The Cars 4 Causes Blog.

When the economy went into a dive last year, Brenda’s family finances hit the skids, too. She’s a feisty woman and not easily defeated. She had struggled through emotional and financial crises when serious childhood illnesses threatened both her daughter and younger son. And all survived.

Car donation recipient Brenda with Sister Mary

She lost her husband to cancer last year, though, and even while mourning her loss, still needed to get herself to the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles for treatments for her own serious medical condition – a 60-plus-mile drive. Still, she was “OK,” she said. She was managing, even as the downturn in the economy slashed the value of her late husbands’ life insurance benefits.

Then the car began to give out.

In poor condition, it couldn’t be counted on to get her to UCLA. And, frankly, it wasn’t reliable in and around town either.

Abbess Victoria of the St. Barbara Monastery in Santa Paula, Calif. asked Cars 4 Causes if we could help. We could, and we did. That’s Brenda in the photo with Sister Mary of the St. Barbara Monastery.

Their smiles are genuine. The car was donated to Brenda and her family. Make a car donation today! Your donation will support people who need your help.

Most of the success stories we share with you are about the people who are helped by cars donated to Cars 4 Causes. And we have a lot of those that we’ll continue to share, but there’s the other side of the equation, too: the story of the car donation itself. We get some beautiful, high-end vehicles donated here at Cars 4 Causes. One of them recently became our favorite success story.

Sportsmobile donated to Cars 4 Causes

The donation was a top-of-the-line Sportsmobile – a 2005 Ford E350 Sportsmobile 4×4 6.0L Turbo Diesel, long body, Sportsmobile conversion. It was a beauty.

It was in great condition, had a pop-up camping shell, and slept 4 to 5 people. It was perfect for a variety of outdoor activities – think surfing, fishing, family camping, and you get the idea: a great vehicle for big groups and big trips. It ranked right up there with some of our most generous vehicle donation.

We don’t fall in love with the cars and trucks donated to Cars 4 Causes, though. We fall in love with the value donations bring to their charities.

This one, through some wise marketing by our team affiliates, sold for top dollar in last year’s tough car sales market. It became a solid tax write-off, a good deal for the buyer, and – most important – a generous and welcome donation to the donor’s chosen charity. (View a partial list at of charities at cars4causes.net.)

As a charity, creating a blog isn’t something you just do. A little thought needs to go into it. Questions need to be answered. What will you talk about? Who will do your writing? What are you hoping to accomplish?

Well, after little deliberation, we realize the answer to the first question is an easy one. We have created this blog to keep you, our donors (past, present & future), informed and up to date on everything Cars 4 Causes® and any pertinent charity related news. Good news or otherwise, you will find it here.

The “who” part of the question still remains but our plan is to have contribution from our entire organization. We also want to bring in guest bloggers such as noted tax professionals who can share important tax information with you.

So, what are we going to accomplish with our blog? Our accomplishments to date speak for themselves – in 2007, our total contributions to over 11,000 charities reached the $20 million mark – all from the proceeds of donated vehicles. This was a major milestone for us, but an accomplishment only achieved because of strong donor support. We are pioneers and 10+ year veterans in the car donation industry and as we continue to innovate and raise the bar higher, our goal is to be open and transparent with our donors. As you become more involved in the Cars 4 Causes® story, we also hope to learn from our donors and receive valuable input from everyone – good or bad. From there, we believe the accomplishments and milestones will achieve themselves.

We invite you to join us in this conversation about what we have done, where we have been and where we are heading in the foreseeable future.

From all of us at Cars 4 Causes®, thank you for your continued support.