Making a difference to the communities within which we operate through partnerships with charities and not-for-profit organisations is an integral part of our sustainability strategy. We provide financial support to local and national charities and encourage our colleagues to get involved in fundraising and volunteering.
We believe it is important for our colleagues to recognise how our activities can have an impact on those around us. Volunteering and fundraising opportunities can inspire and encourage them to get involved and provide hands-on help where it matters.

Alongside donating storage space, Safestore colleagues often take part in a number of events each year in order to raise money for charitable causes.
One such example is Adam, Store Manager at Safestore Crayford, who took part in YMCA’s ‘The Big Sleepout’ which involved sleeping in a local park to raise money and awareness of homelessness – as well as raising over £300.
Safestore also donated cardboard boxes for participants to use as part of the campaign.
"Cardboard boxes represent sleeping rough in such an iconic way; the hope is that the donated boxes will go some way to helping ‘The Big Sleepout’ participants experience what sleeping rough is really like – if only for one night.
It’s important for us to recognise the importance of organisations like the YMCA who can inspire and encourage us to challenge our own perspectives on homelessness as well as help those who are living on the streets – after all, homelessness can happen to anyone."
Adam Wright, Store Manager, Safestore Crayford
Another community fundraising initiative took place during the construction of our new store in Sheffield whereby we teamed up with our construction management partners and sub-contractors to support a local charity, Framework Housing Association.
A van full of new sleeping bags was collected and handed over to the Association for distribution across a number of local charities including Ben’s Centre, which provides a place of sanctuary for vulnerable people in the local area.
"We are very happy to have been able to contribute to the local community in this way and support the brilliant work that the Association carry out helping vulnerable people in the local area."
Andy Robinson, Safestore Construction Manager
Safestore and our construction managers (UC Build) registered the new Sheffield site with the Considerate Constructors Scheme. The scheme is dedicated to improving the image of the construction industry and encourages developers to leave a positive legacy for the local community. The project was awarded ‘Performance Beyond Compliance’ at the monitor visits.

As part of our continuing work in the Carshalton area where we opened a new store in February 2020, the construction management team held site visits and talks with the local building college.
In addition, UC Build’s Design and Compliance Manager, Bryony Levermore, attended the local Carshalton High School for Girls to give a presentation on ‘Women in Construction’ to sixth form students.
In December, our HR colleagues teamed up with UC Build, attending the local college at Carshalton to participate in a careers fair. This gave students the opportunity to gain career advice, specifically regarding the construction industry.
During 2020, Safestore donated £25,000 to Quartet Community Foundation which brings together people who want to help the local community with projects that make a real difference.

Quartet manages and distributes charitable funds to meet local needs on behalf of individuals, companies, families and other organisations.
Between March and August 2020 Quartet awarded over £1 million in Covid-19 response grants to more than 200 charitable organisations across Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire helping those most in need during the pandemic.
Each year Quartet awards around 1,000 grants, supporting hundreds of thousands of people through local frontline charities and voluntary groups.
In Spain, OhMyBox! has been supporting ‘Casal dels Infants’, a charitable organisation based in Barcelona committed to helping children, young people and families in vulnerable situations through educational intervention. Earlier in the year, as part of a fundraising dinner – ‘The Great Solidarity Night’ – OhMyBox! was one of more than 40 companies which together raised €67,000 for the charity.
In addition to our fundraising and voluntary activities, we continue to support individuals and local charities with free and discounted storage space through our ‘charity room in every store’ scheme.
The provision of free or discounted storage space has helped our charity partners provide immediate support to people facing challenges in our local communities. These include charities supporting the homeless, families struggling with food poverty and vulnerable individuals in isolation as well as organisations producing and supplying personal protective equipment (“PPE”) and offering mental health services.
Our support will ensure our charity partners can continue to provide their services in the coming months particularly where they have seen demand significantly increase during the pandemic.
In addition, in response to the immediate needs of the charities we support, we provided them with financial relief including waiving storage rental fees and offering discounted or deferred payments enabling them to do their vital work supporting local communities through these unprecedented times.
We are continuing to work collaboratively with our teams and supply chain as we support our charity partners in helping the communities in the locations within which we operate.