Gala Systems Architecture
Gala Systems Architecture
Gala Systems Architecture
Gala Systems Architecture
Event Operations on Airtable
Replacing sheets sprawl with a robust relational engine for a flagship live event
Event Systems Design
RESULTS
40%+ YoY revenue growth across 300+ guests and 650+ gifts spanning six revenue streams. Minimal post-event data cleanup. Milestone success in pledge fulfillment.
CHALLENGE
Flagship event operations were dependent on disconnected, siloed spreadsheets, leading to error-prone manual reconciliation and extensive post-event data repair.
STACK
Airtable, GoFundMe Pro, Zapier, Google Sheets, Claude
Event Operations on Airtable
Replacing sheets sprawl with a robust relational engine for a flagship live event
Event Systems Design
RESULTS
40%+ YoY revenue growth across 300+ guests and 650+ gifts spanning six revenue streams. Minimal post-event data cleanup. Milestone success in pledge fulfillment.
CHALLENGE
Flagship event operations were dependent on disconnected, siloed spreadsheets, leading to error-prone manual reconciliation and extensive post-event data repair.
STACK
Airtable, GoFundMe Pro, Zapier, Google Sheets, Claude
Event Operations on Airtable
Replacing sheets sprawl with a robust relational engine for a flagship live event
Event Systems Design
RESULTS
40%+ YoY revenue growth across 300+ guests and 650+ gifts spanning six revenue streams. Minimal post-event data cleanup. Milestone success in pledge fulfillment.
CHALLENGE
Flagship event operations were dependent on disconnected, siloed spreadsheets, leading to error-prone manual reconciliation and extensive post-event data repair.
STACK
Airtable, GoFundMe Pro, Zapier, Google Sheets, Claude
Gala Demo
Available
Want to see more? This is a special demo based on the original Airtable base. Just follow the black buttons in the demo.
Gala Demo
Available
Want to see more? This is a special demo based on the original Airtable base. Just follow the black buttons in the demo.
Available on Desktop Only
Gala Demo
Available
Want to see more? This is a special demo based on the original Airtable base. Just follow the black buttons in the demo.
Available on Desktop Only
The systems, decisions, and outcomes described here are my own work, accurately represented. Organization-specific configurations and data have been abstracted to maintain confidentiality, not to overstate or obscure.
Relational Spine
The organization's flagship fundraiser is a milestone annual gala, and I owned its data and operations end to end. As the real work holds protected data, the version explored here is TerraGlade, a fictional nonprofit running its 100th Gala in a similar context. Before the rebuild, the gala ran across siloed spreadsheets, one per team, with table planning split across files and guest data unstructured. Reconciliation was manual, data-driven rollups were difficult, and post-event cleanup was lengthy.
I rebuilt it as a single relational Airtable base, designed to stay lean: a live Donors base and Transactions base synced in, so the event pulled only what it needed while the data stayed clean and reusable. Eight linked tables carried the night. I anchored the structure on a fixed table reference and modeled every seat as its own ticket record rather than a count, so the base could always say who held a seat, which gift paid for it, and whether it was open. That granularity is the spine the rest of the build resolves down to.
Attendees Design
Attendees linked to the synced Donors base, each record tied back to the organization's CRM, which made the base an operational layer on the existing system rather than a replacement. The table is only as good as the data flowing in, and the people closest to that data were the volunteers. Moving every team into Airtable was the clean design on paper, but the practical plan met the outside planners in the tool they already used. I built a Table Captain system as 30 linked Google Sheet templates and ran an automated, data-templated email strategy inviting captains to fill them. Twenty of thirty came back active, a 67% rate, their inputs flowing into the model without anyone learning a new tool.
The deeper decision was timing. Instead of cleaning records after the event, I collected upstream so data came in correct rather than getting repaired on the way out, with Claude Sonnet field agents drafting suggestions, surfacing data issues, and assisting cleanup inside the base. The Attendees table held better than 90% accuracy against day-of attendance through a final week of constant change.
Tracking Commitments
Sponsorships were where value leaked between a pledge and fulfillment. A commitment has to clear a dozen steps before it becomes a fulfilled gift with the right recognition, and on the old sheets that lifecycle was error-prone. I built a robust sponsorships table, organized by tier and linked to both fulfillment status and the gifts that paid each one down, so a commitment could be followed from the moment it was made to the moment it cleared. Because the figures rolled up from the same synced gift records, the team could always see which were open, which directly informed outreach strategy. Unfulfilled sponsorships dropped 60% year over year, from fifteen to six. The improved tracking was fundamental.
