This press release was sent
August 16, 2002For Immediate Release
Contact:
Judy Piercey
jpiercey@dotorgfoundation.org
Initiative to Support Validation of Nonprofits Gains Momentum
Charities Aid
Foundation and eGrants.org join a growing list of
organizations in support of
DotOrg Foundation's validation concepts
Washington, D.C. - August 16, 2002 - The
DotOrg Foundation, one of 11 applicants in the ICANN process to select a .org domain
registry manager, has added Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and eGrants.org as supporters
for its validation concepts. CAF, a British-based charity with more than 75
years of experience and a global network spanning five continents, is committed to
increasing the resources of charities worldwide while helping individual and corporate
donors maximise their generosity. eGrants.org is a nonprofit organization created
by the Tides Foundation in San Francisco to help nonprofit groups use the Internet
effectively to increase resources for positive social change and environmental sustainability.
In its bid to operate the .org registry, the DotOrg Foundation has proposed to
facilitate the validation of non-commercial organizations around the world.
Marshall Strauss, president of the DotOrg Foundation, welcomed letters from these
and other organizations, which can be viewed at www.dotorgfoundation.org under "What's
New."
Strauss noted, "We are delighted that CAF and eGrants.org have joined
a growing list of nonprofit community leaders who have endorsed the validation concepts
we submitted to ICANN. Civil rights groups, faith-based organizations, charitable
foundations and many other organizations increasingly use the web to reach out to
donors and volunteers. More and more, the public - often called upon for financial
and volunteer support - is looking for confirmation of the claims they are seeing
on those websites."
Strauss added, "We believe that the creative use of
the Internet can help provide that confirmation."
The DotOrg Foundation has proposed
to introduce web-based technology that will link nonprofit and noncommercial entities
seeking validation with those offering such services. The following organizations
have expressed support for the validation concepts offered by the Foundation:
*
Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), representing 25,000 members across
North America and around the world
* ePhilanthropy Foundation, which seeks to foster
the ethical use of the Internet for philanthropic purposes
* Independent Sector,
a national leadership forum to encourage philanthropy, volunteering, not-for-profit
initiative and citizen action
* GuideStar, with a national database of over 850,000
IRS-recognized nonprofit organizations
* Charity Navigator, a leading U.S. validator
providing information on more than eleven hundred charities and evaluating the financial
health of each
* CanadaHelps, a nonprofit organization designed to facilitate the
transfer of technology to Canada's 78,000+ charities
* World Reach (the Charity
Giving Station), whose mission is to help companies help the world through corporate
philanthropy initiatives
* Habitat for Humanity Canada, an independent, charitable,
faith-based housing program.
The Foundation also notes the support expressed by
Edward E. David, Jr., Science Advisor to U.S. President Nixon and Director of the
White House Office of Science and Technology.
About DotOrg Foundation
The DotOrg
Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded with the sole purpose of administering
the .org top-level domain (TLD) registry for The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers, known as ICANN. The value of the DotOrg Foundations specific
and directed purpose is that it focuses all of the Foundations resources on developing
the .org TLD into a more reliable, trusted, productive and distinctive space on the
Internet. The DotOrg Foundation is joined in its ICANN proposal by two partners
with established reputations in the Internet and nonprofit sectors - Registry
Advantage, a division of Register.com Inc. (NASDAQ: RCOM), as its registry function
provider; and Kintera, to provide technical development and maintenance for planned
additional products and services. For more information, visit the DotOrg Foundation
website at www.dotorgfoundation.org.