The man behind the luxury houses raffles donating millions to charity

Man behind the £10 mansions: Judge’s son, 44, from California who runs Omaze property draws in the UK ‘died’ from a heart attack, has worked with the Pope and George Clooney and wants to send people into space

• Californian Matt Pohlson co-founded Omaze, for-profit fundraising company
• He rose to fame with luxury houses giveaway in the UK costing £10 an entry 
• Matt, who keeps 20 per cent cut of earnings, is pals with the Clooneys and Bono 

You likely have never seen his face, but you’ve certainly seen the luxury houses that his charity gives away in raffles. 

Matt Pohlson, who hails from California, is the man behind Omaze, a for-profit fundraising company which has risen to fame this past year by giving away immense mansions worth millions in Devon, Cornwall and even Marbella to the winners of who have spent £10 for 15 tickets in a prize draw. 

Omaze, which employs 50 people in the UK, based in a WeWork facility in Aldwych, was created by Pohlson and his co-founder Ryan Cummings, and claims it has raised £115,000,000 for over 400 charities worldwide thanks to its various endeavours – with Omaze pocketing 20 per cent of each giveaway’s earnings.  

Matt, who thinks the traditional charity model is broken, founded the company in 2012, and he built an impressive network including Bryan Cranston, George Clooney, Jennifer Lawrence and even Pope Francis, before turning to property prize draws.

It’s not all been plain sailing for Matt, who told The Times that he survived a heart attack in 2018 where he was clinically dead for more than four minutes before doctors resuscitated him, with his mother Teri nursing him back to health afterwards.  

But four years on, Matt, who is thought to enjoy a networth of £1million and is single, has bounced back and looking to roll out similar competitions in the UK every month throughout the next year. 

Matt Pohlson, who hails from California, is the man behind Omaze, a for-profit fundraising company which has risen to fame this past year by giving away immense mansions worth millions in Devon, Cornwall and even Marbella to the winners of their £10 for 15 tickets raffles

Matt, who thinks the traditional charity model is broken, founded the company in 2012, and before he was raffling houses, he built an impressive network including Bono, Bryan Cranston, George Clooney, Jennifer Lawrence and even Pope Francis

Omaze, which employs 50 people in the UK, based in a WeWork facility in Aldwych, was created by Pohlson and his co-founder Ryan Cummings, and claims it has raised £115,000,000 for over 400 charities worldwide thanks to its various endeavours – with Omaze pocketing 20 per cent of each giveaway’s earnings

Omaze buys luxury homes before selling prize draw tickets for £10. 

Takings are then split with a charity, which gets 80 per cent while Omaze keeps a 20 per cent cut. 

The son of a judge and a fundraiser, Matt Pohlson studied at Stanford University, where he rubbed elbows with Chelsea Clinton, and went on to attend business school at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He turned to celebrity fundraising after a brief foray into acting in the 2000s.

Matt revealed he suffered a cardiac arrest in 2018 where he was clinically dead for more than four minutes before doctors resuscitated him, with his mother Teri nursing him back to health afterwards

Teri, who was in hospital with Matt, pictured in 2018, nursed him back to health and is a constant part of his life 

He got the idea for his raffling venture after attending a charity event where the LA Lakers star Magic Johnson was auctioning fans the chance to play basketball with him. 

This got the charity fundraiser thinking about what could be achieved if the auction had been on an even bigger scale.     

After a complicated start, the company managed to get Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul on board for a Breaking Bad draw in 2013, which raised £1.6million for charity. 

Fans could meet the duo and ride in the show’s RV to special screenings, and while the endeavour was a success, Pohlson admitted he had to corner Cranston at a party to convince him to take part. 

Pohlson has worked with countless celebrities for his raffles, including Jason Bourne actor Matt Damon 

Friends in high places! In 2017, Matt shared a picture of himself with future Vice President Kamala Harris 

‘We said: “Remember the beginning of your career, when you felt like everything was on the line and you would do whatever it took to make it happen. That’s where we are. We know this thing will work one day”.’

After this initial campaign, Pohlson drew on his network of celebrity to create more similar campaigns. 

He worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger on a campaign where fans could enter a draw to drive a tank with the Terminator actor. 

