About PIR

HomeThe People Behind .ORGAbout PIR

Who We are

Acting in the public interest. As our name implies, PIR serves the public interest online. Our globally diverse team is committed to providing a stable online platform to enable people to do good things.

Based in Reston, Virginia, Public Interest Registry is a not-for–profit organisation created by the Internet Society (ISOC), originally to manage the .ORG domain. Not only do we operate and manage the .ORG domain, but we are also very active participants with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and within the global domain community.

Get to know our team, our Board of Directors, and our Advisory Council to learn more

Hard hats

Who We Serve

We serve those who want to make a positive impact, whether on an international scale or within the local community or anything in between

By offering a trusted platform along with resources to build a safe and secure online presence, we support and encourage people to get out there and do their thing. Through the .ORG community, we empower a wide range of people – from the global nonprofit humanitarian organisation to the town trade association to the local crochet club.

Our Mission

We empower, through the Internet, those who are dedicated to improving our world. As long as you have a mission, we can help you make it go live online. .ORG is for everyone!

 

Group of people with hard hats laughing together.

History

In January 2003, Public Interest Registry became officially responsible for operating .ORG and maintaining the authoritative database of all .ORG domain names. The transition of .ORG from the previous operator to Public Interest Registry was the largest transfer in Internet history. More than 2.6 million domains were transferred in about a day, without affecting any .ORG registrant or website.

Today, there are over 10.3 million .ORG domain names registered all around the world. From small, local groups to huge, global foundations, a diverse range of noncommercial organisations use .ORG to advance their missions. Even many for-profit businesses use .ORG to gain support for their charitable activities.

Origin

Created in 1984, .ORG is one of the Internet’s original Top Level Domains (TLDs), along with .com, .net, .gov, .edu and .mil. Although it is “open” and “unrestricted”, .ORG has assumed the reputation as the domain of choice for organisations dedicated to serving the public interest. Today, it remains the domain of trust.

Expansion

In May 2012, Public Interest Registry formally submitted its applications to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the .ngo and .ong domain extensions as part of the organisation’s global Internet expansion initiative. Along with .ngo & .ong, Public Interest Registry also applied for the creation and management of four internationalized domain names (IDNs) recognized as “organisation,” “org” or “institution” in non-Latin-based scripts. The four applications include: one in Devenagari (Hindi script), .संगठन; one in Russian Cyrillic, .орг; and two in simplified Chinese, .机构 and .组织机构.

Three of the IDNs, Devenagari .संगठन; Russian Cyrillic .орг; and simplified Chinese .机构 were launched in May 2014. The Sunrise period for .ngo & .ong domain names begins on March 17, 2015. Limited registration for organisations who have already submitted an Expression of Interest will begin on April 21.