Omaze Reviews
Omaze is a company that takes a crowdfunding approach to charity fundraising by allowing users to donate to a charity and have a chance to win various prizes and experiences.
The company states they have helped raise over 150 million dollars and support over 350 charities.
How Does Omaze Work?
Omaze offers a range of experiences and prizes in various categories such as travel, celebrity encounters, vehicles, and unique merchandise.
Participants can enter to win these prizes by purchasing entries, with a portion of the proceeds going to support charitable organizations.
Some of the causes supported by Omaze include education, health, environment, disaster relief, and social justice.
The platform operates on a sweepstakes model, where the more entries you purchase, the higher your chances of winning.
Omaze states their model democratizes traditional charity auctions by giving as many people access to their opportunities as possible, and they do this by pricing their donations to win experiences for as little as $10.
The company also offers a free entry method, allowing participants to enter without making a purchase. This ensures the sweepstakes remain fair and accessible to everyone.
Omaze emphasizes transparency in its operations, providing information about the charities they support, the percentage of funds raised for each cause, and their partnerships with nonprofit organizations.
It is also worth noting that Omaze sweepstakes are open to participants from various countries, subject to specific eligibility requirements outlined in the official rules for each sweepstakes.
Cost & Price Plans
As mentioned above, this website organizes charitable opportunities which people can win for a donation of as little as $10, but donation requirements will vary depending on the individual fundraising opportunity.
Typically a $10 donation equates to 20 entries into the prize raffle, which equates to 1 entry for every $0.50 donated. For larger donations, the proportion of entries increases and their equivalent cost decreases.
For example, a $150.00 donation nets 2000 entries, meaning 1 entry for about every 7 cents donated.
Omaze states that their company takes approximately 12-20% of the net funds collected for their operational costs, and 60% - 75% of funds ultimately end up going to the charities for which they are raising the money.
Omaze Customer Reviews
Omaze has received mixed reviews from customers.
Many users have praised the platform for its exciting prizes, user-friendly website, and commitment to supporting charitable causes.
Some winners have shared their positive experiences, confirming that they received their prizes and enjoyed once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
However, there have also been negative reviews. Some customers have reported difficulties in navigating the website and understanding the entry process.
Others have raised concerns about the legitimacy of the sweepstakes, citing a lack of transparency in the winner selection process.
Omaze receives and 'A+' rating from the BBB, with 4.31/5 stars from 130+ customer reviews.
The company received 32 customer complaints in the last 3 years and 4 complaints in the last 12 months
Competitors and Alternatives
Omaze stands out from other fundraising platforms due to its unique model, which combines charitable giving with the chance to win high-value prizes and experiences.
This approach aims to make the platform more engaging and entertaining compared to traditional crowdfunding websites or donation platforms.
However, there are other services like Prizeo and CharityStars that also offer the opportunity to win unique experiences and prizes while supporting charitable causes.
These platforms may have different prize offerings and charity partnerships, so it's a good idea to explore various options to find the best fit for your interests and the causes you care about.
Omaze Updates
Omaze's CEO, Matt Pohlson, announced that as of January 28, 2023, the company is changing its approach and will be simplifying the experiences offered by the company.
During this transitional period new experiences will not be added to Omaze.com for users in the US.
The company will still honor all US experiences already won and donations made to its charity partners, which total $160 million worldwide.
For users in the UK, Omaze's live draws can still be accessed at omaze.co.uk.
To stay updated on future experiences, users are encouraged to follow Omaze on Facebook and Instagram.
The Bottom Line
Omaze offers an engaging and unique approach to fundraising by combining charitable giving with the chance to win exciting prizes and experiences.
With a user-friendly platform and a commitment to supporting various causes, Omaze presents an interesting option for those looking to give back while also having fun.
However, potential users should be aware of mixed customer reviews and consider exploring similar services like Prizeo and CharityStars to find the platform that best suits their preferences and desired causes.
As always, it's essential to read the terms and conditions and sweepstakes rules carefully before participating.
If you have any experience with Omaze or their services, please leave your reviews below.
See Also: Does Corporate Philanthropy Really Exist?
