Carl Hopkins, who appeared on Channel 4's Secret Millionaire series this week, said people could use JumbleAID to buy reused or recycled items and see their money donated to any UK registered charity of their choice.

The 43-year-old millionaire is part of a six-strong team behind the website, which is based on a model similar to eBay.

The other backers are Ajaz Ahmed and Rob Wilmot, the co-founders of Internet service provider Freeserve; Nadio Granata, a marketing lecturer at Huddersfield University; and Simon Pailin and Colin Feeley who worked on the initial concept.

The site was due to be launched this spring but was delayed as the creators searched for the right software to link the payment system to the many thousands of charities in Britain.

Mr Hopkins said the Charities Aid Foundation was able to provide a solution which could access the individual charities and minimise the costs of moving money around.

The team is currently working to ensure that any last-minute glitches are removed from the website.

He said charities are already on board to help with the launch; they are: Breakthrough Breast Cancer, World Vision, Laura Crane Trust, and Barnardo's. HSBC is also assisting the company, he added. JumbleAID will try to maximise the use of Gift Aid, a tax relief on money donated to UK charities.

"It is a vehicle for raising money for UK registered charities and community groups," said Mr Hopkins, who is the former chairman of Leeds-based marketing agency the JDA Group.

"It's an eBay model but all the money goes to charities. As a business, JumbleAID does not touch any of the money.

"People put on their items that need to be reused or recycled and that have second or third life value.

"A person can go to JumbleAID and find things they are looking for. You know there are always going to be bargains. You put down how much you are willing to pledge and the person who owns the item can decide which pledge to accept."

He added: "We are still testing the final site. It is very close now. We have to work out any bugs."

Mr Hopkins, who lives in Brighouse, near Halifax, said a six-figure sum had been invested in JumbleAID. He said Simon Pailin had the original idea for the venture, which he shared with Colin Feeley. The pair operated a little business above Simon's garage which was "full of stuff", explained Mr Hopkins, who said the idea of JumbleAID came from the desire to clean out the garage.

The pair got in touch with Mr Granata who introduced them to Mr Ahmed and Mr Wilmot, the Freeserve founders.

"I knew the guy who had the original idea," said Mr Hopkins. "I came on board to help raise their profile."

For his role in Secret Millionaire, Mr Hopkins went undercover as a community warden in Easington, a town in County Durham badly hit by the closure of its colliery in the early 1990s and the setting for the film Billy Elliot.

In the programme, he found disappointment, drug abuse and blight in a once-thriving mining community but he also found hope in the Easington Colliery brass band and was so impressed with their good work that he gave them a gift after they lost their sponsor.

The area is a nice place to live, he said, and is on the upswing. "I hope the programme raised awareness of it."

Businesses and property developers are now beginning to come the area, he said, and new roads had made it able for people to commute to Hartlepool or Sunderland.

He added: "Having come back, it made me more passionate about JumbleAID because we will raise money for groups such as those I spent time with. Before I spent all my time worried about shareholder value. Now I am in a position where maybe I can help the communities in which businesses prosper."

He added: "Maybe businesses should align themselves more closely with communities."


Carl Hopkins' route to top

Carl Hopkins grew up on a tough council estate in Armley, Leeds.

He joined marketing firm Judith Donovan Associates from art school as a general designer.

The firm grew and he rose to director level in the early 1990s.

He led a management buyout in 1999 and became managing director.

The company acquired Blueprint, an agency in Warrington, in 2003.

Carl became chairman in 2005 and began work on an exit strategy.

In 2007, the JDA Group, as it became known, was merged into The Direct Marketing Group.

Last year, he created Kloog, a business consultancy.