Another draw saw fans entering to win a wine tasting experience with Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence. 

Other celeb friends include Michelle Obama, Idris Elba, and even the Pope, with whom he organised a Lamborghini draw in 2017, where the head of the Catholic Church posed with the car in front of the Vatican. 

And before he was married to his wife Amal, George Clooney agreed to auction off a date with a fan in 2014, which eventually went to a daughter-mother duo. 

Last year, Sir Richard Branson and Omaze sent a mother and her daughter with a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trip to space aboard Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22 

Matt also organised a draw involving Pope Francis and a Lamborghini in 2017 where the man of faith received the car in front of the Vatican

The fundraiser explained that he thought celebrities were interested in partnering up with him on these campaigns because it was a good ‘return on investment.’

He said of Clooney: ‘For an hour of doing a video and a couple of hours with the winner at his house, he can net over a million dollars for his charity and drive awareness.’

Speaking of the near-death experience that almost claimed his life in 2018, Pohlson said doctors had no idea how he had survived. 

The charity fundraiser underwent a stomach operation at birth, with a piece of scar tissue breaking off 40 years later and causing a bowel obstruction that worsened and caused his heart to stop. 

After he flatlined for four minutes and a half minute, he was eventually brought back to life by his doctors. 

Matt was clinically dead for four and a half minute in 2018 after suffering a bowel obstruction and a heart attack. He was brought back to life and nursed back to him by his mother 

The fundraiser, pictured, began his career by organising charity events involving celebrities in the 2010s

‘I remember being on the other side and having a real choice: “Do I go back or do I stay?” and feeling that sense of love to muster the energy to do that.’

He went on to say he woke up to his mother encouraging him to fight to be alive.  

He said his mother Teri worked hard at nursing him back to health, strengthening their already close bond. 

The ordeal also made Matt realise his time on earth was limited and made him even more laser-focused on Omaze. 

That is how he was motivated to move from celebrities to houses, to boost funds even further. 

When the company buys a house, it pays for furnishings and stamp duty before. 

A house in Cornwall recently raised £1 million for Blood Cancer UK, with Omaze pocketing £250,000 out of the profit. 

At the moment, Pohlson said the money was injected back into Omaze, but the company is for-profit. 

He claimed that charities wouldn’t agree to buy a house to like his company does at present, due to the risky investment it represents. 

He added that being for-profit allowed Omaze to bypass the limitations that charities might have to contend with. 

Uttam Parmar, 58, (left), wife Raki, 53, and son Aaron, 26, in front of the £3million mansion in Cornwall. After winning the dream home in August for £25, Mr Parmar said: ‘I’ve now won my own piece of paradise.’ But now it is up for sale

His plans for the future include expanding to 50 countries, sending someone to space and raising more than £860 million for charity. 

However, not all of the recipients of his prizes have lived happily ever after in their new properties. 

A couple who bought a £25 lottery ticket and won a £3million Cornish mansion with estuary views and neighbours including Gordon Ramsay put it up for sale for £4million just weeks later.

Uttam Parmar, 58, from Leicestershire, won the stunning house with panoramic views of the Camel Estuary on August 12 – and put it on the market on October 8 with the hope of making a profit of £3,999,975.

The huge prize also included £50,000 for the family and the home is mortgage-free, with stamp duty and legal fees covered. 

But Mr Parmar and his wife Raki, 53, decided to cash in just eight weeks after the lottery win.

The eco-mansion is insulated with recycled newspaper and a ‘green roof’ covered in grasses, moss and flowers which reuses water, helps wildlife and improves air quality. It comes with 5.3 acres of rolling land running down to the River Camel.

The four-bedroom property was built with ‘no expense spared’ and commands views of outstanding natural beauty in the surrounding countryside and is a short distance from the picturesque village of Rock on the coast – where celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay lives with his family in his £4.4million mansion across the Camel Estuary from Padstow.

But it appears that Mr Parmar will not be swapping Leicestershire for Cornwall – not even keeping the property as a holiday home. Instead, he will sell the house and take the cash because he can’t afford the upkeep.        

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Parmar said of his prize property: ‘It is a fantastic house in a beautiful Cornish location but the price of it comes with a price to keep it and we can’t afford to. We are selling it and not keeping it as a holiday home.

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