Revenue Pipeline
The transaction pipeline was the point of the whole build. Rather than stand up a second place to enter commitments and payments, I kept the Transactions base I already ran as the system of record and synced it into the Gala base, so every transaction, whether it came through GoFundMe Pro Live or by check, entered one coded workflow first and then flowed into the event. The Gala base never became a silo. Every transaction linked down to the seat it purchased, which let the system roll totals up cleanly per attendee, table, and sponsor.
That single source of gift truth made real-time visibility possible. On top of the live totals I built dashboards and a weekly progress email to key stakeholders, so the team could see where transactions, sponsorships, and bids stood without pulling a report. The auction proved it: pledge reconciliation that once took three business days closed in a single post-event session of about three hours.
The Gala was a milestone success: 40%+ year-on-year revenue, 300+ incredible guests, 650+ transactions, and extraordinary stories. Records and process were captured cleanly by the relational engine I built in collaboration with multiple teams and stakeholders.
The screenshots, clips, and linked demo are that of TerraGlade, a fictional nonprofit hosting a fictional gala, with mock data for demonstration purposes.
The systems, decisions, and outcomes described here are my own work, accurately represented. Organization-specific configurations and data have been abstracted to maintain confidentiality, not to overstate or obscure.
Relational Spine
The organization's flagship fundraiser is a milestone annual gala, and I owned its data and operations end to end. As the real work holds protected data, the version explored here is TerraGlade, a fictional nonprofit running its 100th Gala in a similar context. Before the rebuild, the gala ran across siloed spreadsheets, one per team, with table planning split across files and guest data unstructured. Reconciliation was manual, data-driven rollups were difficult, and post-event cleanup was lengthy.
I rebuilt it as a single relational Airtable base, designed to stay lean: a live Donors base and Transactions base synced in, so the event pulled only what it needed while the data stayed clean and reusable. Eight linked tables carried the night. I anchored the structure on a fixed table reference and modeled every seat as its own ticket record rather than a count, so the base could always say who held a seat, which gift paid for it, and whether it was open. That granularity is the spine the rest of the build resolves down to.
Attendees Design
Attendees linked to the synced Donors base, each record tied back to the organization's CRM, which made the base an operational layer on the existing system rather than a replacement. The table is only as good as the data flowing in, and the people closest to that data were the volunteers. Moving every team into Airtable was the clean design on paper, but the practical plan met the outside planners in the tool they already used. I built a Table Captain system as 30 linked Google Sheet templates and ran an automated, data-templated email strategy inviting captains to fill them. Twenty of thirty came back active, a 67% rate, their inputs flowing into the model without anyone learning a new tool.
The deeper decision was timing. Instead of cleaning records after the event, I collected upstream so data came in correct rather than getting repaired on the way out, with Claude Sonnet field agents drafting suggestions, surfacing data issues, and assisting cleanup inside the base. The Attendees table held better than 90% accuracy against day-of attendance through a final week of constant change.
Tracking Commitments
Sponsorships were where value leaked between a pledge and fulfillment. A commitment has to clear a dozen steps before it becomes a fulfilled gift with the right recognition, and on the old sheets that lifecycle was error-prone. I built a robust sponsorships table, organized by tier and linked to both fulfillment status and the gifts that paid each one down, so a commitment could be followed from the moment it was made to the moment it cleared. Because the figures rolled up from the same synced gift records, the team could always see which were open, which directly informed outreach strategy. Unfulfilled sponsorships dropped 60% year over year, from fifteen to six. The improved tracking was fundamental.
Revenue Pipeline
The transaction pipeline was the point of the whole build. Rather than stand up a second place to enter commitments and payments, I kept the Transactions base I already ran as the system of record and synced it into the Gala base, so every transaction, whether it came through GoFundMe Pro Live or by check, entered one coded workflow first and then flowed into the event. The Gala base never became a silo. Every transaction linked down to the seat it purchased, which let the system roll totals up cleanly per attendee, table, and sponsor.
That single source of gift truth made real-time visibility possible. On top of the live totals I built dashboards and a weekly progress email to key stakeholders, so the team could see where transactions, sponsorships, and bids stood without pulling a report. The auction proved it: pledge reconciliation that once took three business days closed in a single post-event session of about three hours.
