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Omaze winner Harry C. and Robert Downey Jr. at the Avengers premiere
Have you ever dreamed about blowing things up with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Or walking arm-in-arm with George Clooney to a red carpet premiere? Ryan Cummins and Matt Pohlson have developed a way to make these dreams a reality in the most philanthropic way possible.
The duo are the co-founders of Omaze, a raffle-style charitable giving platform that has brought together LA’s entertainment, startup, and nonprofit industries.
Launched in 2012, the idea spawned from a charity auction at which Cummins and Pohlson both lost out on court side tickets to a Lakers game with Magic Johnson. The highest bid landed at $15,000, a number they didn’t feel reflected the excitement and potential in the room.
“That was the lightbulb moment for them,” said Omaze’s Anna Silverman. “They thought about converting the auction model to a raffle model that would not only democratize the opportunity to participate in the experience but also dramatically increase the potential dollars raised for the cause.”
For the first year, the company started slowly as they experimented with different approaches to marketing the idea. But it was AMC’s Breaking Bad that helped set Omaze over the top. They offered a viewing experience with Aaron Paul for the show’s final episode and raised $1.7 million for charity, making them a known name in both the entertainment and philanthropic worlds.
Since then the site has worked with over 100 charities, opened a new Culver City office, and has added 42 employees in the past year. And they're still hiring. Their experiences have ranged from meeting the cast of It’s Always Sunny, to karaoke with the stars of Pitch Perfect, to their newest frontier— a guest role in the new Star Trek movie.
Unlike its philanthropic partners, Omaze is not taking the nonprofit route. After covering the costs for producing the experience, Omaze delivers 80% of the net proceeds to charity and retains the remaining 20%. The financial model has peaked investors interests, as shown by the company’s $9 million Series A round last week.
The funding will reportedly be used to strengthen their engineering and technology infrastructure by building out recommendation engines, enhancing their mobile experience, and updating their data analytics.
Omaze’s long term vision is to grow a cause marketplace by creating an affiliate model that will allow any nonprofit, school, or church to sell entries towards an experience like seeing the final taping of the Daily Show — a slight upgrade from selling candy bars or giftwrap.
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