Welcome to our next method profile about Omaze! Our previous entry focused on using framing in social enterprise. In operating any venture, everything flows from your approach, and identifying a proper method helps you effectively fulfill your team’s initiative.
Together, we’ll be profiling interesting social enterprises to discuss an anchor method in their strive for social good. The term “anchor method” is to express the intentional and grounded nature of the approaches propelling a social enterprise forward.
This post is an outside observation of a company for inspiration in social enterprise initiative improvements.
In today’s post, we’ll look into online auction-giving platform Omaze leveraging a growth mindset. The online platform auctions dream experiences and dream prizes to gather support for charities.
Knowing the Company
Omaze was inspired by co-founders Matt and Ryan missing out on an opportunity of a dream experience with their dream celebrity.
The duo participated in an auction-giving event, but did not have enough money to beat out the competition.
They wanted to give everyone a chance to participate in auctions for awesome experiences. Their online platform, Omaze, came to life for this purpose with social good at the core. Working with Charities Aid Foundation America (CAFA), donations raised through Omaze have domestic and international reach. Auction-giving from over 180 countries supported over 350 charities thanks to Omaze.
Prizes include travel, entertainment, cars, and much more. Participants can win a range of experiences, even playing football with their dream team in their backyard. The incentive becomes the participant’s catalyst to give more.
This system benefits the amount of giving for charities. One testimonial expresses that using Omaze led to 2-40x the funds they typically make through traditional fundraising like galas.
Impact and a Dream Team
Supporting charities is the main focus, but Omaze sees a wider vision than the end goal. In between creating a lasting impact is building a strong team.
Teams are built to even out the initiative’s efforts. Rather than lacking in a few points, each point is covered by someone skilled. Omaze makes sure their team is combing all their skills for the best interest of the charities. Meaning, Omaze intentionally invests in marketing, tech, customer service, and the like for optimal service.
Prioritizing the development of their team, and subsequently, how their team carries out their operations is a growth mindset. A powerful team gives a chance for improved impact, which makes this sentence on the Omaze site understandable:
“In order to maximize impact for the causes we support, we provide a full suite of turnkey services focused on storytelling and removing the friction from fundraising.”
More Than One Road to Impact
If you listen to People Helping People podcast, you may remember our episode on changing the narrative around being impact driven with Trudi Lebron. Often times nonprofits are focused on staying afloat or using all their money in one go instead of reinvesting into their initiative. In such a case, the impact is limited by the mindset. Trudi Lebron helped unpack this narrative, saying:
“It’s like the standard ways of being to be in a nonprofit where there’s never enough money. We’re taught that you don’t do this work because you’re in it for the money, you do it because of the love, and you do it because of your commitment. You’re not in control of the money because you have to ask for it and prove your worth and all of these things; and then this other piece that you have to spend it all, which is very unique in nonprofits.”
–Trudi Lebron
Omaze is perfectly fine with letting everyone know that they care about expansion. They care about expanding their impact. Omaze communicates this clearly on their website:
“Our for-profit model enables us to expand our marketing services far beyond what’s usually done in the nonprofit space, and therefore increase the total dollars raised for our partners. That’s why we look at charities and their funds a little differently—we maximize the total amount raised, not just the percentage that goes to the organization. And how do we amplify the raise? By investing money in services that will expand the reach of the campaign, and therefore the number of donors.”
They solidify their point with a bold text underneath this paragraph that says “We believe in impact over percentages.” A graphic accompanies this statement, which really hits a home run. The illustration reveals the obvious-yet-not-so-obvious math behind a higher percentage of a lower amount compared to a lower percentage of a higher amount:
90% of $100,000 = $90,000
60% of $500,000 = $300,000
More access to monetary value helps Omaze to level up their impact value. Carrying out your company’s mission holds impact. Growing your capacity to impact holds impact.
Applicable Takeaway
An anchor based on a growth mindset can help develop your capacity to create impact. One beneficial experiment is to re-evaluate lacking points in your operations, and discuss which ways you could level up.
Omaze’s panoramic growth mindset completes this profile.
People Helping People is seeking methods clearly supporting an effective impact. Observations and discussions on happenings in the social enterprise community is a significant part of our contribution to social good. Continue to check-in for more conversation-starting content.