The new .ngo domain name, which is only open to not-for-profit organisations, is now available to charities.

To register, charities need to pay a flat fee of £29.99 per annum which buys the domain name plus a listing on the Public Interest Registry (PIR) which already runs the .org domain name.

Once a charity has registered its .ngo domain name, they will also receive an .ong domain name for free. The .ong suffix is the equivalent of .ngo in several European countries.

The PIR hope that the .ngo domain name will help donors differentiate between legitimate charities and online scams. The .ngo domain will only be available to “legitimate non-governmental organisations, so this domain isn’t available to just anyone to register”.

Digital donors will also be able to use organisations’ .ngo domains to donate money digitally to causes. PIR will not be handling donations but connecting the charity and the individuals.

Global reach of .ngo

The directory will be searchable by keywords, missions and locations. Only organisations that meet PIR eligibility criteria, will be able to use the .ngo domain.

Ulrich Retzlaff, PIR’s director of channel management, said in a statement last year that: “The .ngo domain will be an exclusive space – organisations will only get that domain name if they really are a not-for-profit.”

Retzlaff also said that the new system would be a way for members of the .ngo community to flag others as not deserving of their status so that “validation can be revoked”.

PIR says there are 12 million eligible organisations around the world, and over 600,000 in the United Kingdom.