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The Bay Area's Principal Auctioneer | Marin & San Francisco Bay Area Benefit Specialist The Bay Area's Principal Auctioneer | Marin & San Francisco Bay Area Benefit Specialist The Bay Area's Principal Auctioneer | Marin & San Francisco Bay Area Benefit Specialist The Bay Area's Principal Auctioneer | Marin & San Francisco Bay Area Benefit Specialist
  • Home
  • Our Team
    • Chad Carvey, Principal Auctioneer
    • Carolyn Carvey, CEO
    • Benefit Auctioneer Team (BAS)
    • Ringmen/Pro-Spotting Team
  • Why Us!
    • Why Us!
    • Clients
    • Testimonials
    • Celebrity Interaction
    • Demos
    • Services & Fees
      • Hiring Ringmen/Pro Spotters
  • Client Resources
    • Client Login
    • Gala Ideas
  • Let’s Connect
    • Connect
  • CHAD CARVEY
    THE PRINCIPAL AUCTIONEER
  • BRINGING PASSION
    TO YOUR CAUSE
  • DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIPS
    WITH US
    & WITH YOU!
  • MASTER FALCONER
    This is Chinook,
    our rescued Red-Tail Hawk, was known to make appearances on occasion.
    Caption Text3
  • WE ARE NOT AFRAID
    TO DREAM BIG
  • Born in Berkeley.
    Raised Wild In Big Sur.

Chad Carvey, The “Principal Auctioneer”!

Chad’s title comes from spending 29 years as an educator and school principal. Early on in his career, Chad found that fund-raising was a vital part of what a school principal must do, so he decided to attend auctioneer school and advanced “Benefit Auctioneer Specialist” (BAS) training, and learn how to do it right. Currently, there are only a handful of fundraising auctioneers in California, who have earned the coveted BAS designation. As opposed to most fundraising auctioneers, Chad has very rare and in-depth experience on BOTH sides of fundraising events, having helped create many school district galas from scratch!

While Chad usually does about 75-85 gala events each year himself (and another 20-30 events for his team of auctioneers), starting in 2019 Chad and his wife Carolyn will be setting out on their long-planned dream to sail around the world!  From 2019 onward, Chad will only be personally doing galas in March and April, plus a couple of special clients in other parts of the year, who fly him out to their galas.

Over the past 10 years, Chad has helped raise an average of $1.2 million dollars per week, for his clients, for most of each year. Chad has worked with celebrities like Sir Richard Branson, Alec Baldwin, Josh Groban, Dianna Ross, Jason Mraz, Sarah McLachlan, Chad Lowe, Tony Bennett, Sharon Stone, Michael Phelps, and many many more.  Clients have included the US Olympic Team, San Francisco 49ers, many professional athletes, and countless schools, health-related causes, and causes that support people in need all over the world!

Growing Up Wild In Big Sur

Chad was raised “off-grid” and “barefoot and wild” in Big Sur, California during the 1960’s and 1970’s. His dad was a professional musician, and Chad’s childhood memories include family friends like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, David Crosby, and Janice Joplin. Chad has always had a close connection to nature and animals (Chad has been a Master Falconer, climbing instructor, and fly fisherman most of his life), and today supports many animal rescue and conservation events. Chad also serves many music and fine arts related events, such as Josh Groban’s “Find Your Light” foundation. 

Voyage Around the World

In summer of 2019, Chad and Carolyn will set sail on a long-planned sailing voyage around the world, on their 43’ steel, DeVilliers sailboat.  They plan to explore the world for roughly 10 years.  Over 30 years ago, Chad began inspiring his high school history students to always have a dream, a goal to strive for, and he began sharing his dream to someday sail around the world.  As members of a few ocean/sailing conservation efforts, Chad and Carolyn are excited about helping many environmental causes as they voyage! 

For Chad’s clients in March/April each year (plus a couple more here and there), Chad will be fully available for consultation—even if it happens to be on a satellite phone in the middle of a far-flung ocean! 

