This past February, a non-profit managed to raise $5,000 in five days with the help of the film crew and stars from TV show Storage Wars. Charity Storage launches self-storage auctions at U.S. Storage Centers throughout Southern California, and donates the money to local and national charities.
In short, storage operators choose a storage unit in which to collect the donated goods. Tenants, auction buyers, residents and businesses alike can all donate and receive a tax deductible receipt. Once the public auction takes place, the Charity Storage unit is sold alongside others, with the sales money forwarded to charity.
“This is a blueprint for how we hope the entire self-storage community across America will react to Charity Storage,” said Lance Watkins, co-founder of the organization. “It was well planned and well executed, and there were so many winners: US Storage Centers, charities and the industry in general. It’s a great way for self-storage owner-operators to give back to their local communities. This is just the start to what we hope will be a highly successful year.”
Westport Properties founder and owner Barry Hoeven is also the co-founder of Charity Storage and ‘Kure It’, a cancer research organization. He explained that the “Storage Wars” stars contributed greatly to the success of last month’s auction.
“The presence of ‘Storage Wars’ celebrities and their film crew contributed to the higher-than-usual bidding, as did the contents of one antique-filled unit,” Hoeven said. “But this was certainly a great illustration of the impact Charity Storage can have as we implement it nationally.”