Reston, Virginia - September 12, 2005 - The .ORG registry, has announced that it will partner with its founding organization, the Internet Society, and its technology services provider, Afilias Limited, to donate $1 USD for every new .ORG domain name registered between 8 September and 30 September 2005 to aid relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

To provide immediate help, Public Interest Registry (PIR), and Afilias already have donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross as an advance payment on the final contribution. The total amount of the donation is expected to increase based on the number of .ORG registrations that occur between today and 30 September 2005.

Edward Viltz, President and CEO of PIR discussed the decision, "The devastation caused by this disaster continues to unfold. It is imperative that we all support the efforts of those members within the nonprofit .ORG community and others who are working tirelessly to provide Hurricane Katrina victims much-needed assistance. We trust our donation to the Red Cross disaster relief fund encourages additional contributions and aids in the efforts currently under way."

A link to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund has been added to the home page of the PIR Web site (http://www.pir.org) to help individuals and organizations make contributions online. PIR also is working with .ORG registrars to set up similar links on their web sites and to encourage them to make their own contributions.

Public Interest Registry is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation created by the Internet Society (ISOC) to manage the .ORG domain. PIR's mission is to manage the .ORG domain in an exemplary manner while educating and empowering the global noncommercial community to use the Internet more effectively and, concurrently, to take a leadership position among Internet stakeholders on policy and related issues on behalf of the .ORG community. PIR is based in Reston, VA.