“Everyone deserves a chance to live their dream,” Devin Desjarlais, Director of Social Media for the charity donation organization Omaze, insists. “We want to offer people a real chance to win their dream experiences without having to pay the high costs of winning at auction.”

Unable to participate in a dream-come-true charity auction to have dinner with basketball Laker legend, Magic Johnson, because the bidding went to $15,000, college grad students Ryan Cummins and Matt Pohlson were inspired to create an organization that would offer these types of once-in-a-lifetime experiences where everyone, regardless of income status, had a chance to win while also benefiting charitable causes. Welcome Omaze.

With auctions based solely online and entries costing only $10.00, Cummins and Pohlson managed to not only construct an even playing field for hopeful bidders but also created a wider audience appeal; thus, generating more donations and awareness for social causes and non-profit charities. Selecting a winner is done randomly in a lottery and participators can increase their odds of winning by entering as many times as they would like, with their entries continuing to go towards the benefiting cause. Omaze receives 20 percent of the donation while the rest of the proceeds go directly to the non-profit cause.

Experiences are submitted through the Omaze website by dream-seeking individuals, and every single submission is reviewed. Although submissions are open to anything from a dream vacation to playing paintball with a team of Navy Seals, the most common dream opportunities are associated with television, movie, and music stars. Some past experiences include visiting the set and going behind the scenes of NBC television show Parks and Recreation and then having lunch with actor Adam Scott, receiving VIP access to Meet The Press during election week, and meeting Lady Gaga in Costa Rica before attending her concert. Numerous charities such as Wounded Warrior Project (serving veterans and service members who have sustained injuries or illnesses co-incident to their military service), Hilarity for Charity (benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association) and Straight But Not Narrow (an organization that prepares and encourages young straight adults to positively influence the perception of, and behavior toward, their LGBTQ peers) have all benefited from generous donations, small and large.

Thanks to Cummins and Pohlson, once unattainable dream experiences have begun to become an attainable reality, and many social causes are benefiting not only in donations but in awareness as well. Since its creation less than two years ago, Omaze has already been featured in magazines such as Rolling Stones, Forbes, and Business Insider.

Such exposure has benefited both Omaze and the charities that the organization supports. Recently, users managed to raise over $300,000 for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in hopes of winning the chance to attend the premiere of the television show Breaking Bad. As wildly popular as Breaking Bad is, it is no surprise how much buzz the campaign created for both Omaze and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The lucky winner was able to ride in an RV with the cast of Breaking Bad including stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, and Bob Odenkirk as well as the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, on the way to the final season premiere.

“The entire cast was so incredibly giving and thankful to the winner and his guest,” Omaze team member Desjarlais states. “All of our experience celebrities are always fantastic but something was different or even more magical about this experience. I was blown away by the extent that they went to make him feel comfortable amidst the craziness of a high profile premiere.” Aaron Paul, who plays the character Jesse Pinkman, even reached out to Omaze team members several days before the experience was to be fulfilled and asked for the winner Dan Marolt’s phone number. Paul then called Marolt at his hotel. Desjarlais recollects, “This is how it went down:
‘Hello?’
‘Congratulations bitch.’”
Aaron Paul uttered the now infamous words of his character. Bitch.
Awkward silence.
‘Is this Dan?’
‘Yes sir, how are you doing Aaron?’
‘Pretty good, pretty good man. Looking forward to seeing you tonight, I just wanted to call and say you’re a bitch. Take it easy.’

Click. A dream experience, indeed.

With the latest dream experience to see the Breaking Bad series finale with the cast nearing $900,000 in donations as it benefits the KIND Campaign (an organization dedicated to bringing awareness to the lasting effects of girl-on-girl “crime”), Omaze serves as a testament that appealing to the average man or woman is truly a win-win combo. By allowing users to spend what they are able to while still having a chance to win these raffles (i.e., the lucky individual who donated one entry of $10.00 and won the experience to attend the concert of and meet Sting backstage), Omaze instills the thought that nothing is out of reach. However, not matter how amazing the experiences are, the true winners are the people that benefit from the donations.