Kelowna resident Dave Rolleston, CEO and founder of The Charity Hub, started the business to support charities and keep goods out of the landfill.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Dave Rolleston

A new business aims to support Kelowna charities, and keep items out of the landfill, by connecting buyers and sellers then donating the proceeds.

Kelowna resident Dave Rolleston, CEO and founder of The Charity Hub, said he wanted to help charities who were struggling with fundraising event cancellations due to the pandemic.

The Charity Hub was launched in January, 2021 and recently donated more than $8,000 to Habitat for Humanity.

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Acting like a broker, with an excess of unwanted items in the marketplace, the hub takes unwanted items and sells them. Most of the proceeds are donated to non-profits in need.

Rolleston said he has buying and selling inventory successfully for more than 20 years and felt it was time to pivot his strategy and turn it into a business model where he can turn profit into charitable funds.

“Charities are not designed to take physical product typically,” he said, adding that this allows the hub to give out cash to these non-profits.

He used the example of how it works like buying and selling items like KitchenAid.

“KitchenAid might have 5,000 blenders that are older, or refurbished or might have a blemish and they would need to liquidate them... They could liquidate them to for-profit businesses…. or they could put them our way, we would take the product, find a different market for them and take the net proceeds and donate it to the charity of the suppliers choice,” he said.

It’s also a way to keep items out of the landfill, he said.

“The company now has a proper strategy for their excess inventory, while creating charitable funds and… we’re taking a product that’s about to go into recycling or the landfill into another marketplace,” Rolleston said.

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There’s no cost for non-profits to be a part of the hub. The Charity Hub has connections to organizations across Canada and in the United States, and Rolleston likes to serve Canadian and Kelowna charities as he lives in Kelowna.

“It’s a passion of mine, my goal is to raise $100,000 this year in Canada and I want a healthy part of that to reach local charities here in Kelowna,” he said.

The Charity Hub is a for-profit business but is funded by Rolleston. Roughly 75% of its its net proceeds go to charities, he said.

Retailers, wholesaler distributors, insurance companies and freight companies are encouraged to reach out for more information on how they can liquidate for a cause.

“This is a completely isolated COVID-free way to raise money,” Rollenston said. "We're the only company in Canada doing it."

For more information on The Charity Hub, visit its website here.

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