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Omaze Customer Reviews
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Rubbish Customer Sevice
I win £10 vouchers which are rarely honoured due to issues at Omaze...no one sorts the problem out..thinking of stopping paying fee.
If it's too good to be real...It's not!
What a load of pre-staged internet flooding of half truth and PR crap.
Just one more scam to separate stupid people from their money.
All the hype has been created by their own people.
No customer service at all.
Entered donation. no receipt emailed to me as described. Contacted customer service through several phone and email messages.
Terrible, may not be legit.
Watch Out non US! MISLEADING!
No trust
Extremely misleading as certain countries are excluded from winning, but when you register, people from these countries are allowed to register, and the country name appears on the drop down under address. Only when you read the fine print you realise even if you did win and was allowed to register from a country excluded from winning, you are not eligible.
Feels like scam
stole credit card info
Scam
I donated for the raffle to Omaze and within a couple of hours my bank alerted me to a charge for $162 to chipotle which was not my charge. This was the only charge I made on my account before the chipotle charge. I believe someone got my # from this transaction. Then when you try to contact them there is no phone number. what the heck?!?
Stuff
fake account. Omaze is a scam.
Transparency standards of Omaze are unacceptably low for company working with charity organizations.
Transparency standards of Omaze are unacceptably low for company working with charity organizations. I was not able to find any financial reports or details about past sweepstakes.
I would like to know how much they had raised and transferred to each charity after each contest. What is their profit in comparison to money transferred to actual charity? The only number we have is: “… Omaze has given over $100 million to charity!” Since the company is running for more than 6 years, it was 16.7 million per year in average. I am wondering where exactly all this money goes. And I am even more concerned since I have found “Over $100 million raised to support charity” on the other page. “Why is that so important and what is the difference between “raised” and “given”?” - you would probably ask. Let us read their official statement:
“When you contribute $10 for the chance to win a celebrity experience (set visit, dinner date, tickets to a premiere, etc.), $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 (like a car, vacation or tuition) 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.”
So, only 15% - 60% goes to actual charity. When you are in a not-for-profit sector nobody expects you to make money. Generally, we want charity to take money we made and deliver promise with as little overheads as possible. Unfortunately, this is not a strategy to get the best impact for your money. Omaze is bragging that their for-profit model enables them to expand marketing services “far beyond what’s usually done in the nonprofit space”, and therefore increase the total dollars raised for partners. Unfortunately, I have no data to prove whether it is true or not. As a financial professional I would agree with some of Dan Pallottas’s ideas. Yes, it is important to invest in your growth, but such growth should be measurable. I can not disagree that 90% of $100 000 is less than 60% of $500 000 ($90 000 vs $300 000), but 90% of $100 000 is more than 15% of $500 000 ($90 000 vs $75 000). At the same time overheads for non-profits becomes revenues if you are private for-profit organization. When you are getting fixed portion of the pie (15%) the bigger the pie - the better for you, but when you really trying to maximize benefits for charity partners it is not that easy. Due to decreasing nature of return, at some point, company would have to cut marketing spendings since they are not bringing positive return any more. It is clear conflict of interests for Omaze, and I would like to know how they are handling it.
And there is a final question for the company - what sort of business is that?
We can assume that this is some sort of marketing platform for charities, then why does it charge 60% of marketing budget ($1.50/$2.50) – that is insane. So, I would believe that Omaze is in lottery style business and using legal loopholes to run it. It looks like they need charities to make it more legit.
What they get for "advertising" is what the buy to give away, not just ads. I ran a charity to give away a motorcycle for two years running. The first bike was our own expense, but after that we used a percentage to buy another for the following year. Thats how it is still non-profit. Now, some companies out there don't spend what they say, but still work the same way. Like if I said I was going to now give away a $11 000 motorcycle this year, but only spent $8 000. They still make you think they spent the 11 000 without directly lying about it by stating something like "win this $11 000 200HP bike" so it makes you assume they spent 11 000 on it. So this is kinda my fine print I look for before donating to a sweepstake charity.
And no I'm not siding with them, I'm just shedding some light whille reading reviews seeing who they are lol.
I got your point, but Omaze is not a charity at all. This is for profit middle men.
Anton, thank you for bringing these points up. I've been donating, but feeling uneasy with the lack of transparency.
