Charity auctioneer · Bath

Bath charity auctioneer for galas and fundraising events

By Kevin DurhamFundraising strategy & live auctions

I work across Bath and North East Somerset as a charity auctioneer and host. Few cities let you raise money in settings like these: a torch-lit Roman bath, a Georgian Pump Room, a racecourse above the city. The room is halfway sold before I open my mouth.

Check my availability Call 07596 851647

A live charity auction in full flow, the room bidding against each other.

In short

A Bath charity auctioneer plans the fundraising with you, then runs the live auction and pledge on the night.
Bath is the only entire UK city inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so the venues carry an occasion most hotel ballrooms cannot.
Strong local causes anchor the calendar: Dorothy House Hospice, the RUH’s NHS charity, and homelessness charities like Julian House.
The live pledge earns the most. A pledge I ran at Jigsaw Trust raised £30,600 beyond the auction.
A fixed fee agreed in advance, never a percentage, with the auction software included.

Search “Bath charity auctioneer” and you will find a lot of pages that could be about anywhere. This one is not. I am Kevin Durham, a charity auctioneer of twenty years with over £10 million raised, and below is how I work in Bath, where the galas actually happen, and the causes you might be raising for.

Kevin Durham

Charity auctioneer & event host

20years£10m+raised60–80events/yr

Check availability 07596 851647

What does a Bath charity auctioneer actually do?

Reading the lots out is the last five per cent of it. The job is fundraising, and most of it happens before the night: choosing and sequencing a short list of strong lots rather than a catalogue of weak ones, building a live pledge into the running order, and making sure the room is warm and quiet at the moment the money is asked for. On the night I work the floor with a wireless microphone, not a podium, because the total follows the energy and the energy is in the room, not on the stage.

A volunteer host reads a catalogue. A professional runs a plan. That difference is the whole case for hiring one, and in Bath it usually pays for the fee several times over.

The difference a professional makes

Why does a professional out-raise a volunteer host?

£14kWhat Jigsaw Trust expected from their live auction

£27kWhat the live auction actually raised on the night

£30.6kRaised by a live pledge they had not even planned

0%Of your total taken as commission. A fixed fee, agreed up front

Those are real figures from a gala I called for Jigsaw Trust. The auction nearly doubled the target, and then the live pledge, run at the room’s emotional peak, brought in more than the auction did. That is the pattern almost every night follows, and it is why the live pledge matters more than the lots. A room raises more when someone has planned the ask, held the pace and kept the energy up. None of that is in a catalogue.

I never take a percentage of what you raise, which is the model most for-profit auction companies run on. My fee is agreed before the event, and the goal is a total that makes it look small.

What is the Bath fundraising scene like?

Bath gives a fundraiser something almost no other city can: genuinely world-class heritage settings to raise money in. This is the only entire UK city inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built in honey-coloured Georgian stone, and you can hold a black-tie night beside a torch-lit Roman bath or under the chandeliers of the Pump Room. The city’s Regency, Bridgerton-era screen image hands organisers a ball theme that guests understand the moment the invitation lands.

It is compact, affluent and heavily visited, with a strong civic-philanthropy tradition and a set of big local causes that carry a gala well. Dorothy House is the hospice that cares for around 1,500 families a year at home across Bath, Wiltshire and Somerset. RUHX is the NHS charity for the Royal United Hospitals, whose Hope Ball at the Royal Crescent has raised over £100,000. Julian House works on homelessness across the region, and the Bath Rugby Community Foundation is a fundraising force in its own right.

Bath is the only whole UK city that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Raise a paddle beside a Roman bath or under a Georgian Pump Room and no hotel ballroom can compete with the setting.

A professional charity auctioneer working the floor during a live auction.

Where the galas happen

Where are charity galas held in Bath?

A few of the rooms in and around Bath that suit a black-tie fundraising night. These are the kinds of venue I work in, not a list of events I have run.

The Roman Baths & Pump Room

Bath

Landmark black-tie dinners, with dining possible beside the torch-lit Great Bath.

Bath Racecourse

Bath

Larger banquets, awards dinners and charity balls above the city at Lansdown.

Apex City of Bath

Bath

The city’s largest purpose-built events space, with a suite for up to around 400.

Bath Pavilion

Bath

A big, flexible dinner-dance space between the rugby and cricket grounds.

No.15 Bath

Bath

An intimate, high-end private dinner in a listed Georgian townhouse.

Combe Grove

Monkton Combe

A country-house evening in secluded grounds above the Limpley Stoke valley.

The causes

Who might you be raising for in Bath?

A gala only works when the room believes in the cause. These are established Bath charities that run fundraising nights, and the kind of work a strong auction and pledge pays for.

Dorothy House Hospice Care

Cares for around 1,500 families a year at home across Bath, Wiltshire and Somerset.

RUHX

The NHS charity for the Royal United Hospitals Bath; its Hope Ball has raised over £100,000.

Julian House

A Bath homelessness charity working across the city and the wider South West.

Bath Rugby Community Foundation

Bath Rugby’s charity, supporting vulnerable young people through fundraising dinners and more.

The live pledge under way, the moment the biggest money of the night comes in.

How does a Bath auctioneer raise more on the night?

The shape of a big night is fairly consistent. Warm the room early, often with a quick game like heads or tails, so the first time people reach for their wallets is painless. Let dinner breathe. Run a tight live auction of genuinely strong lots. Then, at the warmest point of the evening, run a live pledge straight into the cause, with Gift Aid adding 25p to every eligible pound.

Everything is planned to a running order, and everyone bidding, in the room or on a phone, competes in the same lot at the same price through the auction software that comes with the booking. Charitable giving in the UK runs to roughly £14 billion a year; the job is to make sure a fair share of the goodwill already in your Bath room reaches the cause.

What should you look for when you hire a Bath auctioneer?

A fixed fee, not a percentage of what you raise
Fundraising strategy before the night, not just a host on the day
A live pledge built into the running order
Real figures and references from past events
A written fundraising agreement, as the Code of Fundraising Practice expects
Bidding software that treats room and online bids equally

How much does a Bath charity auctioneer cost?

A fixed fee, agreed before the event and never a percentage of what you raise. The fee reflects the planning as much as the night, and it should be made back many times over by a properly run auction and pledge. A written fundraising agreement and solicitation statement come as standard, as the Charities Act requires, and the auction software is included in the booking rather than sold on the side. You can read more on my fees page.

Questions

Common questions about hiring a Bath auctioneer

Can you host at the Roman Baths or Pump Room?

Yes, and they are among the finest rooms in the country to raise money in. The setting does a lot of the emotional work for you, which frees me to concentrate on the pledge and the pace. Note the Assembly Rooms are closed for refurbishment until 2027, so plan around that.

What causes do you usually work with in Bath?

A lot of Bath’s calendar is hospice and hospital-led, and those nights turn on the live pledge. That is the segment I am strongest on, and where I raise the most for the cause.

Do you cover North East Somerset and beyond?

Yes, Bath, Bristol and across NE Somerset and Wiltshire. I work nationally, so travel is built into the fixed fee rather than added later.

Sources and further reading

Venue capacities and charity figures are drawn from each organisation’s own pages and were correct when this page was written. Please confirm details with the venue or charity directly before you book.

No obligation

Bring this to your Bath event

Tell me about the evening, your room and your target, and I will give you an honest view of what a professional auctioneer and a live pledge could add.

Get in touch 07596 851647