![\"CARMAnation](\"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/98qILH6TfwlTMa7_YuBgZR36UTulu2jt9-4p2inS-8g.png\")
<\/a>CARMAnation is looking to spur the sharing economy to help San Franciscans find parking more easily.<\/p><\/div>Hoping to celebrate her birthday in San Francisco\u2019s Marina district a month ago, Ashley Cummings and a guest circled the area for parking a little before 6 p.m. Finding none, they abandoned the plan and went elsewhere. The experience was all too familiar for Cummings, one of the masterminds behind CARMAnation<\/a>, a startup that allows its users to share their unused private parking spaces.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were always really frustrated with not finding parking to the point that we were, like, \u2018You know what? I\u2019m just not gonna go out.\u2019 And you turn around and you go back home,\u201d she said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n So, along with Ilya Movshovich and Brian Wolk, Cummings began CARMAnation, which was officially founded last year but only recently came out of private beta testing. The company allows users to list their private parking spaces (think driveways) at whatever price for profit or to donate the money towards a local charity vetted by CARMAnation.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve got a spot at your house and you\u2019re not going to be there and you want to make some extra money on it, or you want to give it out to charity, rent it out!\u201d Cummings urges. \u201cWhy not create that harmony and that community?\u201d<\/p>\n The charitable component distinguishes the company from similar businesses like Park Circal and Park At My House, whose efforts have sputtered in the Bay area, though Park At My House has achieved success in the UK.<\/p>\n Cummings believes that CARMAnation\u2019s competitors may have \u201ctried a little bit too early. We needed the Air BnBs and Lyft and Getarounds of the world to come before and prime people to the idea that it\u2019s totally OK to be in this peer-to-peer mentality,\u201d she says. \u201cBeforehand, people would never have thought of renting out their car, let alone their apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n