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    • .charity

    Generic top-level domainsIDN

    Overview

    • .charity is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) applied for under ICANN's New gTLD Program.
    • The string is intended to serve the charitable sector and is categorized under commerce in applicant materials.
    • In ICANN sources its status is recorded as Proposed during the application process.

    History

    • Applicants:
      • Famous Four Media (Spring Registry Limited), a Gibraltar-based company represented by Geir Rasmussen, applied for .charity as part of a portfolio of 61 gTLD applications.
      • Donuts (Corn Lake, LLC), a start-up registry operator, also applied for .charity as one of its large portfolio (Donuts applied for 307 gTLDs via different LLCs).
    • Both applicants submitted Public Interest Commitments (PICs) as part of their applications.
    • ICANN's Independent Objector (IO) filed a Community Objection against both .charity applications.
    • In January 2014 an ICC panel sustained the IO's objection against Donuts' application, terminating Donuts' application for .charity, but did not sustain the objection against Famous Four Media, allowing Famous Four to proceed.
    • The IO also filed an objection to the Chinese IDN version translating as “charity” (.慈善), which had been submitted by Zodiac.

    Usage and Audience

    • The intended audience for .charity is charitable organizations and entities operating in the nonprofit/charity sector.
    • Famous Four Media submitted an additional PIC proposing to restrict .charity registrations to charities, indicating a use-case focused on verified charitable institutions.

    Registration Rules

    • Famous Four Media included a Public Interest Commitment that would restrict registrations of .charity to charities.
    • The questions of eligibility and consumer protections were central to objections and government advisories; however, specific technical registration details (allowed characters, registration periods) are not provided in the source material.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Independent Objector (IO) Community Objection: filed against both Famous Four Media and Donuts applications for .charity on community-harm grounds.
    • ICC Panel Decision (January 2014): sustained the IO objection against Donuts, ending Donuts' claim to .charity, but did not sustain it against Famous Four Media, effectively clearing Famous Four's path to administer the gTLD.
    • GAC Early Warning (Nov 2012): Australia and GAC Chair Heather Dryden issued an Early Warning noting that .charity refers to a regulated market sector and raised concerns that applicant protections were insufficient to prevent consumer harm.

    Operator

    Public Interest Registry (PIR)

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       CHARITY

organisation: Public Interest Registry (PIR)
address:      11911 Freedom Drive 10th Floor, Suite 1000
address:      Reston VA 20190
address:      United States of America (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Director of Operations, Compliance and Customer Support
organisation: Public Interest Registry (PIR)
address:      11911 Freedom Drive,
address:      10th Floor, Suite 1000
address:      Reston VA 20190
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        1 703 889 5778
fax-no:       1 703 889 5779
e-mail:       ops@pir.org

contact:      technical
name:         Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group
organisation: Identity Digital Limited
address:      c/o Identity Digital Inc.
address:      10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address:      Bellevue WA 98004
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1.425.298.2200
fax-no:       +1.425.671.0020
e-mail:       tldtech@identity.digital

nserver:      V0N0.NIC.CHARITY 2a01:8840:16:0:0:0:0:61 65.22.20.61
nserver:      V0N1.NIC.CHARITY 2a01:8840:17:0:0:0:0:61 65.22.21.61
nserver:      V0N2.NIC.CHARITY 2a01:8840:18:0:0:0:0:61 65.22.22.61
nserver:      V0N3.NIC.CHARITY 161.232.10.61 2a01:8840:f4:0:0:0:0:61
nserver:      V2N0.NIC.CHARITY 2a01:8840:19:0:0:0:0:61 65.22.23.61
nserver:      V2N1.NIC.CHARITY 161.232.11.61 2a01:8840:f5:0:0:0:0:61
ds-rdata:     52489 8 2 fa42c0a07830a438c791e59d07b39121b72564a6b0af5eb4f2235e5d16d656f7

whois:        whois.nic.charity

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://nic.charity

created:      2018-05-17
changed:      2025-08-14
source:       IANA

    Registrars