The Lessons for Life Foundation annual gala fundraising dinner raised £600,000 this year, up from £450,000 in 2012.

The event, held in the middle of this month at the Natural History Museum in London, included both a live and silent auction for prizes ranging from Harrods Christmas vouchers to an African safari.

Lessons for Life, which is backed by global telecommunications firm Liberty Global, had 450 guests attending, largely from the banking, legal and telecoms industries. Both the chief executive of Liberty and students helped by the charity in Africa spoke to the gala audience on the night.

Imogen Ward, former Merlin director of fundraising and now CEO of Lessons for Life, said: “On behalf of LFLF and Liberty, we sincerely thank the many companies and individuals who kindly donated such outstanding prizes for this ball and all the guests from the banking, telecommunications and legal industries who hosted tables and bid for auction prizes to enable us to raise a staggering £600,000 and support over 10,000 children.”

Read an exclusive case study on how Lessons for Life improved its gala event between 2011 and 2012.