New domain name .ngo would be for charities only

[David Cake]

At 12:19 AM -0300 30/7/09, Carlos Afonso wrote:
>Hi Norbert, it seems not to be the worldwide ngo community, but the US
>ngo community. Even the concept of "charities" varies widely from
>country to country, depending on quite different local laws. This seems
>to be a TLD for the 501(c) organizations in the USA and this is it. We,
>in the planet outside of those US boundaries, should not bother about
>it, I guess.

	Yeah, that was sort of my concern. An NGO is not the same as
a charity in most jurisdictions. A .ngo gTLD 'for charities only'
would not only be of no use to most of the NGOs that I am involved
in, but would be mildly annoying.
	(the requirements for 'tax deductible gift recipient' status
(ie an official charity) in Australia are much more stringent than
those for a US 501 (c), most NGOs are non-profit organisations, but
that isn't the same thing as a charity at all)
	Seems to be a case where a gTLD is being proposed for a
US-centric purpose that should really be served by something under
the .us ccTLD, partly as a result of laissez-faire management of the
appropriate gTLD.
	FWIW, .org.au is restricted to non-profits and charities.
	Cheers
		David