Public Interest Registry, the not-for-profit operator of the .ORG domain, today announced that it is accepting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from organizations that wish to obtain a domain ending in .NGO or .ONG. Interested parties who submit an EOI online will receive alerts and updates on the status and registration process of .NGO/.ONG domains when they become available in 2014.

There is no fee to submit an EOI to Public Interest Registry as it is non-binding. More benefits of submitting an EOI include:

• Email updates on developing information regarding all launch processes by the authoritative operator of the .NGO/.ONG domain extension.
• An alert service containing relevant and important data pertaining to the registration process of .NGO/.ONG, such as how to register for the Trademark Clearinghouse and requirements for participation in early registration.
• Exclusive news on any offers from authorized companies handling the registration of .NGO/.ONG at launch time.

Public Interest Registry’s application to be the operator of the .NGO and .ONG domains with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is currently under evaluation as part of ICANN’s program for new top level domains (TLDs). ICANN will set forth rules and guidelines, as well as a launch sequence, which dictates who (such as trademark owners, early adopters, and the general public) can register a domain name during a predefined launch phase. In the interim, Public Interest Registry’s open call for EOIs is intended to serve as an informational resource for interested parties and is the first of many steps that the registry is taking to prepare for the domains’ upcoming launch.

As the current and long-standing operator of the .ORG domain—which is home to more than 10 million registrations worldwide, Public Interest Registry is committed to serving the interests of the non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO) community by providing an exclusive domain extension for NGOs looking for immediate recognition online and broader opportunities for public engagement, funding and partnerships. “For more than a decade, we’ve worked to ensure that the global non-profit and NGO community feels their online needs are being supported and that users feel they are connecting with organizations they can trust,” said Brian Cute, CEO of Public Interest Registry, “At the same time, it’s humbling to know that we also have the support of members from this community who will continue looking to us when the new top-level domain names become available.”

One such supporter is the DKRS Group, a New Dehli-based NGO that aims to improve the social, economic and education levels of various under-served communities across India. The organization was the first to submit an EOI to Public Interest Registry. According to DKRS Group spokesman Rahul Malik, “The .NGO domain will help us instill faith in our organization amongst the online community because people will know that we’ve been verified by a credible organization.”

For more information on Public Interest Registry’s pursuit of .NGO and .ONG or to submit an Expression of Interest, please visit: www.ngotld.org.