New charity domain name in the pipeline

IT | Kirsty Weakley | 18 Jun 2012

The Public Interest Registry has applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers for permission to establish the .ngo domain name for charities and non-profit organisations around the world.

The not-for-profit organisation already manages the .org domain and has also applied for .ong, which is the equivalent acronym in other European languages. If approved the new domain names will be available from 2013.

Brian Cute, chief executive of PIR, said: “The ‘NGO’ term holds great weight globally and sets these organisations apart from commercial or governmental entities.”

Almost ten million users have a .org domain name and PIR hopes that by acquiring .ngo and .ong it will be able to expand.

Cute added: “The decision to invest in this community was a natural one. We don’t want to be viewed simply as a domain registry, but instead as a trusted and valuable partner to the NGO community – one that can empower organisations to reach their full potential.”

Osama Manzar, founder and director of Indian non-profit the Digital Empowerment Foundation, said: “The .ngo or .ong stamp at the end of a web address will, in essence, provide instant credibility for legitimate organisations hoping to introduce or expand their online presences.”

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (iCann) has received 1,930 applications for new domain names since it asked for applications last month and there will now be a seven-month period while it judges the applications.

The most applied-for name is .app which has 13 organisations applying for ownership. Google and Amazon have made the most applications for different dotcom suffixes with more than 100 each.

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