CRE ATED BY FASTCO WORKS CONTENT STUDIO AND COMMISSIONED BYTHIS ONLINE PLATFORM MAKES IT EASY TO WIN THE EXPERIENCE OF YOUR DREAMS
The first thing you see when
you walk into Omaze is a
wall of employees’ childhood
photos. The photos act as a
reminder to employees of the Los
Angeles-based company, which raises
money for charity by offering chances
to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
“When you’re a kid, you use your
imagination to think about what’s
possible, to dream big without lim-
its,” explains co-founder and CEO
Matt Pohlson. “The photos remind
us all to bring our inner child to work
every day.”
“Dream the world better” is the core
of the Omaze vision. The company
br ings t hat v ision to life in t wo ways.
First, it does so t h rough t he cha nce
to w in incred ible ex per iences, li ke
a walk-on role in Star Wars or PopeFrancis handing over the keys to a brand-new Lamborghini, and second, through
the nonprofits that Omaze supports.
The vision started when Omaze’s co-founders, Matt Pohlson and Ryan Cum-
mins, found themselves at an auction for the Boys & Girls Club of America. The
high-ticket item was a chance to play basketball with Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr.,
their childhood hero, but they were quickly outbid. Disappointed, they thought,
“What if this opportunity was accessible online to all Magic fans around the
world, and everyone had the chance to win?” Since then, Omaze’s platform has
raised $130 million to support the work of more than 350 charities around the
world. Now, the company has been named to Fast Company’s 2020 Most Innova-
tive Companies list.THE DREAM TEAM
Omaze is methodical about making dreams come true. Whether it's lunch with
Amal and George Clooney on Lake Como, a customized Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
Van, or the chance to sit with Jon Stewart under Stephen Colbert’s desk, each
ex per ience is r igorously resea rched a nd vet ted before being of fered on t he website.
Then, Omaze’s marketing, partnerships, content, product, tech, customer service,
and fulfilment teams bring more than 200 unique experiences to life annually.
Omaze’s culture is defined by five core virtues. “Values are beliefs; virtues are
actions,” Pohlson says. Directives like “maximize your ripple effect” and “practice
optimism” guide employees’ work and help cultivate an envi-
ron ment t hat encou ra ges t he tea m to push bou nda r ies.A GLOBAL RIPPLE EFFECT
The Omaze team is now working on new offerings, such as
one-of-a-kind electric cars and million-dollar homes. The goal
is to maximize impact and connect individuals to that impact
in tangible ways.
In 2019, Omaze raised $25 million for causes, including $1
million to fund a community hub in PATH’s downtown Los
Angeles facility, and enough to build a solar water farm in
Kenya that will provide clean water for up to 35,000 people a
day. The team envisions Omaze-branded schools, soccer fields
in underserved areas, optimism centers, and more, where
donors will see their names on the bricks and feel a deeper rela-
tionship to the causes.
The team is working to make Omaze the first for-profit com-
pany to give $1 billion to charity in a single year. “We want to
maximize our ripple effect by providing both funds and opti-
mism at scale,” Pohlson says. “Optimism is a superpower that
can make the impossible possible.”The Company
That’s Dreaming the
Wo r l d B e t t e r
OMAZE’S
ENTRYWAY
FEATURES
employees’
childhood photos,
reminding them
to dream big.