About The Generous Alphabet Project
The idea is simple. You purchase a letter of the alphabet above for €22,000 and it will be linked to a website of your choice. I give half of the money to help others doing worthy work, and use the other half to fund my own photographic projects, including this website.
Every time someone buys a letter, the cost of the remaining letters increases by €2,000. For example: The first letter to be purchased costs €22,000, the second €24,000, the third €26,000, and so on. This encourages the early purchase of a letter and increases the amount of money distributed among the worthy organizations over time.
The earlier you buy a letter, the most cost-effective your promotion will be as your letter will be most visible—a big blue capital Beacon in a sea of lowercase gray—and will cost you less at the same time.
If you can't afford to buy a letter but know someone who can, you will get €1000 for referring them.
EXTRA! NEW! ATTENTION!
To encourage the sale of the first letter, we are giving €4000 to the referrer of the first Generous Alphabet letter to be purchased.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What would owning a Generous Alphabet letter do for me?
- How will GenerousAlphabet.org become famous?
- Who will you give half of the money to and why?
- How will half the money be given to the organizations?
- What are you going to do with your half of the money?
- What are your photography projects?
- What inspired you to do this?
- How long will GenerousAlphabet.org stay online?
- I don't have €22,000 handy. Is there another way I can help?
- Why start with 22,000?
- Who are you?
1. What would owning a Generous Alphabet letter do for me?
Once the Generous Alphabet becomes famous one of its letters linking to your site will be worth much more than €22,000 in advertising and good karma to you. A GenerousAlphabet.org letter is a valuable piece of internet capital and owning one sends the message that you care about the internet, the world, and the freedom of man.
2. How will GenerousAlphabet.org become famous?
When one letter is purchased the publicity generated should draw many visitors to GenerousAlphabet.org. The advertising value of the site will rise, and more letters should be quickly sold.
Open letters to people we think might be interested in purchasing a letter will be regularly published in the journal, and we will do our best to promote GenerousAlphabet.org by other, always virtuous, means.
Most importantly, this all depends on you, dear visitor. Tell a friend! Refer a millionaire! Give GenerousAlphabet.org some link love!
3. Who will you give half of the money to and why?
When you purchase a letter of the Generous Alphabet, one half of the money will be distributed to the following organizations:
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Free Software Foundation
- Internet Archive
- November Eleven
- One Laptop Per Child Project
- Wikileaks
I believe that three great problems in the world are a lack of education, a lack communication, and national borders. The organizations above are helping to overcome these problems. Being able to work full-time on my photography projects while helping them at the same time would make me very happy indeed!
4. How will half the money be given to these organizations?
As soon as the money for a purchased letter is in my account, one half of the sum will be distributed evenly among the organizations by direct bank transfer or the fastest possible means.
I will document the transfer process in the journal and will contact and request each of the above organizations to confirm that they have received their share.
5. What are you going to do with your half of the money?
I will certainly use my half to:
- Pay for food and travel,
- Pursue my own photography projects including GenerousAlphabet.org,
- Bring my brother along in one of my voyages,
- Help Amber complete and publish her book,
- Help friends in need.
6. What are your photography projects?
Currently I am working on Libero Pensiero, an ongoing project about religion and free thinking. Other projects will be listed here as they emerge. Update: I won 1st prize in the Fotografia Estemporanea Lago Di Bracciano event in June 2008.
I also take photographs 'just' for fun, as a way to see, to be aware and to play. Photography stimulates my curiosity about the world around me. It helps me to appreciate life and to keep asking questions.
7. What inspired you to do this?
My desire to travel and to photograph. The need of money to live while traveling and photographing. A wish to do work I believe in and to help people whose work I believe in.
I knew about the Million Dollar Homepage, and when I read about The Big Word Project at John Gruber's wonderful website, the Generous Alphabet idea followed.
8. How long will GenerousAlphabet.org stay online?
As close to forever as possible.
I have a lifetime hosting account with Joyent.com, and will secure the domain names registered through Gandi.net for the next five years once one letter is purchased and for the next ten years once a second letter is purchased.
This site is designed with web standards, and is consequently as future-proof as possible. I will keep it so, and will make arrangements with friends to make sure the site stays online in the event I am run over by a bus, get tasered, am struck by meteor, or fall as a result to any other mishap.
9. I don't have €22,000 handy. Is there another way I can help?
You can spread the word about the Generous Alphabet Project and put links to GenerousAlphabet.org in your website or social network pages.
Do you know someone who might be interested in purchasing a letter? Good! Convince them to buy one, and I will give you €1000. New: In order to encourage the purchase of the first letter, we are giving €4000 to the person who convinces someone to buy the first Generous Alphabet letter.
Just make sure the purchaser tells me your name and contact details and identifies you as the referrer for their letter. Thank you!
10. Why start with 22,000?
I think 22 is a nice, friendly number. In fact, and for no particular reason, I've always thought of twenty-two as my lucky number, and consequently chose it as the starting cost for a letter. I then added a few zeros behind it to make this more interesting and worthwhile for the organizations above, for you, and for myself.
If you don't believe me and think that I may have other reasons for choosing 22, you can find plenty of material for conspiracy theories on twenty-two's Wikipedia page.
11. Who are you?
Simon Griffee, and Amber Ruth Paulen. Thank you for reading!
If you have any other questions, please get in touch.
This page was last updated on Monday, 14 July 2008.