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Orangeville man creates online platform that rewards users for charitable donations

September 11, 2025   ·   1 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Do good. Save money.

That’s the motto of a new online platform that rewards people for donating to Canadian charities.  

Carsen Chubak, who moved to Orangeville from Saskatchewan in 2019, officially launched the website-based app Donacelet on Sept. 9, which can be visited online at pwa.donacelet.app.

Through Canada Helps, Donacelet allows its users to choose from approximately 86,000 Canadian charities, and they are rewarded with exclusive deals after making a one-time or monthly donation of $10 or more.

Currently, there are 78 charities that are in proximity to Orangeville that app users can support to access deals and coupons. A one-time donation provides access to deals for seven days, while monthly contributions keep deals active permanently.

“I hope this provides charities with more consistent income,” said Chubak. “That’s a big thing for charities – a lot of people don’t realize big donations are great, but oftentimes it’s sporadic for them. They don’t know when that support is coming in, but if they get consistent support [with monthly donations], they can actually manage what they’re doing a lot better.”

Donacelet is working on signing up business in Dufferin County for local deals, but in the meantime, the web-app offers coupons from online brands like Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Black Circles, Ticket Network, ButcherBox.ca, and StubHub.

Cost savings, on average, are 10-20 per cent, depending on the deal being accessed, which can add up when buying hotel accommodations, flights, or new tires. Certain companies selling software offer deals ranging from 50-80 per cent off.

Chubak noted that the savings offered through Donacelet are significant enough that most people should be able to offset the cost of their donations through the deals they access.

The idea behind the company is to encourage and reward donations to not-for-profits, while also helping businesses reach new customers.

Chubak, the CEO of Donacelet, is a retired professional hockey player. He competed in NCAA Division 1 Hockey for Niagara University in the U.S., and was a Top 10 Hobey Baker Award finalist. Chubak played as a goaltender throughout his career and later signed with the American Hockey League (AHL) to play for the Adirondack Phantoms, which is the top affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers. He played professionally in Europe for a few years as well.

Chubak wound down his hockey career in 2016, and after officially retiring in 2019, he began directing his spare time and energy towards developing Doancelet.

The concept is new, and he said he felt it was something he would use if someone else created it, so he began developing it himself, with the help of tech professionals.

Chubak has spent significant money, time, and resources on developing Donacelet, but he’s hopeful all that hard effort will soon pay off as people hear about and sign up on the web-app.

The idea for the donation platform dates back to when Chubak was a kid, playing minor hockey. As a fundraiser, he and his teammates would sell coupon booklets for local businesses. Doncelet is a similar idea, but digitized. Instead of donating $20 for a book of local coupons, Donacelet users can donate $10 or more to access a vast catalogue of deals.

Since retiring from playing hockey, Chubak has worked for a few different sports analytics’ companies. Currently, he’s very active in minor hockey as a goalie coach.

Aside from his passion for hockey, Chubak is dedicated to spreading the word about Donacelet and making it a success.

He told the Citizen he plans to build out Donacelet over time. First, by finding users and businesses in Dufferin County and surrounding regions, before branching out further to cover the entire province, country, and eventually, other parts of the world.

“We want to test everything in Orangeville, or Southern Ontario, make sure we have all the bugs worked out and then expand after that,” said Chubak.

Getting brands onboard for Donacelet has been relatively easy, as Chubak has a background in affiliate marketing and finds that most of the brands he met with were happy to get involved.

“Oftentimes they’ll give out discount codes for pretty much nothing, so since this is helping charities, it’s kind of easy to get them on board,” he said.

However, app development has been one of Donacelet’s biggest challenges to date. Without any external funding to back it, Chubak used his own savings to get the app functional and user-friendly.

It’s taken about two years and hundreds of meetings with web-app developers, but he’s happy to finally launch the app for the general public.

Chubak said his six-month-old son Cooper keeps him motivated to create more support for charitable organizations through Donacelet.

“I just want make the world a better place for him, too, and do something that he can be proud of outside of hockey,” he said.

Now, Chubak’s focus is on ramping up the number of app users and businesses on Donacelet to make it a success.

“It’s kind of a catch-22, because we have to have businesses to get users, and we have to have users to get businesses,” he said. “We’re trying to do that at the same time right now,”

The web-app’s name, Donacelet, comes from the platform’s donation bracelets that are launching later this month.

The bracelets have an NFC chip that can be scanned by a smartphone at a business to bring up a donation authentication page, showing eligibility for rewards on Donacelet.

“You show them [businesses] you’re actively donating, and then they actually apply the deal at checkout,” Chubak explained.

Businesses can run one online and one in-store deal at any given time, as a reward for users of Donacelet, and the deals can be switched out at any time.

Donacelet charges a flat fee of $1 for every donation and the transaction associated with credit card processing.

It’s important to note that Donacelet is a web app and cannot be purchased through the App Store or Google Play Store. While Donacelet functions as an app, it is only accessible through the website: pwa.donacelet.app.

Chubak said Donacelet’s a good outlet for companies to offer deals and attract customers, while fulfilling their corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is the idea of not operating solely for profit but in a way that benefits society as a whole.

“I find that it’s a much deeper emotional connection when it’s your personal donation to your personal charity, and then the business gives you the deal,” said Chubak. “[App users] can see what companies are willing to support people who support charitable causes.”

Any businesses looking to partner with Donacelet can email partnerships@donacelet.org and express their interest. There is a monthly fee associated with being listed as a brand on Donacelet, but businesses that sign up with the code “Orangeville330” get three months free and 30 per cent off forever, as long as they remain signed up.

To sign up as a user on Donacelet, visit pwa.donacelet.app and select “customer.”

Donacelet can be found on social media at @donacelet.

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