Richard: I have experience in both Raisers Edge and in setting up development databases from generic packages. Alot depends on the size of the organization, the sophistication of your development efforts, the need for real-live fund accounting and the relative amounts of grant vs. general operating vs. membership support that your museum receives. The long and the short of it is that Raisers Edge is a reasonably good vertical market package. Using a package like that, you are totally dependant on the vendor for support, and, at least five years ago, when I was using it, that was a real problem. To get support and bug fixes cost some ridiculous amount each year. So, we got off the Raisers Edge wagon, and built our own database using a DOS-based package called Alpha 4. It is a considerably more flexible program than filemaker pro, but I'm sure the general issues are the same: do you have the expertise in house to do the design of the database. If you have experienced people around, then that will make it much easier. I think, on balance, that a smaller organization (ours had a 2 million budget) may well be better served by building their own database if, and only if, the expertise is readily available in house. It's a tough call, but given your Mac-ness, I would think that the investment in hardware alone would be a deciding factor. Eric Siegel