New domain name suffix .ngo provides excellent options for nonprofits

Exciting news for nonprofits sees the option in 2015 to reserve a domain name ending with a .ngo suffix. Among the many vital considerations a nonprofit faces when developing their online profile to aid with nonprofit fundraising activities is the selection of their domain name. The reality is that for name/brand association your selected domain name is of paramount importance both in terms of being indexed for search engines but also to be easily remembered by your audience both old and new.

You may remember a few years back when the url suffix options (.com, .net) began to splinter into a handful of more specific market sectors such as .biz, .gov and .info in addition to national identifiers such as .ca and .co.uk and to some extent this helped however the overriding preference of most still seems to be to try and secure a ‘dot com’ domain name. Until recently there were about twenty options available but this year sees the roll out of almost 1,000 new options for domain suffixes allowing domains to end with something as industry specific as .plumbing or .food.

What might these changes mean for nonprofits?

The news that dot ngo (.ngo) and dot ong (.ong) are now rolling out to the marketplace should provide far more chances to secure a top level domain name that is ideal for your organization. In fact I would expect that the .ngo suffix will become as widely known as the .org suffix in years to come and better yet it will have exclusive relationship to the not for profit sector. Ultimately and most importantly is the fact the the Public Interest Registry is going to manage a proper validation process so guarantee that only genuine NGOs will be afforded the new domain names. The goal being that the .ngo suffix will become a symbol of standing and credibility within the nonprofit online world. Although it may take a period of a year or two to realize that .ngo is synonmous with authentic nonprofits I feel the longer-term dividends will be great.

New domain name options in 2015 brings great opportunities for nonprofits

You’ve likely ran across the ‘dot com’ problem with availability, with more than 100 million websites ending with this suffix it becomes ever more difficult to secure the .com address that best defines your organization either by actual name or cause. That backlog has become progressively worse in recent years making it increasingly difficult for new nonprofits to secure domains that have strong relevance to their actual work or charity name. The default option for many over the last decade has been to secure a ‘dot org’ domain. Dot org essentially means organization and while many associate websites with these suffixes as a nonprofit it doesn’t exclusively have to be the case and in many cases the sites hosted under these names are not actually charities. At the heart of the matter is the fact that with the expansion of the internet and the nonprofit sector that even these domain names are now in short supply.

It’s very important that your nonprofit’s chosen domain name is going to be easy to remember and in equal measure difficult to get wrong. As you’ll be sharing your website name frequently in conversation , in person and over the phone or in print you want to make sure it’s a memorable domain name. At last targeting something short and specific will get much easier with the addition of these new domain suffixes. For long established websites making a transfer probably isn’t initially practical but it still might be valuable to register and secure these new domain variations for future use but for charities that are small, struggling to get found online or just getting started this provides a wonderful opportunity to be found under the domain name that your audience would expect to find your organization.

Registering for a .ngo domain name

You’ve got time to complete your research and determine if a full conversion to a .ngo domain is a good idea for you, or even to register a site address for future use. These new suffixes are not expected to roll out until the very end of this year or the beginning of 2015.

To find out more about these developments or to search for your new domain name visit GlobalNGO.org where you can submit a form to express interest and inquire about availability. The website explains more about the new program and clarifies eligibility requirements as well. Happy hunting!

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including PCI compliant inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions  and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.