processes. Without it, I'd be so lost! Our team relies on the data from our past years to sift applications and we try to prioritize those who have applied and been a finalist but perhaps didn't win in years prior

Incentivized

A submittable requires a great deal of thought to set up. It would be best if you really did an outline and flowcharting. Once you have a detailed plan and set up the system, you have to think of the process that you would manually do step-by-step to deal with the what-ifs; it’s beautiful. The ability to Clone events is invaluable. The onboarding can be complex, but the ease of use afterward is worth it.

Incentivized

We have thankfully never experienced an outage nor been affected by a technology issue on Submittable's side that has delayed our grant process. We have instead been able to distribute over $6M in donated dollars to AAPI small business owners because Submittable is trustworthy and available

Incentivized

We've had a quick and efficient submittable experience that has always been easy to use. When we need a report it downloads within seconds, even the larger reports are 30 seconds or less to download. Pages are quick to load and reports complete in a more than reasonable time frame

Incentivized

I think that they are good at answering our questions and solving our problems. We occasionally get reports from applicants about problems the Submittable team has not solved, but I do not know what the applicant has done to get the problem solved.

Incentivized

We have been using this for many years but my memory is that we had a
human walk us through how to use basic features. We also used the
resource library to learn about specific topics or issues as they came
up.

Incentivized

10/10 because we were able to meet virtually and still get all of our questions answered! Online was effective too because we could easily record the sessions and review them later. Since we had to onboard our reviewers virtually, it was actually convenient that this was the same method we learned how to use the entire program virtually too.

Incentivized

I would say, provide Submittable as much detailed information on your planned use of the platform and your desires with the platform as possible, and the implementation will be tailored to accommodate your organization with minimal lag time and issues/problems.

Incentivized

Brightwheel does much more for the preschool level than FACTS does. The creators of this app know early childhood. The company also provides helpful webinars that are unrelated to their software, such as staff retention or ways to market. They understand the business of early childhood and exist to make the lives of providers easier.

Incentivized

Submittable isn't in the same league as these other platforms. It's trying to get there but it's been a rocky road. Neither customer support nor the account people we've dealt with at Submittable seem particularly knowledgeable about how the product actually works for foundations and can't provide detailed recommendations for how to use the product more effectively. The decision to use Submittable was made before I came on board. We are moving to another platform next year, probably SmartSimple.

Incentivized

I wish we could choose our own number of applications we want for the year and have the price be changed because we are in-between buyable numbers and always have to add more applications at the end of the year

Incentivized

We have been easily able to grow. Not only are we able to process different applications, but Submittable makes it easy to add applications onto our plan. Additionally, their eligibility form before the application does a good job of screening applicants so we do not pay for extra applications.

Incentivized

Very professional

Incentivized

• Value add for parents
• Saves paper
• Benefits for teachers who fully utilize

Incentivized

• Time is money! Submittable has eliminated many tasks I used to do manually, thus freeing my time for other work.
• Decreased support calls and emails from applicants- Our applicants are able to successfully access and apply for our grants.
• No internal IT support needed to use this platform. That team is able to focus on their larger business projects and needs.

Incentivized