Thanks again Mark,

I think I'm starting to get a better handle on your perspective, and perhaps
the optimal solution may well be to promote some other 2LD's for NFP
entities. At this stage I personally am not going to take your suggestion to
make this into a formal submission, because I feel further open discussions
would be beneficial (the issue really only came to a head on this list a few
days ago, and I for one have already had my awareness raised through the
postings of people like yourself - I'm sure there is more that can be
uncovered prior to determining an appropriate course of action).

I am in agreement with your position that one of the most significant issues
will be that of determining the appropriateness of an NFP for any free
domains that may be available. Personally I don't view a particular
organisations resources (or lack thereof) as being vitally important, it's
more a matter of what they do with those resources - I.e. The Red Cross has
millions of dollars worth of real estate alone, however none would argue the
charitable nature of how these resources are used, or (I would hope)
begrudge the Red Cross the use of a free domain name - Similarly I am
involved with some very tiny Community NFP organisations with no resources
at all to speak of, and surely these should be supported if for no other
reason than as an act of good corporate citizenship.

However. there are certainly some NFP's who do not fall under this umbrella
(I did not avoid your comment, just needed a bit of time to think about it
:) here again I would agree with your assessment of eligibility rules; ie:

i) Objective not subjective
ii) Preferably externally set - e.g. something like 'any entity which is
classified as non-profit by the ATO'
iii) Preferably easy to verify as part of the domain name approval /
rejection process

I just hope we don't end up damaging the truly needy organisations in our
haste to ensure that eligibility requirements are iron clad and
bullet-proof - I would much rather see a few dubious 'freebie' domains out
there, than I would see needy organisations disadvantaged through a process
designed solely to boost commercial profits.

Cheers, Don Cameron


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