When a company is already dedicated to a charitable cause, it’s nice to know that it can do even more for that cause by joining up with a program that is all about raising money for charities. Such is the case with Compass Self Storage, a chain of facilities located primarily in Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Long a champion of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), Compass realized that it could continue to support the cause by holding Charity Storage auctions at its facilities. Now Compass is well on its way toward a 2012 goal of raising $8,000 for LLS through Charity Storage auctions.

“We have been aligned with the LLS for many years and have set forth to continue our relationship at the highest levels the company has ever seen,” says Sean Bentley, a District Manager for Compass Self Storage (Amsdell Companies). “Our alignment with Charity Storage has only solidified our meeting the goals.”

Charity Storage (www.charitystorage.org) was created when Lance Watkins saw the popularity of self storage auctions grow and realized that the self storage industry could give back to society through special auctions whose entire proceeds go to local and national charities. The net proceeds from the sale of each unit at a Charity Storage auction are split three ways — the Self Storage Association Foundation receives 10 percent, Kure It Cancer Research (www.kureit.org) receives 30 percent, and the individual facility chooses a local or national charity to receive the remaining 60 percent, as Compass Self Storage has done with LLS.

Todd Amsdell found out about Charity Storage at a Self Storage Association conference and trade show, brought the idea back to Compass Self Storage and told his facilities to run with it. As Gus Maragliano, a Senior District Manager for Compass Self Storage, puts it, the enthusiasm level was already there and putting on Charity Storage auctions was easily done.

 “We got set up very quickly on the Charity Storage website and also at Storage Treasures.com and within a month we held our first Charity Storage auction,” says Maragliano. “It’s all about communication and having your team share the same goal. We keep it fresh by making special announcements every time we hit big. We also congratulate our teams via Facebook. To measure our success we set an initial company goal and created a tracking chart that is helping our teams and the accounting department track our success.”

So far this year Compass Self Storage has raised $1,274.50 through eight auctions.

“One way or another all of our lives have been touched by someone who has cancer,” concludes Maragliano. “My biggest gratification comes in knowing that every time we hold a Charity Storage auction we are helping somebody fight it out.”

“Charity Storage is in its first year of existence and seeing a company like Compass Self Storage realize its goal of supporting the LLS cause through our program is what we are all about,” added Watkins, who also founded Storage Treasures (www.storagetreasures.com) to help promote self storage auctions across the country. “We hope that more and more self storage companies and facilities across the country join in with the same enthusiasm.”

Charity Storage is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit recognized as tax exempt by the IRS. Federal Tax ID# 45-3253579. For more information, visit charitystorage.org or E-mail info@charitystorage.org.

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