The DotGreen Community, Inc.

Type:	Registry
Industry:	Internet
Founded:	2007
Headquarters:	Larkspur, California
Country:	USA
Website:	www.going.green, community.green
Facebook:	DotGreen Community
LinkedIn:	DotGreen Community Inc.
Twitter:	@DotGreenTLD

The DotGreen Community, Inc. is a former applicant and previous partner with Afilias for the .green TLD in ICANN'S New gTLD Program. After an initial partnership between the DotGreen Community and Afilias, DotGreen informed Afilias that it would no longer manage the marketing and sales arm of the TLD. Afilias is now the sole manager of .green.

Partnership with Afilias

In September 2014 it was announced that Afilias had partnered with DotGreen Community Inc. to provide the .green TLD. DotGreen had previously withdrawn from the contention ahead of the private auction that resulted in Afilias winning the string. Afilias will provide the technical backend for the Registry while the DotGreen Community will market the TLD. The companies have also partnered with EarthShare to provide a portion of the profits to sustainability programs around the world.

Withdrawal from .green Contention

The DotGreen Community, Inc announced on Oct 11, 2013 that the company withdrew their application for the .green string. The startup was facing a 4-way private or ICANN auction, which it stated was not in the financial means nor in the interests of the company.

Application for .green

The proposed gTLD stands for "Global Response to Environmental and Economic Necessities" (GREEN), and is dedicated for use by individuals, communities, industries and environmental organizations supporting the spread of green consciousness around the world. The organization aimed to use the .green TLD to promote the green economy, innovation and conservation. The organization aimed to use profits from the gTLD to fund environmental sustainability projects for organizations worldwide, which would have been managed by its scientific advisory committee. .green is the second most viewed domain, as of November, 2011, on .nxt's comprehensive list of declared gTLD applicants.

Background

The DotGreen initiative was begun in 2007 by Annalisa Roger, and was the first environmental TLD to be proposed to both Internet and environmental communities. The initiative was built around a U.S not for profit organization called The DotGreen Foundation, incorporated in 2008 as a legal For Public Benefit Charity with U.S. 501 (c)3 Tax Exempt Status. In 2011, The DotGreen Community, Inc., a private corporation, was formed in California to grow global community support, raise money, apply to ICANN and hire an experienced team to provide the business, marketing and registry services required for the .green TLD.

On December 1st, 2011, It was announced that the former Vice President of Registry Services at Neustar, Tim Switzer, joined the DotGreen team as its COO and CFO. DotGreen has partnered with Neustar to provide a stable and secure back-end registry operations for the .green TLD.

DotGreen lobbies the GAC

Roger, on behalf of the DotGreen Community, wrote a letter to ICANN's GAC expressing her concern that the .green TLD should be operated by a company or organization dedicated to the environmental movement. Although DotGreen did not file a community application, despite having the support of a number of environmental organizations, the other three applicants for the TLD are portfolio applicants Top Level Domain Holdings, Afilias, and Demand Media (United TLD Holdco, Ltd.), and Roger argues that these companies are only out to sell as many domains as they can, instead of fostering a committed environmental domain space.

DotGreen Foundation

DotGreen Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, was established in 2008 to receive donations from the public as well as a percentage of net revenues from the sales and renewals of .green names. The Foundation will make ongoing contributions to programs and projects aimed at sustainability, education, and conservation around the world through its unique partnership with EarthShare, one of the world’s leading environmental organizations.

In 2015, DotGreen announced a $10,000 Earth Day gift through DotGreen Foundation to EarthShare to support environmental initiatives. EarthShare is a non-profit federation that partners with business and employees to develop workplace giving and learning opportunities that support the environment.

People and Planet

Since ICANN 43 in Costa Rica, DotGreen, in conjunction with Neustar, has been hosting a green-centric event on the Saturday before the start of ICANN. This event is known as People and Planet. In Costa Rica, it involved planting trees and experiencing local flora and fauna by hiking and river rafting. In Prague, the People and Planet event involved going to a local farmer's market, creating a lunch from the locally sourced ingredients, and going on a bike ride to experience the many multi-use paths that allow natives to move without fossil fuels. In Toronto, the group of 50 people from 12 countries planted 400 trees on the nearby Ward's Island, where the tress are important to the ecologically rare sand dune systems in the area.

As Kathy Kleiman noted during the Toronto event, "[this interaction with nature] will bring life, and really meaning, to the types of activities we're doing with Internet law and policy the rest of the week at ICANN".

Green Movement

DotGreen has been participating in events, festivals, conferences, and other fora related to the Green movement since its inception. Representatives have recently been attending Green Festivals hosted in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco; they began opening regional Green Bureaus following ICANN 45, with the first partnership led by locals Joan Kerr and Glenn McKnight; and Annalisa Roger was invited to speak by the French delegation at the Rio +20 summit, where 130 heads of state and government leaders, and 50,000 business leaders, civil societies, environmental groups, and humanitarian organizations from around the world are involved.