Charity auctioneer · Brighton

Brighton charity auctioneer for galas and fundraising events

By Kevin DurhamFundraising strategy & live auctions

I work across Brighton and Hove as a charity auctioneer and host, from the seafront grande dame hotels to the Amex and the Royal Pavilion. It is a creative, independent city with a younger, more digital crowd than most gala rooms, and the winning night leans into that.

Check my availability Call 07596 851647

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

In short

A Brighton charity auctioneer plans the fundraising, runs the live auction and closes with a pledge.
Brighton is the heart of the UK’s Silicon Beach digital cluster, so the donor base skews younger, creative and tech-literate.
It is a festival and Pride city with a strong tradition of community-led, inclusive fundraising.
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 “Brighton 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 Brighton, 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 Brighton 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 Brighton 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 Brighton fundraising scene like?

Brighton and Hove pairs seafront glamour with an unusually creative, entrepreneurial donor base. The city is the heart of the UK’s Silicon Beach digital cluster, around 1,500 businesses, which means a room full of founders, agencies and digital professionals who are comfortable with a fast, high-energy auction and mobile bidding they actually enjoy using. It is also a festival and Pride city, with a strong tradition of community-led, inclusive giving.

That mix rewards personality and showmanship over stiff formality. Black-tie balls at The Grand or the Amex sit happily alongside quirkier evenings at the i360 or the Royal Pavilion. The causes carry it: Chestnut Tree House, the children’s hospice for Sussex, raised over £142,000 at one Snowman-themed ball at The Grand, and Rockinghorse has cleared £101,000 in a single night.

Brighton’s crowd skews younger, more creative and more digital than most gala rooms. It rewards an auctioneer who can read a night that is equal parts hospice supporters, the LGBTQ+ community and start-up founders, and turn that mix into competitive bidding.

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

Where the galas happen

Where are charity galas held in Brighton?

A few of the rooms in and around Brighton 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 Grand Brighton

Seafront

The seafront grande dame, with space for up to 600 at a private dinner.

Amex Stadium

Falmer

Brighton and Hove Albion’s stadium, one of Sussex’s largest event spaces.

The Royal Pavilion

Old Steine

George IV’s oriental palace, for a small, high-glamour dinner under a dragon chandelier.

Brighton Dome

Arts quarter

A heritage hall for a larger dinner, awards night or performance-led fundraiser.

Brighton i360

Seafront

A seafront tower for a novelty drinks-and-dinner fundraiser.

DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole

Seafront

A large seafront hotel and a proven charity-ball venue.

The causes

Who might you be raising for in Brighton?

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

Chestnut Tree House

The children’s hospice for Sussex; its Snowman ball at The Grand raised over £142,000.

Rockinghorse Children’s Charity

The fundraising arm of Brighton’s children’s hospital; its ball has raised £101,000 in a night.

Martlets

The hospice for Brighton and Hove, with an active fundraising programme.

The Sussex Beacon

A Brighton HIV-care charity and organiser of the Brighton Half Marathon.

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

How does a Brighton 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 Brighton room reaches the cause.

What should you look for when you hire a Brighton 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, in line with the fundraising codes
Bidding software that treats room and online bids equally

How much does a Brighton 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 comes 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 Brighton auctioneer

Our crowd is younger and creative. Does that change things?

It changes the tone, and it suits me. Brighton rewards a fast, funny, seafront-glamorous auction paired with slick mobile bidding, not a stuffy county-set style. I read the room and pitch to it.

Can you host at The Grand or the Royal Pavilion?

Yes. From the seafront grande dames to the Pavilion’s Banqueting Room, I will match the venue to your guest list and target and run the auction and pledge to suit it.

Do you cover the rest of Sussex?

Yes, Brighton and Hove and across Sussex to the coast and the Downs. I work nationally, so travel is built into the fixed fee.

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 Brighton 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