Mockup: sample numbers, no real payments

I beg
your what?

Yes. I beg 4 bucks.

You've said it too: "man, if a million people would all just give me $1." So I'm trying it, as a performance art project. Yes, all of it goes to me.

I truly believe that people who give have a visually different aura. I want to catch it: one still frame of your face, taken when you're willing to give someone a dollar for no reason. Every frame joins the others in one video, face after face after face.

Send a dollar. Send your face. I'm asking for two things: one dollar, and one picture of you.

There's one rule. Give only if you'd give the dollar even if there were no art project attached. The project is meant to catch people who'd give anyway. If the picture is the only reason you'd give, I'm truly grateful for the thought. This one is meant for the people who'd give anyway, and you're always welcome to just watch.

And if you'd like to give a little extra to back my future crackpot ideas, that's very welcome, and I'm extraordinarily thankful.

One buck. That's the whole ask. Tap the coin to give, or see how it's going.

Artist statement

Do people still say yes?

I'm Alex Jay. I lost a well-paying job, and since then I've taken whatever work a staffing agency sends my way. I want to go back to school, but I can't afford to stop working, and I no longer qualify for financial aid. I'm going back anyway. I just need a way to get there.

That's the practical part. The real question is bigger. I keep hearing that nobody cares, that nobody sends a stranger anything for nothing. I don't believe it. I think most people are generous when it costs one dollar and takes ten seconds. So I'm going to find out.

A million strangers. One dollar each. One face each.

The dollars are how it starts. The faces are the work. Every face that gives becomes a frame in one video of everyone who said yes, and when the project reaches one million people I'll put the finished video and collage on this site and on YouTube, free for anyone to watch and download.

I know how this sounds. People around me call my ideas crazy, and most of my other ideas were worse than this one. But I've always believed that if you want something badly enough, you figure out a way. The people who do things and the people who don't are separated by one thing: the first group tried. I'm already flat on my face, so I might as well try something big.

If you want to be part of it, send any amount along with a profile picture. It becomes a still frame in a video of everyone who gave, with the first one out at 100 faces and updated every week after, and when it reaches one million, the finished video goes on this site and on YouTube, free to download. A million dollars is just a number. A million faces is the work.

How the video works, and where the money goes

Alex Jay

Alex Jay tipping a cap and grinning in a bar
Face #0
Alex Jay holding a work glove, smiling, in a garden bed
Alex Jay in a hi-vis shirt and hard hat on a construction site
Alex Jay squinting at the camera in safety glasses

People, not dollars.

1,247 of 1,000,000 people

1,000,000

people I need to each send one buck.

~67¢

what I actually keep from each $1 after card fees. Yes, really. And taxes come out of that too.

~$670k

what a million bucks turns into after card fees, before taxes. I'll still take it.

Quick tip: card fees are mostly a flat 30¢, so a bigger gift keeps more. Of $1 I keep about 67¢ (67%). Of $3 I keep about $2.61 (87%). Of $5, about $4.55 (91%). The buck is still the ask. $3 just gets more of it to me.

And taxes: money you give me is income to me, so I owe tax on it. It isn't a tax-deductible donation for you, either. So of each dollar, what I really get to spend is less than the 67¢ left after card fees.

How to take your portrait

A standard portrait, nothing fancy. Make any face you like: a big smile, a straight face, something ridiculous. Just get these right:

  • Look straight ahead. Eyes into the camera lens, head level, face in the middle.
  • Good light. Face a window or a lamp. Don't stand with the light behind you, and avoid harsh shadows.
  • The right distance. Head and shoulders, about an arm's length away, with your face filling about half the frame.
  • Face clear. No sunglasses, no hat over your eyes, nothing covering your face.
  • Just you. One person only. Photos are shown as circles, so keep your face centered.

I may decide not to use a photo that doesn't meet these standards, and I won't contact you if I don't.

Opens Stripe's secure payment page.

All the faces of those who give.

One video. The first one comes out when we hit 100 faces, then it's updated every Sunday with everyone who has given so far. Each profile picture is one still frame, flashed one after another. When the project reaches one million people, the finished video will be uploaded to this site and to YouTube, free for anyone to watch and download. Until the first real cut is up, this plays sample frames.

All the faces of those who give

The believers.

Everyone who sent a buck, numbered in order, staying up for good. Sample names shown.

1,247 believers so far.

A million faces.

Every profile picture becomes a still frame in one video that flashes every face that gave, and a tile in this collage. When the project reaches one million people, both go on this site and on YouTube, free to download. Sample circles shown.

Write to me.

Questions, a photo you want taken down, or just hello. I read every message. Leave an email only if you'd like a reply.