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.Org registry names finalists for Impact Awards

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Kiva, a local chapter of The Salvation Army, and Rainforest Alliance are among this year’s finalists.

Logos of the finalists for the 2020 .Org Impact Award for Combatting Coronavirus including Molssi, The Salvation Army, Days for Girls, Heart to Heart and CFK

.Org will announce the winner of the first category, Combatting Coronavirus, on November 30. The winner of this category will get $15,000.

Public Interest Registry has named the finalists for this year’s .Org Impact Awards. The winners will be announced over a ten-day period beginning November 30.

There are five finalists for each category, including “Combatting Coronavirus,” “Promoting Education,” and “Fighting Hunger and Poverty.”

One organization will be named the .Org of the Year and pocket a $30,000 prize. The Coronavirus category winner will get $15,000, and eight other winners will each receive $5,000.

PIR says that it received over 500 submissions for the awards.

Finalists and details are online at OrgImpactAwards.org.

.Org launches new registrant rights/appeal mechanism

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.Org registrants now get multiple appeals if their domains are suspended.

Logo for .org domain, featuring a blue circle with white letters spelling ORG

Public Interest Registry (PIR), the registry for .org domain names, has unveiled a new appeals process for .org registrants who believe the registry unfairly suspended their domains.

Last year, PIR suspended about 6,500 .org domain names for violating its policies. In almost all of these cases, the suspensions were for DNS abuse, such as spam. It suspended only 11 sites for content violations such as child sexual abuse materials and distributing opioids.

.Org users could always appeal these suspensions to Public Interesting Registry. PIR has granted some of these appeals, such as when a domain name had been compromised when the DNS abuse occurred. It has also denied some of these appeals.

Now, registrants who are rebuffed by PIR on appeal will have the opportunity to then appeal to a tribunal operated by National Arbitration Forum.

Forum charges $1,200 per appeal case but PIR will subsidize the cost, so it’s only $500. Registrants will get a full refund if their appeal is successful.

PIR works with domain name registrars to contact registrants before suspending their domains. Given this advanced notice, plus the PIR appeal process, this new mechanism will likely rarely be invoked.

PIR stressed that the new mechanism does not signal any sort of increased enforcement activity on its part.

Fadi Chehadé is now co-CEO of Ethos Capital

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Former ICANN CEO is now a co-CEO of the private equity firm that tried to buy .org.

Former ICANn CEO Fadi Chehadé

Fadi Chehadé is now listed as co-CEO on Ethos Capital’s website.

Former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé is currently listed as the co-CEO of Ethos Capital on the firm’s website.

Ethos Capital tried to buy Public Interest Registry, the non-profit that runs .org domains, but ICANN denied the transaction.

Chehadé’s name was nowhere on Ethos’ website when it announced the .org transaction. His involvement quickly became public because of Whois data for one of Ethos Capital’s domain names. The private equity company admitted that Chehadé was an advisor on the deal.

For months, the Ethos Capital website listed only two employees: CEO Erik Brooks and Chief Purpose Officer Nora Abusitta-Ouri. Abusitta-Ouri worked with Chehadé at ICANN.

The website change listing Chehadé as co-CEO appears to have happened very recently. The last Wayback Machine capture from June 15 did not show him. Elliot Silver spotted the difference today.

Many industry observers may wonder if Chehadé was pegged to be a co-CEO all along, only omitted from the website to avoid more controversy.

Ethos’ website now lists eight employees, three of whom are former ICANN employees. Allen Grogan is Executive Partner and is the former Chief Contract Compliance Officer at ICANN. Grogan’s LinkedIn page says he started advising Ethos last September; his involvement was disclosed after ICANN requested information on former ICANN employees involved with the company.

Chehadé’s LinkedIn page still lists him as a partner at Abry, the private equity firm that acquired Donuts. Brooks was formerly with Abry.

PIR calls for nominations for .Org Impact Awards

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10 organizations that use .org domains will take home a total of $85,000.

Logo for .org impact awardsPublic Interest Registry, the registry that manages .org domains, has opened nominations for its 2020 .Org Impact Awards.

This year’s awards are a bit different from last year. Due to Covid-19, the awards will be announced online in “The Ten Days of .ORG”, starting November 30, rather than at an awards gala.

There will also be an award for an organization combatting coronavirus.

The ten award categories include:

  • Combatting Coronavirus
  • Fighting Hunger and Poverty
  • Championing Equality, Equity, Inclusion
  • Promoting Education
  • Advancing Environmental Sustainability
  • Promoting A Safer Internet
  • Innovation Award
  • Outstanding Volunteer
  • .ORG Newcomer of The Year
  • .ORG of The Year

The .Org of the Year will win $30,000 and the coronavirus winner will get $15,000. The other eight winners will each pocket $5,000.

Organizations must use a .org domain name to qualify.

Nominations are open until September 4.

.Org generated $95 million revenue last year

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Logo for .org domain, featuring a blue circle with white letters spelling ORGPublic Interest Registry reveals financials in its annual report.

The .org top level domain generated close to $95 million in revenue last year, Public Interest Registry (PIR) disclosed.

Public Interest Registry released its 2019 annual report (pdf) yesterday. It notes that the non-profit’s operating income was $60 million and that it distributed $67.5 million to Internet Society, the recipient of its profits.

Domains under management fell slightly from 10.3 million to 10.1 million. This drop was expected; PIR focused on the quality of new registrations rather than volume during the year. The number of .org domains renewed in 2019 was higher than in 2018, but new creates were down. The renewal rate hit 78.2% during the year.

Ethos Capital, a private equity firm, planned to acquire Public Interest Registry for $1.135 billion this year, but the deal was canceled after ICANN rejected the deal.

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