Testimonials

  • Thank you for helping create an amazing event for our district! Your energy and commitment are so contagious, you enlivened the room and made it fun for people to spend more than they’ve ever spent at our auction!

    It was wonderful to have your strategic advice in planning – all of which turned out as you predicted. Your approach to Fund-A-Need and Last Hero allowed so many people to participate. I’m excited not only for the fundraising we did during the event, but to see the potential and willingness of our parents to step up when called upon. I think it’s clear we can cast a wider net and can continue to find ways for our community to give at all levels to help us hit higher goals.

    Thank you for all your work making this a success!

    Alison ten Cate, SchoolForce, President
  • “I’m pleased to report that our Outreach Fund raised more than double of what we hoped! We had gone into the evening with very low key expectations, but thanks to your leadership, we were able to inspire people to great levels of generosity. You were spot on in reading the crowd and figuring out just the right blend of enthusiasm, humour and good old fashioned arm twisting. I would be happy to recommend you to anyone planning an auction—a job very well done!”

    St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, San Rafael, Christopher Martin
  • “Chad, Thank YOU for being the auctioneer for our record-breaking fundraiser!  Your calm guidance, good humor, enthusiasm, and ability to improvise helped us realize a goal that we didn’t think was possible.  You also made the evening fun!   There’s so much that I have to process after such an amazing night.  Looking forward to working together again. ”   

    Alice Fong Yu Alternative School, San Francisco , Deborah Kwan 闗寳怡 , Event Chair
  • “When the night of our gala fundraiser came, I was so nervous! So much was riding on our auction if Home Away was to stay strong. Our goal was to raise at least $30,000 (what we had raised the year before), but instead when Chad got up on stage, it was like magic- people opened their hearts (and checkbooks!). Chad raised over $90,000 (when you include his Raise the Paddle – cash contributions). I’m sure there are lots of auctioneers out there, but Chad has a style and intensity that is one in a million!”

    Home Away from Homelessness, Jeanie Kortum, Founder and Executive Director
  • “What a difference Chad makes! In comparison with our fundraiser last year (when we used a celebrity as auctioneer), our “Raise Your Paddle” donations increased 100% and our Live Auction revenue increased more than 200%! Chad brought a wealth of good ideas plus an irrepressible personality that really kept our donors engaged. We heard nothing but compliments from our guests, board and staff about Chad — and we’ve already decided to have him at our event next year!”

    Support for Families of Children with Disabilities, Jan Watson, Development Director
  • “We used The Principal Auctioneer for the first time this year.  With much trepidation, we set a goal vastly higher than anything we had raised during any other time in our charity’s history.  We not only met that lofty goal, but doubled it!  One our major donors commented that he has never felt such satisfaction in a charitable giving event.

    Prior to the event Chad was accessible via phone or email at a moments notice with a plethora of advice and experience.  When we choose to ignore some of his advice he was more than gracious with us still needing to do some things ‘the old way’.

    Like all things, we had things not go ‘according to plan’ the night of our event.  Again, he was purely professional, handled the minor mishaps with ease and no guest was the wiser.

    After the event, our guests said it was the most fun they’d ever had at our event.  The energy Chad and Carolyn brought to the event was electric and we look forward to working with them again next year.”

    Incline Village High School, Sharon Schrage, Gala Chair
  • “Thank you so much for your help at our fund raising event. We have never made as much on our live auction! You brought the event to a new level, we never dreamed that we could bring in so much needed funds especially during these tough economic times. You were the right person for the task and I have no problems recommending you to any group that is thinking about hiring you for a charity event. You have the ability to read a crowd and know where the real bidders are. You were able to get the crowd outside of themselves and i nto the feeling of raising funds for our school. Not only did you raise funds, you entertained the guests and finished within a short span of time, the guests were not worn out or bored. The banter you carried on kept the group engaged and enthused. I am so glad we were able to get together not only for what you were able to accomplish for us but you are truly a caring and understanding individual.”

