Non-profit org contacted me about a domain I own

... what would you do?

[le_gber]

A non profit organisation contacted me about a .org domain name I own to see if I wanted to sell it to them.

The domain matches exactly the name of the organisation with a hyphen between two natural words and it's been bought 2-3 years ago.

I originally wanted to use the domain to create a site about the organisation's local 'branch'. I then thought to create one about the whole organisation where branches could post info etc...

Up until today, I have been too busy to do anything with the domain, or even talk to the local 'branch' about the idea. I don't see myself doing anything with it for another year or so.

For personal reasons I am quite attached to the domain and I wouldn't want it to end up a just another domain owned by this fairly large organisation.

Anyway, that's the gist of it, so what would you do?

[Webwork]

The "cause" of your action - the domain registration - was, in the first instance, rooted in your awareness of the organization, so you can't really claim "dibs". Your good thoughts or good intentions - however benevolent and/or well motivated - "attached themselves" to someone else's project. So, I see good intentions but no claim of right. If they say "But we never asked you . . and it IS our name" I would lean towards a simple turnover.

The "local" may only be allowed to use the same name by virtue of license or agreement with the "national" organization. So, you may not safely assume that your aim to help a local chapter puts you in some better stead.

If they are a bona fide NPO and their organization's name selection isn't a truly generic-type name (goodworks, freesupport, helpingpeople, etc.) it strikes me more as a domain give-away than a domain sales situation.

Lastly, if this is a situation where registered trademark rights exist then you may be playing with fire.

I once picked up a .Org related to what I thought was an ancient religious order that, in modern times, had been co-opted by various entities "to make coin" off their name. In my mind, without a lot of research, it made no sense that the domain was sitting there in 2003 or 2004 IF there was an orgainzation with a claim of rights. I held it for 2 or 3 years without thinking otherwise.

One day I received a somewhat benign letter from a lawyer advising "Hey, fella, we have a registered mark for Widgetismistics". Long story short: after a few emails wherein I professed my surprise, my innocence and my belief that I could defend against such a claim if I so chose, I resolved to turn it over without further ado. In the process I learned that members of the order were doing good works, in their own quiet way, and that a lot of the "commerce" was just their way of supporting their particular "habits". I advised the lawyer that a simple email - not a formal letter - would have sufficed (assuming my ability to verify).

Discretion is the better part of valor, yes? ;)

Next?

[edited by: Webwork at 9:46 pm (utc) on Feb. 12, 2008]

[bwnbwn]

My feelings is you bought it 2-3 years ago so it might be another 2-3 years again before you think about it again.

Kind of like doing nothing.
I don't think it is a domain that will make a record sell so you sound like you were going to use it to help the local group there, why not go to them and arrange some talks through the local group with the organization that wants to buy the domain.

This will ease your mind on the "intent" of the contact and provide a Non profit group a great domain.

PS being pure SEO I would ask for some kind of link back from the donation make sure it is anchored and get it in writing so they don't "forget" after you have satified yourself on the intent of the domain and should you decide to give it up.

[le_gber]

Hi webwork, bwnbwn,

Thanks for the reply. The name is very generic, like animal-color.org so I could dispute the thing, but it's not my intention at all.

A high value sale is really not something I had in mind either, I genuinely wanted to build a free site for them / their 'cause'. I like building sites and their 'cause' affects me personally.

I had a good think last night, and I came up with a couple of ideas:

1. I keep ownership of the domain, and lease it for a symbolic 1 euro per year, they tell me where they want the DNS to point and that's it, I renew it and make sure it goes to the organisation should anything happen to me - no link back, they deal with everything their end (design, hosting etc...).

2. I keep ownership of the domain, build, host and maintain the site exactly the way I want (CSS, accessible, SEO'ed, etc) but with the functionalities and content they want. The only thing I ask for is a link back to my main business site.

I'll submit idea 2 to them this morning and if they really only want the domain, I think I just give it to them :)

Cheers,

le_gber

[piatkow]

From their point of view they must be in a position where either of you can safely walk away from the deal. This means that they must own the domain and hosting and have full access to all source code.

Then come to an agreement to maintain the site for an agreed consideration (get the agreement to link to you in writing) including a Service Level Agreement.

All very formal for a volunteer but I have seen problems with this sort of arrangement in the past. The volunteer can't devote the time the organisation needs when it needs it or there are more profound disagreements over style or content.