Charity auctioneer · Cambridge

Cambridge charity auctioneer for galas and fundraising events

By Kevin DurhamFundraising strategy & live auctions

I work across Cambridge and Cambridgeshire as a charity auctioneer and host, from college halls to a gala under Concorde at Duxford. It is a place where science-cluster money and the Newmarket racing world sit within a few miles of each other, and both know how an auction works.

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

In short

A Cambridge charity auctioneer plans the fundraising, runs the live auction and closes with a pledge. Strategy first, lot-reading second.
The Cambridge Cluster is one of the densest tech and life-sciences economies in Europe, so the donor pool is founders and investors, not only local firms.
Fifteen minutes east, Newmarket is the global capital of racing and home to Tattersalls, the oldest bloodstock auction house on earth.
The live pledge raises the most. At Jigsaw Trust a pledge I ran raised £30,600 beyond the auction.
A fixed fee agreed in advance, never a percentage, with the auction software included.

Search “Cambridge 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 Cambridge, 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge fundraising scene like?

Cambridge sits on two overlapping pools of wealth, and both are unusually comfortable with the idea of an auction. The colleges are historic landowners with endowments, and around them the Cambridge Cluster, often called Silicon Fen, packs in thousands of knowledge-intensive companies with combined sales of roughly £14 billion a year. It is regularly ranked the third-largest biotech hub in the world after the Bay Area and Boston. Your donor pool here is as likely to be a company founder or a senior scientist as a traditional local business.

Then there is Newmarket, fifteen minutes east, the headquarters of British flat racing and home to Tattersalls, the world’s oldest bloodstock auctioneer, founded in 1766. That adds a racing-and-bloodstock circle used to the ring. The medical base does the rest: Addenbrooke’s and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus give causes like Arthur Rank Hospice, EACH and the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust a strong pull. One corporate partner alone has raised over £561,000 for Addenbrooke’s through an annual ball.

Fifteen minutes apart, Cambridge has the world’s third-largest biotech cluster and, at Newmarket, the global capital of thoroughbred racing. Both the guest list and the auction lots can be sourced locally.

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

Where the galas happen

Where are charity galas held in Cambridge?

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

Newmarket Racecourses

Newmarket

Large gala dinners and balls, with the Millennium Suite over the parade ring.

King’s College

Cambridge

A Georgian Gothic dining hall seating up to 316, with lawn receptions by the Chapel.

IWM Duxford

Duxford

Showpiece gala dinners under the aircraft, dining beneath Concorde in AirSpace.

University Arms

Cambridge

A city-centre ballroom seating up to 180 overlooking Parker’s Piece.

St John’s College

Cambridge

Historic college halls for a private dinner in 18 acres by the Cam.

Magdalene College

Cambridge

A college hall that has hosted a charity art auction for Arthur Rank.

The causes

Who might you be raising for in Cambridge?

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

Arthur Rank Hospice Charity

Provides end-of-life care free of charge across Cambridgeshire from its purpose-built hospice.

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices

Runs the Milton hospice near Cambridge, rated Outstanding by the CQC.

Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust

The dedicated charity for Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie hospitals in Cambridge.

Magpas Air Ambulance

Cambridgeshire-based emergency medical care by helicopter, funded largely by donations.

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

How does a Cambridge 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 Cambridge room reaches the cause.

What should you look for when you hire a Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge auctioneer

Can you host a college or Duxford gala?

Yes. College halls and Duxford are two of the best rooms in the East of England for a fundraising night. I will help you match the venue to the guest list and the target, then run the auction and pledge to suit it.

Our donors are scientists and founders. Any different?

The lots and the pitch change. A founder-heavy room rewards genuine access and interesting experiences, and a transparent, well-argued ask. With Newmarket on the doorstep, racing and bloodstock experiences are strong local lots too.

Do you cover Cambridgeshire beyond the city?

Yes, from Cambridge and Newmarket to Ely, Huntingdon and Peterborough. I work nationally, so travel is part of 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 Cambridge 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