Is Omaze legit? fundraising platform explained

OMAZE is a fundraising company which aims to  give away spectacular prizes while generating a profit for itself, as well as raising money for charity.

Here we take a look at whether Omaze is legit.

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What is Omaze?

Omaze runs sweepstakes in an effort to raise money for charities while offering amazing prizes for users and turning a profit for itself.

The more money customers fork over, the more entries they receive into their sweepstakes — there is also a ‘no purchase necessary’ option.

The concept of the business is that it rewards users for giving more money to charity than they otherwise might by offering the chance of winning prizes.

Omaze boasts that its business model is superior to traditional prize auctioning because more people can enter at a lower cost, which raises more money for charity.

As Omaze puts it: “A smaller percentage of a larger amount is more impactful than a bigger percentage of a smaller amount.

“And as Omaze experiences come at no-cost and no risk to the nonprofits, your donations make a big difference for organisations around the world.”

When was Omaze created?

Omaze was founded by Ryan Cummins and Matthew Pohlson in July 2012.

They were coming home from an exclusive charity fundraising auction where the top bid of $15,000 won court side tickets to watch a basketball game featuring their hero Magic Johnson.

According to the Omaze website, two things occurred to them: “Why should these amazing experiences only go to the highest bidder? And how could such an epic prize only raise $15,000 for charity?

“Imagine if we made these opportunities available online and gave everyone the chance to win.

“It would mean many more people could participate, and a lot more money would be raised for charity.”

They ran with the idea and before long Omaze was born.

Omaze was launched in the UK in 2020 and has raised over £25,000,000 for some of the biggest and best-loved British charities, including NHS Charities Together, the RNLI, Teenage Cancer Trust, The Prince’s Trust, British Heart Foundation, GOSH charity, the RSPCA and the NSPCC.

And at the same time Omaze has made their grand prize winners multi-millionaires.

Becca Pott from Leyton paid £25 to enter the Ascot House Draw — now she’s the owner of an incredible £3,500,000 house just an hour from London.

Becca said: “It’s completely mind-blowing. You do feel like you’re in a dream… whatever we decide to do now, we’re pretty much set for life”.

And Heekyoung Jin from London entered the Wimbledon House Draw to support GOSH Charity after her son was treated at the hospital when he was just three months old. She now owns a house in Wimbledon worth over £3,500,000.

Heekyoung said: “It’s surreal! I can’t believe it could happen to us. We’re super excited for our family’s future. It’s life-changing!”

Although Omaze does give money to charity since it is a for-profit business, it also takes a proportion of users’ payments for itself.

In the US the breakdown differs depending on the sweepstakes type.

For celebrity prizes 60 per cent of the donation goes to the charity, 25 per cent covers the experience costs and 15 per cent goes to Omaze. 

For other sweepstakes 15 per cent goes to charity, 65-75 per cent pays for the prize and the rest goes to Omaze.

In the UK the charity is now operating under a new model.

An Omaze spokesperson said: “Omaze has already begun offering Omaze Million Pound House Draws every single month – rising from six per year previously – meaning Omaze customers now get double the opportunities to win life-changing prizes – and the company can raise more money for more charity partners.

“As of November this year, Omaze also introduced a tenfold increase in the guaranteed minimum donation amount that its charity partners receive from each draw, rising from £100,000 previously to £1 million. That’s a guaranteed minimum of £1 million, at no risk or cost to the charity. 

“This increased guarantee is the result of the company’s updated donation model which now gives Omaze’s charity partners a guaranteed 17 per cent of ticket sales from each draw, irrespective of costs, instead of the previous arrangement where its partners received a share of the surplus proceeds of each draw (post VAT, prizes and marketing costs).

“The new arrangement not only means charities will now receive £1 million guaranteed, but that the target raise for each draw is also expected to be significantly more than previous draws.

“Under this new model Omaze is forecasting that in 2024 alone, it will raise more for charities than it has raised in the previous four years combined.”

Is Omaze a legitimate website?

Yes, the Omaze website is legit.

It both gives out massive prizes and raises money for charity, as it promises.

That said, although you have a better chance of winning an Omaze prize than the National Lottery jackpot, the odds are still pretty slim.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk