The Lantern Gala 2026 · Saturday 14 November · Thornbury Hall, in aid of The Lantern Foundation. Get tickets →
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For the organiser

What it is like to run the night

Guests see a clean website. Behind it is the part that decides whether the evening is calm or chaos: setting up, running the room, and collecting the money afterwards. Here is the whole job, the way an organiser meets it, before, during and after.

Before the night

Setting up, without the dread

A new event site, built to what you are running, in an afternoon rather than a fortnight.

Set-up wizard

Answer a few questions and the site builds itself: the right pages, how guests bid, your currency, bank details and colours.

In the admin

Load the lots

Add auction lots one by one or in bulk, with a procurement tracker for what has been promised and what has arrived.

In the admin

Tickets, tables & seating

Ticket tiers and VIP packages, then a drag-and-drop table plan and a find-my-seat page for guests.

In the admin

Make it yours

Your logo, your colours and your wording throughout, with a pre-flight check that catches the classic mistakes before doors open.

In the admin

On the night

One calm screen while the room roars

Everything that needs a decision in the next few minutes, in one place, so nothing is missed in the noise.

Night at a glance

Your live command screen: what is raised, what is closing, which lots are quiet, who owes, and how the room network is coping.

See the dashboard →

Check guests in

A QR check-in at the door that knows who has arrived and where they are sitting.

In the admin

The big screens

The gala totaliser, the live pledge screen, the table plan and a slideshow, all driven from the same live data.

See the gala screen →

Approve as you go

Late or offline bids land for a quick yes or no, so a dropped signal never loses a bid or muddles a result.

In the admin

After the night

The bit everyone dreads, made simple

The morning after is about collecting the money and thanking people, not untangling a spreadsheet.

Who has paid, who owes

Every winner marked paid or outstanding, with reminders and saved-card retries doing the chasing for you.

In the admin

The night in numbers

Total raised, the Gift Aid uplift, the commission you did not pay, and the gifts recovered from near-misses.

See the impact report →

Thank-yous & Gift Aid

Personalised thank-you emails, a monthly-giving ask at the perfect moment, and a Gift Aid claim ready for HMRC.

In the admin

Straight into your CRM

Every supporter and gift pushed automatically into Salesforce (NPSP) or Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, or out as a CSV or webhook to any other CRM.

In the admin

And if you get stuck

You are never on your own

A complete guide, an assistant that knows your event, and a platform built to be trusted with the money.

Want to see it from the organiser’s chair?

Book Kevin Durham as your charity auctioneer and you get this whole back office for your event, set up for you, with Kevin on the night. No commission, ever.