Omaze


Omaze is an online fundraising platform offering campaigns and merchandise in support of charitable causes. The company was founded by Ryan Cummins and Matthew Pohlson in July 2012, is privately owned, and is based in Los Angeles, California. The company has raised over $60 million for over 200 charities, including UNICEF, After-School All-Stars, Julia's House, Product Red, and Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Experiences

Omaze will typically launch a campaign that offers a grand prize or experience with a promotional video endorsed by a celebrity. Anyone can enter to win the grand prize for a $10 donation. Omaze also offers T-shirts and autographed merchandise for sale that also counts as additional entries for the grand prize.
Omaze released their first sweepstakes in July 2012, with the winner becoming a judge on Cupcake Wars and all entries supported Team Rubicon.
In December 2015, Omaze partnered with Star Wars where people donated $10 to be entered to win the opportunity to visit the closed set of . The experience raised more than $4.26 million to benefit UNICEF. The experience launch video was a 2016 Webby Award Honoree.
Omaze has offered promotional experiences endorsed by the following brands and celebrities:
Omaze is a privately owned, for-profit company which has two models to raise funds for charities. When you contribute $10 for the chance to win a celebrity experience, $6 is donated to charity, $2.50 on average goes towards marketing expenses and credit card fees, and Omaze nets the remaining $1.50. A $10 contribution for the chance to win a prize-based experience breaks down as follows: $1.50 is donated to charity; $7 typically goes to sourcing and shipping the prize, covering the winner's taxes, marketing the experience, and processing credit card fees; and $1.50 goes to Omaze. These experiences require substantially more resources to secure the prize and help spread the word.

Criticism

Omaze's business model has been criticized on the grounds that "The celebrity culture and consumerism totally overrides the issue" at hand, and that - while having been admittedly successful in raising large funds for organizations in need - it tends to "divorce" charity from its cause.