Fundraising Auctioneer in the Tri-Cities, Washington

Justin James | #1 Ranked Benefit Auctioneer

The person holding the microphone matters.

From multimillion dollar galas to the neighborhood food bank, from humane societies to hospital foundations, ComedyAuctioneer.com has been brought in to maximize donations at every level of giving. It is a big reason nonprofits across the country trust us with their biggest night of the year. A live auction should be fun, interactive, and connect with donors. Whether it is a celebrity event with sports stars and world class musicians or a local humane society or food bank, we auction it all, big or small.

Three cities form one donor community, but not one kind of fundraiser. Across Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, recurring campaigns support healthcare, education, youth services, housing, hunger relief, and faith-based work. The Kadlec Foundation and Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation raise for regional care; United Way of Benton & Franklin Counties runs an annual campaign; and the 3 Rivers Community Foundation's Celebration of Philanthropy gathers roughly 500 nonprofit leaders, donors, and community members each year. That range matters. A hospital foundation, a youth organization, and a community fund do not bring the same case for giving or the same donor history into the room. We study the mission, the audience, and prior results before shaping the live auction and paddle raise, so the fundraising sounds like your organization and is built to move your number.

Venue choice changes the fundraising plan just as much. In the Tri-Cities, a committee might choose the Three Rivers Convention Center, the HAPO Center, or the TRAC; a winery in Richland or Prosser; a fairground hall; or a riverfront setting in Kennewick or Richland. The wider service area adds fixed-seat theaters in Walla Walla and Pendleton and resort event space at Wildhorse. Those are not interchangeable backdrops. Fixed seating defines sightlines and where spotters can work. An open hall changes sound and guest flow. A winery patio or park adds power, lighting, and weather to the plan. We resolve those questions before the run of show is final, then build the live auction and appeal for the room guests will actually experience.

Fundraising Consulting

The final number is decided before the doors open.

Professional fundraising event consulting looks at the entire night as one connected program. The schedule, donor communication, scripts, speakers, production, revenue opportunities, and transitions all compete for the same limited amount of time and attention. We work with your committee and production team to identify what the event needs to accomplish, eliminate the pieces that work against it, and build a program where every element has a purpose. By the time the doors open, your committee, volunteers, speakers, production team, and fundraising professionals should all know exactly what is supposed to happen and why.

The Tri-Cities supports a corporate and convention calendar unusually large for a market of its size, driven by the Hanford and PNNL research economy, regional healthcare, government, and agriculture. Nonprofit galas draw on the same core event infrastructure, including the Three Rivers Convention Center, HAPO Center, and TRAC. That makes venue selection a fundraising decision, not just a logistics decision. Before the program is locked, we compare the seated layout, stage and screen placement, sound, guest flow, volunteer coverage, and timing of every revenue moment. The goal is a run of show that fits the space from the start, with fewer compromises and clearer jobs for everyone on event night.

Emcee Services in the Tri-Cities

Keep your audience engaged and your program moving.

Your emcee is the face and voice of your event. From the first welcome to the final close, we keep your audience engaged, your speakers supported, and your program moving with the energy and professionalism the occasion deserves. When something changes, we adjust. When the room needs energy, we build it. When a serious moment needs space, we give it space. And when it is time to move forward, we bring everyone with us. That combination of preparation, stage experience, timing, humor, and improvisation is what turns an event schedule into a professionally hosted live experience.

The Tri-Cities event calendar regularly puts business and mission audiences under the same roof. The Tri-City Regional Chamber produces symposiums, summits, and membership events, while the Celebration of Philanthropy gathers nonprofit leaders, donors, and community members. A strong host can move between those registers without making the evening feel stitched together: concise and credible through leadership remarks, warm when the mission takes focus, and decisive when the room is ready to move. We prepare the names, purpose, and handoff for each segment in advance, then listen to the audience in real time. The result is a program that feels intentional from the first welcome through the final ask.

Auction Games

The whole room came to give, not just the bidders.

Revenue enhancers give every guest at your event a chance to participate in the fundraising, not just the guests who came to bid. The right game at the right moment opens up giving at price points the whole room can say yes to, and the energy it creates carries into the live auction and the paddle raise that follow.

We maintain one of the most comprehensive auction game libraries in the country, with more than fifty revenue enhancers for live fundraising events. Golden tickets, wine walls, heads or tails, mystery boxes, centerpiece games, Last Paddle Standing, and dozens more.

Entertainment for Everyone

The show they never forget.

Clean, interactive comedy and variety entertainment for corporate events, fundraising galas, private parties, and campus shows. Our headline show is volunteer-driven and built from the audience in the room.

Beyond gala season, the regional calendar includes chamber banquets, company events, community festivals, and wine-country programs shaped by the research, healthcare, agriculture, and food-processing economy. Those audiences do not all want the same show. A clean comedy set can loosen up a formal room; an interactive variety act can turn a mixed-age crowd into part of the program; a headline act can give a celebration a true finish. We start with the audience, venue, schedule, and job the entertainment needs to do, then recommend an act whose tone and technical footprint fit the event.

Specialty Acts

Talent services for your next event.

Comedians, magicians, mentalists, jugglers, fire performers, impersonators, ventriloquists, musicians, speakers, emcees, and specialty acts. When your event needs live entertainment, we match the right act to your audience and your venue.

Talent decisions get practical quickly across this service area. The Gesa Power House Theatre is documented at 300, the Rivers Event Center at Wildhorse at 700, and Borleske Stadium at 2,100. An act that works at one scale may need a different stage, sound package, or performance format at another. We help event teams compare audience fit, technical requirements, stage footprint, load-in, and the act's place in the schedule before a contract is signed. The goal is not simply to find an available performer. It is to put the right performer in a setting where the show can succeed.

Where We Work

We go where the giving happens.

Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco are the center of this service area, but the practical event market follows the Mid-Columbia across city and state lines. West Richland and Benton City stay close to the core; Prosser extends the route into wine country; Walla Walla is roughly an hour east; and Hermiston and Pendleton bring Northeast Oregon into range. That footprint matters when a committee is comparing venues, vendors, and audience travel rather than drawing a circle around one downtown. Share the date and exact location when you inquire. We will confirm availability, staffing, and travel, then plan to the same fundraising standard whether the event is in the Tri-Cities proper or farther along the corridor.

Our regular Tri-Cities-area service includes:

• Kennewick
• Richland
• Pasco
• West Richland
• Benton City
• Prosser
• Walla Walla
• Pendleton
• Hermiston

Events outside this corridor are welcome too. If your fundraiser is elsewhere in Washington, Oregon, or beyond, include the location with your inquiry and we will confirm availability, staffing, and travel before you plan around us.

Who We Work With

The company we keep.

Our work has put us in front of audiences for major corporations including Nordstrom, T-Mobile, John Deere, and the U.S. Postal Service, with organizations such as Starbucks and Porsche sponsoring our work. We have helped raise money for charities including St. Jude, the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, the ALS Association, and many more. But the size of the name on the invitation does not determine the level of service. A national brand and a neighborhood nonprofit holding its first auction both get the same preparation, professionalism, and attention from our team.