which domain name should our charity get?
The prime objective of any charity is to raise awareness of its cause; one of the main drivers in achieving awareness is online marketing and the key foundation stone to this is a memorable domain name.
The COVID pandemic has brought about a societal change not just for commercial businesses but also for "not for profit" organisations too. The pre-pandemic fundraising techniques of physical campaigning with physical assets are likely to be superseded with online digital fundraising activity. The underlying digital asset that every UK "not for profit" organisation needs to have in this new future is the .org.uk domain name. Therefore, your organisation needs to focus its future on using a memorable domain name that either fits its objectives, or is easy to remember and stands out, or positively promotes the message the organisation represents.
Each charity is unique but as a guide, the charity needs to consider the following:
the charity's objectives
It maybe important that an organisation gets the category-defining domain name that represents their objectives, for example, if the charity or organisation represents "diabetes", the ideal domain name would be "diabetes.org.uk". Other examples of leading charities using category-defining domain names include alzheimers.org.uk, cats.org.uk, apprenticeships.org.uk, stroke.org.uk, parkinsons.org.uk, bats.org.uk and nutrition.org.uk. We have recently assisted Bloodwise rebrand as THE blood cancer charity by arranging for them to obtain bloodcancer.org.uk. The prime objective of this rebrand was to give the public a clearer message about what the charity represents to help boost fundraising. In the eyes of the general public, having the category defining domain name bloodcancer.org.uk will reinforce awareness that this is the leading blood cancer charity.
Blood Cancer UK's CEO explains why the rebrand was necessary.
issues with the charity's name
Your organisation may be commonly known by an acronym or it may have a long name or it may have a name that is not easy for the general public to use; therefore, obtaining the relevant acronym or adopting a memorable .org.uk domain name may be desirable. Acronym related branding can be very successful in achieving public recognition, for example, RSPCA and WWF are known universally.
the message the charity is trying to portray
Your charity needs to consider its long term marketing objectives, the message it is trying to put across to the general public and whether it needs to rebrand; for example, it may want to have a domain name that
portrays a positive message, for example, achieve.org.uk or inspire.org.uk. Examples of leading charities using domain names with a positive brand image include skill.org.uk and safe.org.uk.
