Charities Can Now Get Dot-NGO and Dot-ONG Web Addresses

By Rebecca Koenig

Chronicle of Philanthropy

Registration for websites with the domainsdot-ngo and dot-ong opens to all nonprofits today, and interest is building, said Brian Cute, chief executive of Public Interest Registry, which manages web domains for nonprofits.

"We’re really pleased with the uptick we’re seeing so far," he said.

NGO stands for nongovernmental organization, while ONG is commonly used in France, Italy, and elsewhere. Mr. Cute estimates the domains will cost around $50 a year, which is the price on 101Domain.com. UnitedDomains.com is selling them for $59.

Hundreds of nonprofits already claimed new territory during two limited-registration periods. The first, which started March 17, allowed nonprofits that had registered phrases with the Trademark Clearinghouse, a database intended to protect organizations’ intellectual property, to apply for domain names that matched their trademarks. During the second, organizations were able to submit "expressions of interest" to get early access to their preferred web addresses.

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