    Franciscan School of Theology, Glen Hollenhorst, Fundraiser Co-Chair and Administrative Assisitant
  • “Chad’s expertise as a benefit auctioneer really makes a difference – with his help, we doubled the proceeds of our Live auction and exceeded our fund raising goals for this event! He made the live auction fun, exciting, and connected with the audience on an emotional level. He has the ability to balance competition and heartstrings appeal, inspiring people to give (and give generously) to the cause. He’s a pleasure to work with and shared lots of helpful tips and strategies, always eager to help us with any question we had.”

    Hillel of Silicon Valley, Sarita Bronstein, Executive Director
  • “Chad is a masterful auctioneer – funny and witty.  He had our audience engaged and ready to bid from the first moment to the last!  We exceeded our goal by nearly 30% and it was because we had Chad there to work his magic and get our audience excited to donate toward a worthy cause.”

    S.F.Y.C. and The Belvedere Cove Foundation, Kyle Elliott, Event Chair
  • “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Chad on two large charity events; Leukemia Lymphoma Society and the Reed School Foundation Regatta. On both events Chad exceeded our goals and our expectations! We not only appreciate his professional attitude, his huge enthusiasm but also his opinion. He helped us in both events with planning and execution in our live auction and his suggestions were invaluable!! No way we could have reached our goals without him! We look forward to working with him again next year!”


    “Chad Carvey is an expert auctioneer!  Thanks to his enthusiasm, energy and ability to read the crowd, both our live auction and raise your paddle were highly successful.  We look forward to working with Chad again next year!”

    The Foundation of Reed Schools, Tiburon/Belvedere, Stacy Achuck & Jennifer Schneider, Gala Co-Chairs
  •  “When it was first suggested we consider using Principal Auctioneer, I was hesitant, believing an auctioneer was way out of our league. We are just an average middle class public school. But in talking with Chad I was convinced that he could help us take our dinner and auction event to the next level. We hadn’t met our fundraising goal the year before, so I knew we had to do something different. His consultation leading up to the event was extremely helpful as he made us look at everything differently. We had never even considered a Fund-A-Need, and again I was hesitant about how our crowd would respond. Yet I entered the evening excited and confident we would indeed surpass our goal, but I tell you, I was blown away. We made 230% of our fundraising goal and almost tripled what we brought in the year before. You just have to see it to believe it!”

    The Indigo Program School, San Jose , Nicole Tieche, Vice President of Fundraising
  • “You are the best Auctioneer I have seen!  The phenomenal success of 40 Years of Living Legends is a reflection on your Auctioneer skills and the time you spent preparing and coaching The Redwoods’ staff and volunteers. I have attended other auctions, but you were exceptionally good at pacing the fundraising with the audience’s willingness to participate.

    As you know, this is the first time The Redwoods has used an Auctioneer. It was a pleasure to watch how you successfully transported the guests from the video and table conversation to a lively auction and Fund A Need. The evening would not have been as successful without your hard work and dedication.

    I have heard nothing but praise about the evening and your flawless execution of the auction. Many of the Rock the Ages performers said you took time to talk to them about the auction which they really appreciated.

    Congratulations on a memorable event. Our revenue from the evening exceeded our expectations and I’m enormously grateful for your contribution to that event’s success!”

    The Redwoods, Senior Community, Mill Valley, Barbara Solomon, Chief Executive Officer
Chad connects your guests hearts to your cause, like no other! Contact us today!
Logo Bringing together the heart of your cause, with the heart of your guests!

Contact Info

  • Chad and Carolyn Carvey
  • The Bay Area's Principal Auctioneer
  • Mill Valley, Ca
  • inquiries@principalauctioneer.com
  • www.principalauctioneer.com
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© 2019 · The Principal Auctioneer

  • Why Us!
  • Chad Carvey, The Principal Auctioneer
  • Our Benefit Auction Specialist Team
  • Demo Videos
  • Testimonials
  • Our Services & Fees
  • Gala Ideas!
  • Let’s Connect