OPAL Community Land Trust, Children's House, and Montessori, depend on the funds generated through their annual galas to support the mission of their institutions. The party and festivities are important in their own right, but the reality is that funds need to be generated to keep the lights on. Managing the business of an auction event (the acquisitions, the donors, the bidders, the items bid on, whether silent or live) must be done in real time, with instant accounting for all guests at any time (to collect funds in a timely and efficient manner), smoothly, quickly, accurately. JoeBay U built a robust, easily understood, easily modified auction processing system using the database software Filemaker Pro. Filemaker is cross platform software, meaning that it works flawlessly and seamlessly on both Macs and PC's, so that files created on one "platform" can be moved to another with absolutely zero hassle. In addition to the organizations mentioned above, the auction software has been used for fundraising efforts for individuals who have had medical issues needing community support.

Shown here is part of an invoice showing the purchases made by a bidder during an auction—with this system, everyone wins: the bidder knows exactly what he/she won, what each item costs, what the total is, and has a receipt for tax purposes. The organization knows who bought what, how it was paid for, and, importantly, obtains the funds before the bidder and the items leave the auction.