Charity auctioneer · Cardiff

Cardiff charity auctioneer for galas and fundraising events

By Kevin DurhamFundraising strategy & live auctions

I work across Cardiff as a charity auctioneer and host, from the castle and the national museum to the stadium suites and the bay hotels. The Welsh capital runs a tight-knit gala circuit, and a good part of it already understands the live auction as a serious fundraising engine.

Check my availability Call 07596 851647

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

In short

A Cardiff charity auctioneer plans the fundraising, runs the live auction and closes with a pledge.
Cardiff’s gala circuit is unusually bound up with sport, at the Principality Stadium and Cardiff City’s suites.
The city has an established charity-auction culture, led by City Hospice’s long-running art auction.
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 “Cardiff 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 Cardiff, 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 Cardiff 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 Cardiff 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 Cardiff fundraising scene like?

Cardiff is a compact, confident capital, and its gala circuit is unusually bound up with sport. Rugby’s national home at the Principality Stadium and Cardiff City’s football suites are mainstream charity-ball venues, and Welsh rugby figures are a recurring draw as hosts and lot-donors. A regenerated Cardiff Bay has added a second gala district of waterfront hotels alongside the traditional civic quarter around the national museum and the castle.

The city also has a strong children’s and hospice charity cluster around the Children’s Hospital for Wales: Ty Hafan, LATCH and Noah’s Ark, whose charity has raised around £20 million for the hospital. And Cardiff already values the live auction. City Hospice has run an annual art auction for over a decade, with donated works from Wales’s most collectable artists, which means the room here understands what a well-run auction can do.

Cardiff has a city-defining charity-auction tradition most places lack: City Hospice’s annual art auction has run for over a decade with works from Wales’s most collectable artists. The room already values the format; the job is to bring that energy to every gala.

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

Where the galas happen

Where are charity galas held in Cardiff?

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

Principality Stadium

City centre

The national rugby stadium, scaling from an intimate dinner to a very large fundraiser.

Cardiff Castle

City centre

A medieval Banqueting Hall for a formal Welsh banquet or gala.

National Museum Cardiff

Cathays Park

A Grand Hall seating up to 280 under a domed ceiling and marble staircases.

Cardiff City Stadium

Leckwith

Stadium suites hosting black-tie balls and dinners for up to around 750.

voco St David’s

Cardiff Bay

A waterfront hotel with bay views for a gala dinner or reception.

Depot Cardiff

City centre

A big warehouse venue for an awards ceremony or a larger, less formal fundraiser.

The causes

Who might you be raising for in Cardiff?

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

City Hospice

Cardiff’s home hospice charity, running a long-established annual art auction.

Ty Hafan

A leading children’s hospice serving Cardiff and South Wales, providing free care.

Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital Charity

The charity for the Children’s Hospital for Wales, which has raised around £20 million.

LATCH

The Welsh children’s cancer charity, supporting families at the Children’s Hospital for Wales.

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

How does a Cardiff 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 Cardiff room reaches the cause.

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

Can you host a sporting or stadium gala?

Yes, and Cardiff is built for it. The Principality Stadium and Cardiff City’s suites are mainstream charity-ball venues here, and a rugby name on the bill helps the room. I run the auction and pledge to make the most of it.

We want a live art auction. Can you do that?

Yes. Cardiff has a real art-auction tradition through City Hospice, and a room that values it. I will help you choose and sequence the lots and call them to lift the totals.

Do you cover South Wales beyond Cardiff?

Yes, Cardiff and across South Wales to Newport, the Valleys and Swansea. 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 Cardiff 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