A Night of Hope & Giving: The 17th Annual CAPTIVATING Charity Auction

 

On behalf of the Shenzhen Charity Federation CAPTIVATING Fund, thank you SO MUCH for, once again, confirming for the world what an amazing community of people you are. Saturday, 11th October, 2025 saw 415 people come together to help improve the lives of young girls, moms, and their children. Once again, our thanks to the wonderful team at the Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen for working with the Captivating auction committee team and so many volunteers to put on an amazing event.

Together, as one community, we proved through our actions and generosity that we are truly “One Act. Endless Impact.”—touching over 1,000 lives that we will help progress over this next year together. These 1,000 lives (single moms, young women, and children) across Yunnan, Qinghai, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Guizhou Provinces are specifically selected as those who are most in need of additional support to help progress. Together, we have made this next step possible – another step forward into better and more stable futures. At CAPTIVATING, we are thrilled to make this possible in partnership with the Shenzhen Charity Federation and our registered on-the-ground charity partners. And, we have this amazing Shenzhen community to thank for it.

We can confirm that an amazing RMB 1 million was raised thanks to this event. We are thrilled.

 

 

How Your Support Will Make a Difference

Because of this night, and thanks to the support of our incredible corporate project sponsors, over the coming 12 months:

• 180 moms struggling to make ends meet for their families will be trained in Captivating’s Pigs, Poultry & Prosperity Program where they will receive quality pigs and chickens, along with 8 months of training and support. This gives them the opportunity to increase their monthly earning capacity, benefiting their 360+ children and aging parents as a result;
• 30 moms in Qinghai province will receive specialized tailoring training making it possible for them to earn income from their remote home locations and local tailoring businesses, benefiting upwards of 60+ lives including children and aging parents;
• 500 underprivileged students in remote Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou will be supported through another year of senior high school, bringing financial relief to both them and their parents struggling with the costs of senior schooling; and
• 1,300 primary school students across remote locations will have a volunteer teacher help them through this next year. This event enables Captivating to reach our goal of supporting 30 teachers over these next 12 months.

 

 

A Heartfelt Thank You to Everyone Who Made This Event Possible

To all of our incredibly hard-working auction committee and 180 volunteers; our amazing school and business community; the many companies who donated goods for auction; our amazing group of artists and their artwork this year (co-curated by Brittan Aebischer, Gloria Carnevale & Serena Cole); our awesome MC Jeremy Sargent, and amazing auctioneer Matthew Doige who worked hard for a solid 2 hours; our sound and lighting crew and DJ Pax who lead our audio/visual team for the 13th year; our incredibly generous corporate sponsors; event partners; and of course to you, our 415 guests – THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. You’ve helped underwrite the work of the Shenzhen Charity Federations CAPTIVATING fund and programs for another year.

As we sign off I have one last thank you. To our AMAZING, consistent and loyal Shenzhen Captivating team, and to the team at the Shenzhen Charity Federation. Your desire to keep doing this year after year is astounding and we are so lucky to have had such a committed team for so many years. A special call-out to Serena Cole, Tracy Chen, Lynn Velez and Ashley Stahle, who always lead from the front, supported by an amazing team. Your efficiency, event management and problem-solving skills are second to none. We are so proud of what you’ve done. Each year seems to get better than the last, and we have you all to thank for it. Congratulations and thank you.

 

 

After more in Shenzhen?

Join us December 6th for our annual Santa Run. See www.captivatingevents.org for the details and keep an eye out for our WeChat posts. This year, we are thrilled to welcome back Husky Energy as Naming Sponsors of this event. So, see you all at the HUSKY SANTA RUN, 8am December 6th, Shenzhen Bay.

We love you, Shenzhen! Thank you for standing with us — together, we’re creating one act, endless impact.

If you have any great suggestions for the event, we would love to hear your feedback! Please feel free to reach out to us at charityauction@captivating.org. Thank you!

 

Andrew Colquhoun

CEO & Co-Founder of Captivating | Founding Member of the Shenzhen Charity Federation CAPTIVATING Fund

andrewc@captivating.org

 

 

Go to this link to view our photo gallery of the event