Also, if you look them up on www.charitynavigator.org there is no information because of some loophole that looks suspicious:
"FILING REQUIREMENTS: 990 - Required to file Form 990-N - Income less than $50,000 per year"
This seems to mean that they claim to make less than $50,000 in order to avoid having their financials viewable. If someone can clarify that as incorrect, I would gladly stand corrected.
With such grand amounts boasted on the site, but no financials available on charitynavigator, it has to be sketchy.
Since they clearly refer to being a for-profit model, the listing in charitynavigator must be for a previous incarnation.
But, Anton's points about that model are still very relevant.
This is so upsetting. All of the above and plus: I have written to Omaze, was just carious how transparent they lottery system is. Is it a 3rd party? no answer.... so they can pick whom ever they want...the only they they did write that after "picking" a winner they do a 10 days- 2 weeks of background check to make sure the winner qualifies. What is that mean? so you can be paying your money, lets say, they are doing a legit lottery system of some sort and they can still decide that you don't qualify (reasons?) never disclosed and you payed won but never knew you won... total scam. non profit is just used for they own gain.
Sketchy Scam
Last year they “raised” $100,000,000 for charity.
According to their website that equates to:
$666,000,000 grossed
$466,000,000 spent on ads/prizes
$100,000,000 given to charity
$100,000,000 pocketed. I mean spent on running the lottery—I mean charity.
Lord know how much more since then.
Great Job
You need to stop giving them your money and support a charity direct and buy a lotto ticket . This is a con you will never win x am so sorry to say . Or this is a false review then I am right it's a con .
Legitimacy
The greater good
Omaze: Good idea but must be transparent
I agree with the transparency. Even if I don't win, I think an email should go out afterwards congratulating the winner, who has the right to stay anonymous but it would be cool if it were like from say, 'Tuscon, AZ' or some such.
More importantly, I'd like that email to say something to the effect of 'this campaign raised $X' towards this charity so that everyone is getting an after-action report.
And if Omaze doesn't want to be responsible for fulfillment of say a tshirt, then perhaps provide a code for a 'free shirt' to the donor for use in an online store, wherever the shirt is coming from, so you have power to submit your shirt request and get it sent.
Horrible scam
Omaze.com was started by two ridiculous guys who have never worked in their lives.
They are abetted by “stars” to get you to contribute to charity like
Autism Speaks or Veterans organizations by promising stuff like “George Clooney gives you compliments for 45 seconds” or “win a Valentine’s Date with Idris Elba" ($750000 raised..) HOWEVER these two twerps keep 20% of the donations! So they kept $150,000 for just the one Idris Elba deal!
Now they are doing Jon Stewart’s, Colbert’s, Seth Meyer’s “Night of Too many Stars” for autism. You can sit under Colbert’s desk, sit with Seth and writers for a meeting then 20% goes AGAIN to these twerps! So if $4 million raised, they keep $800,000 for one night! It should go to autistic adults NOT these jerks of Omaze!
These awful celebrities worth tens of millions of dollars should say up front that Omaze keeps 20% BUT THEY NEVER DO!
They are upfront about the amount. All fundraising organizations take a percent for overhead, some as high as 40%. If you spent a full time job prepping events, maintaining online face, and even paying employees to help, you would understand it’s not feasible to give 100%.
I agree with Holly everything takes work. At least you know the money that you want to send is going to an actual charity and not some internet scam artist that may or may not run away with let's say your iPhone!
They have operating costs, you knucklehead. Do you work for free?
If Omaze was a total scam, couldn't the celebrities they use for photos sue Omaze?
Most charities keep over %90 for profit, so %20 doesn't seem that bad at all tbh.
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong?language=en
Wow - i think that is one of the most eye-opening, informative Ted talks I've seen. Thank you for sharing
Is there any way to prove that these opportunities have been paid out? Anyone win any of these and can provide insight? Thanks!
They have never said it was a non profit organisation. In one way I see your point however 600,000 was given to charity and they kept 150,000. Your looking at the 150,000 as a negative but not looking at the 600,000 as a positive. If it was the other way around then they need shutting down . Seems to me is sour grapes you didnt come up with the idea first