The Public Interest Registry (PIR) which operates the .Org domain name extension, is launching .NGO and .ONG today into general availability for Non-profit, non governmental organizations.
The new gTLD domain name extension go live at 8pm EST tonight to be registered on a first come, first served basis.
I had a chance to chat with Dave Stewart VP, Sales and Marketing of PIR about these two new extensions.
.NGO and .ONG are being sold together meaning you get both extensions for one price., which is just under $50 at 101domain.com
However do not confuse .ngo and .ong with .Org which is an extension open to all (and has around 10.5 million domain names registered)
.NGO and .ONG are only for non-profit, non-governmental organizations.
PIR says they have identified at least 4 million of these but there are many more.
PIR worked with the NGO community for over 3 years and they incorporated the NGO community’s concerns and suggestions on how they wanted .NGO and .ONG to be a secure, validated space for nonprofits and PIR has come up with a really impressive offering one of the best uses I have seen for a new gTLD.
The way it works it you go to your registrar of choice and register a domain on a first come, first serve basis.
There are only 22 domain name registrars taking .NGO/.ONG registrations as of today but the registry will be on-boarding new Registrars ongoing. For a complete list of registrars you can register a .ngo/.ong domain name with you can click here.
Some generic terms will be available on a premium priced registration rate which will carry a renewal rate of 50% of the registration rate while the best generic terms are being reserved by the registry to make sure they go to organizations that can do the most good with them.
You must be an existing organization with non-profit status as granted by the jurisdiction the organization is located.
In the United States you will need to have a articles of incorporation for a nonprofit company filed and a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) granting you the 501-c-3 status.
The organization cannot be affiliated with any Governmental body.
So when someone registers a .ngo/.ong domain name the registrant will have to self certify that they met the requirements to own a .ngo/.ong domain.
After a successful registration, the registry will send a link to the registrant and give them instructions on how to send the supporting materials into the registry.
While the registrant can send in the supporting documents into the registry at any time during the 12 month registration period, the domain will not resolve until the registrant sends the required material to the registry and its approved.
Domain names that are not validated through the registry will not auto renew.
Now here is the really interesting part.
With a domain registration, you also get a community profile page from a new PIR product On Good,
The profile page will not only list all the information about your non-profit but also give you the opportunity to have people donate to your organization through Ammado which is already according to its site, processing transaction for over 1.6 million nonprofits Worldwide.
So while nonprofits can built out their own sites on a .ngo or .ong, for those without the technical expertise or funding to get a website done, they can just use the community profile page and start raising funds and make people aware of their nonprofit.
If you’re wondering why .ngo is being bundled with .ong, its because while .NGO is recognized in many countries including the United States, that term translates into .ONG in some languages including; French, Latin, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Through the Sunrise period, there are 0ver 800 registrations for .NGO and .ONG (419 each to be exact) including some of the most respected and well known nonprofits in the world including Goodwill, National Geographic, YMCA, The Nelson Mandela Foundation, the WWF, and Greenpeace to name a few.
You can watch a video, on .the mission of .NGO and .ONG as well as examples of what the community page will looks like and how it can be used by nonprofits worldwide by clicking here