Case study

Oct 8, 2026

Starting from scratch: how Crystal Palace Park Trust built CRM, memberships and ticketing on one platform

Discover how Crystal Palace Park Trust are using Ticketsolve as an all-in-one solution for memberships, fundraising and ticketing.

Image of a crowd at a music festival at night at Crystal Palace Park trust

Crystal Palace Park Trust looks after one of south London's historic parks. With an established programme of summer events - including a summer of free play for children and large music festivals - the Trust wanted to build a base of regular supporters. But it had no CRM that could be used to run an individual giving scheme, so when Beth Inkpen, Memberships and Fundraising Manager, joined the Trust, that was first on her list to set up.

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Choosing a CRM built for fundraising

Beth had worked in membership for over a decade, so she knew what she was looking for when it came to software. Online research produced a shortlist of around ten providers, and she spoke to organisations already using each one before taking it further.

Reporting was top of her list.

'For me, the ease of reporting is really important... if you can pull out worthwhile data, that's the more meaningful end of the process.' – Beth Inkpen, Memberships and Fundraising Manager, Crystal Palace Park Trust

Many providers were quickly ruled out because they didn't offer the fundraising depth the Trust needed to build donor relationships. Ticketsolve offered the fundraising and reporting tools the Trust needed, at a cost that made sense.

Two things gave Beth further confidence. London Museum was already running its membership scheme on the platform, which showed there was room for the Trust to grow. And the organisations she spoke to all said the same thing:

'Everybody I spoke to raved about the customer service.'

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Image of Crystal Palace Park Trust visitor centre

Screenshots of Crystal Palace donation setup in Ticketsolve, on a pale turquoise background

One platform for giving and ticketing

Ticketing wasn't originally part of the brief - the Trust were primarily looking for CRM and fundraising software. But once Beth saw that Ticketsolve could handle ticketing too, moving everything into one platform was an easy decision.

'Because we found the right tool for both streams of work, it just made sense.'

Starting from scratch meant supporter and ticket-buyer data could live in the same system from day one, rather than being joined up later.

'It's definitely been a big upside that we don't have to have a siloed approach... it's such a good opportunity to consolidate the systems as much as possible.'

The Trust took a phased approach. CRM and membership were set up first, with ticketing following once the peak summer season had passed, so the events team wasn't disrupted during its busiest months.

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226 members in two months: what the scheme looks like now

The Trust launched its full membership scheme in July, and by early September it had 226 members.

Beth designed the scheme as being “donation-first”: a way to give rather than a way to buy access. This makes it easier to sell and gives the Trust room to change the offer over time:

'It's an easy sell because it's very much a donation-first product, a donation with perks essentially, rather than a transactional membership.'

The Trust was starting from zero, with no existing members, so Beth worked with the Ticketsolve team to shape the scheme as it came to life. Member benefits have already been set up. A paid, members-only dinosaur event was their first event trial in Ticketsolve, and the scheme has been expanded to include a patron level for supporters who want to give more

So far, the Trust has recruited members through Meta advertising and banners in and around the park. A full recruitment communications plan is next, including outreach to local media.

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Image of a post advertising the Crystal Palace Park trust membership scheme on the organisation's instagram page

Screenshot of the Crystal Park Palace membership purchase page

Time back for the team

For organisations running a membership scheme, offering direct debits can often result in additional admin for the team. In a previous role, Beth submitted direct debits manually, and the work took her about four days every month. With automated, rolling direct debits offered via Ticketsolve Pay, this is no longer an issue.

'I used to have to spend four days a month doing direct debits, so that is a massive change for me.'

The ease with which Beth and her team can make day-to-day changes has also made a huge difference. They can change membership benefits and edit pages as needed, with the possibility of escalating anything more to the support team.

'It's so easy to edit yourself and manage. It makes my life a lot easier than systems i’ve used previously.'

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Support that works alongside your organisation

Ticketsolve’s reputation for excellent customer service preceded us - and everything that Beth heard about during her research turned out to be true in practice. Project Manager Aoileann, worked through the implementation alongside the Trust team, with the project run in Basecamp and Beth coordinating her colleagues.

'Aoileann has surpassed expectations. I've not really ever worked with a client manager that's got that involved and been that helpful. She doesn't just have the conversations, she actually does the work with us as well.'

That support continued past launch. The Trust's new website went live later than planned, which meant temporary redirects and QR codes that still pointed to old pages.Team Ticketsolve helped the team sort work arounds until the new site was ready. And the support team also went beyond fixing problems. When Beth has an idea, she knows it will be heard.

'We basically just suggest something and it gets taken seriously.'

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Image of a crowd enjoying street food outsdie the cafe at Crystal Palace Park

With membership established, attention is turning to events and ticketing. The team is already running events on Ticketsolve, including a free, timed-slot event used as a test, and more ad hoc events are planned for October. The rest of the programme will move across from their current provider in October or November, during the park's quieter winter months.

On the membership side, the recruitment plan and local media outreach will build on a strong first summer. The Trust now has its supporters, its ticket buyers and its events in one system, and it's in a good position to keep growing.

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Beth Inkpen

Memberships and Fundraising Manager

I would definitely recommend Ticketsolve, it's very straightforward, with great customer service.

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