The Gala was a milestone success: 40%+ year-on-year revenue, 300+ incredible guests, 650+ transactions, and extraordinary stories. Records and process were captured cleanly by the relational engine I built in collaboration with multiple teams and stakeholders.
The screenshots, clips, and linked demo are that of TerraGlade, a fictional nonprofit hosting a fictional gala, with mock data for demonstration purposes.
The systems, decisions, and outcomes described here are my own work, accurately represented. Organization-specific configurations and data have been abstracted to maintain confidentiality, not to overstate or obscure.
Relational Spine
The organization's flagship fundraiser is a milestone annual gala, and I owned its data and operations end to end. As the real work holds protected data, the version explored here is TerraGlade, a fictional nonprofit running its 100th Gala in a similar context. Before the rebuild, the gala ran across siloed spreadsheets, one per team, with table planning split across files and guest data unstructured. Reconciliation was manual, data-driven rollups were difficult, and post-event cleanup was lengthy.
I rebuilt it as a single relational Airtable base, designed to stay lean: a live Donors base and Transactions base synced in, so the event pulled only what it needed while the data stayed clean and reusable. Eight linked tables carried the night. I anchored the structure on a fixed table reference and modeled every seat as its own ticket record rather than a count, so the base could always say who held a seat, which gift paid for it, and whether it was open. That granularity is the spine the rest of the build resolves down to.
Attendees Design
Attendees linked to the synced Donors base, each record tied back to the organization's CRM, which made the base an operational layer on the existing system rather than a replacement. The table is only as good as the data flowing in, and the people closest to that data were the volunteers. Moving every team into Airtable was the clean design on paper, but the practical plan met the outside planners in the tool they already used. I built a Table Captain system as 30 linked Google Sheet templates and ran an automated, data-templated email strategy inviting captains to fill them. Twenty of thirty came back active, a 67% rate, their inputs flowing into the model without anyone learning a new tool.
The deeper decision was timing. Instead of cleaning records after the event, I collected upstream so data came in correct rather than getting repaired on the way out, with Claude Sonnet field agents drafting suggestions, surfacing data issues, and assisting cleanup inside the base. The Attendees table held better than 90% accuracy against day-of attendance through a final week of constant change.
Tracking Commitments
Sponsorships were where value leaked between a pledge and fulfillment. A commitment has to clear a dozen steps before it becomes a fulfilled gift with the right recognition, and on the old sheets that lifecycle was error-prone. I built a robust sponsorships table, organized by tier and linked to both fulfillment status and the gifts that paid each one down, so a commitment could be followed from the moment it was made to the moment it cleared. Because the figures rolled up from the same synced gift records, the team could always see which were open, which directly informed outreach strategy. Unfulfilled sponsorships dropped 60% year over year, from fifteen to six. The improved tracking was fundamental.
Revenue Pipeline
The transaction pipeline was the point of the whole build. Rather than stand up a second place to enter commitments and payments, I kept the Transactions base I already ran as the system of record and synced it into the Gala base, so every transaction, whether it came through GoFundMe Pro Live or by check, entered one coded workflow first and then flowed into the event. The Gala base never became a silo. Every transaction linked down to the seat it purchased, which let the system roll totals up cleanly per attendee, table, and sponsor.
That single source of gift truth made real-time visibility possible. On top of the live totals I built dashboards and a weekly progress email to key stakeholders, so the team could see where transactions, sponsorships, and bids stood without pulling a report. The auction proved it: pledge reconciliation that once took three business days closed in a single post-event session of about three hours.
The Gala was a milestone success: 40%+ year-on-year revenue, 300+ incredible guests, 650+ transactions, and extraordinary stories. Records and process were captured cleanly by the relational engine I built in collaboration with multiple teams and stakeholders.
The screenshots, clips, and linked demo are that of TerraGlade, a fictional nonprofit hosting a fictional gala, with mock data for demonstration purposes.
CONTACT INFO
Ready to Connect?
Currently open to Austin roles in operations, systems, and CRM. I'd love to hear what you're building toward.
CONTACT INFO
Ready to Connect?
Currently open to Austin roles in operations, systems, and CRM. I'd love to hear what you're building toward.
CONTACT INFO
Ready to Connect?
Currently open to Austin roles in operations, systems, and CRM. I'd love to hear what you're building toward.