[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] the danger of increasing prices of .org domains

[Jessica Hubley]

To Whom It May Concern:

I am the founder of the 501c3 organization AnnieCannons, Inc (
anniecannons.org).  I'm writing this comment on behalf of nonprofit
organizations around the world, many of whom we work with either (i)
developing software for them, (ii) partnering to receive referrals of human
trafficking survivors our program might help, and (iii) working together to
create technology that helps these nonprofits more effectively achieve
their mission.

The life of a nonprofit, especially an early-stage nonprofit, is more than
an uphill battle. Management spends considerable time working to raise
funds and few funder want to pay for the items that really make a nonprofit
work. A domain is the classic example of an item that donors do not
generally find "sexy" enough to donate for - and this is doubly true of "an
increase in domain price."  We cannot budget for such things in advance,
and most .org domains are purchased by existing nonprofits or individuals
paying out of pocket to start one (AnnieCannons was the latter).  There are
already myriad challenges to this ecosystem that arise from high costs of
entry, which result in a disproportionate number of nonprofits being
founded (and funded) by wealthier individuals, who (other than in the
arts)  are less likely to have lived experience of the problems most
nonprofits solve.

Please do not allow a for-profit business to raise prices for these domains
when their cost of administration has not risen, as these costs will be
passed through to nonprofits that cannot afford it. We are lucky to be in a
position that we would not have to lose our domain given a 10% increase or
so in costs, but others would. Still more would choose a different
top-level domain that was more affordable, making it harder to do things
like use Google Ad Grants (which are tied to .org domains).  In addition,
that cost increase for us would siphon away precious funding that we would
otherwise use to help survivors of human trafficking and gender-based
violence rebuild their lives.

I am sure you are lobbied heartily by those in positions of wealth, so I
hope this alternative perspective offered in the absence of such funds will
be considered as well.

Cheers,
-- 
Jessica

CEO + Cofounder
AnnieCannons.org
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