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18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.greenDotGreen Community, Inc.dotgreen.orgView
INTRO
DotGreen Community Inc. (DGC) recognizes the Internet as an incredible accomplishment. In its natural state, the Internet offers core communications capabilities and virtues of open access, global reach, accessibility, speed, and transparency, all of which influence positive change in the world. These same properties are also necessary for the green movement to progress to global relevance.

Green = Environmental + Humanitarian + Economic aspects of sustainability, in other words: “People and their Planet.”

18.1.1 MISSION

DGC’s mission is to provide and manage the .green address space in a responsible, global, inclusive and secure manner to positively enhance the impact Internet users can have in the world’s shift to a greener economy, renewable resource utilization, responsible business, and sustainable lifestyles. This will result in a collaboration known as a: Global Response to Environmental and Economic Necessities, or .green online.

This adoption will represent a global response as businesses, non-profit organizations, communities, individuals and governmental agencies across the world showcase their commitment to sustainable practices. The .green TLD will serve, represent, and drive the global green movement online. Connectivity, awareness, sharing, transparency, innovation, and collaboration the Internet affords, will enhance the green movement online. At the same time, .green domain name sales will be an automatic vehicle for philanthropy to support people and the planet in all regions of the world, giving all .green registrants and users the value of information, and community action around common issues of sustainability on a global scale.

18.1.2 PURPOSE

The purpose of the .green TLD is to utilize the Internet for good. This altruistic purpose behind the design of the .green TLD will provide benefits to Internet users, registrants, the green community and the world as a whole in a multitude of ways including but not limited to:

• Promoting Competition, Consumer Choice, and Consumer Trust
• Supporting the Green Movement
• Boosting the Economy
• Embedding Charity and Philanthropy
• Cultivating Community

Promoting Competition, Consumer Choice, and Consumer Trust
A primary purpose for the introduction of the .green TLD is to address demand for new TLDs that can enhance competition, consumer choice, and trust. The .green TLD addresses this demand by enhancing the meaning of domain extensions for registrants focused on sustainability. By contributing to the diversity of the TLD namespace, registrants and end users of the Internet in all regions of the world will have increased consumer choice, and will experience benefits built around values of transparency, authenticity, and accountability. Through the combination of Internet competencies, inclusivity, and the shared values of the green movement, the .green domain name will augment consumer trust. The .green TLD is a space in which all registrants around the world can confidently identify their online and “sustainable” presence. Technical security enhancements, detailed in Question 18c also contribute to consumer trust.

Supporting the Green Movement
It is the natural purpose of the .green TLD to promote the green movement online. DGC’s opportunity to meet demand relies on the intersection of dramatic growth in both the Internet and the green movement, and will help spur the transition to sustainable ways of life as all governments, businesses, peoples and cultures of the world engage. Value Created in the forms of social, environmental, and economic capital, which leverage the power and competencies of the Internet, will help weave the green movement into the navigational fabric of the Internet. The introduction of a .green TLD responds to the urgency of a needed shift to sustainable alternatives for all people. This purpose will raise awareness globally, creating a sense of inclusivity and the need to transition to sustainable alternatives, combined with increased demand for green products and services, information, and education. The .green TLD will provide registrants and end Internet users a tool to communicate efforts around sustainability, whether it is a first step in the direction of going green or part of a longstanding expression of core values, the concept of “green” grows by all and can be redefined by the collective actions, beliefs, and ideas of a global community of Internet registrants and users. The .green concept has also been formed with the purpose of enabling individuals and organizations to extend the reach and scope of their ideas, brands, and ability to influence the green movement. Awareness created is the important framework for a shift to global green consciousness among the world’s citizens, promoting a cycle of good in the forward movement towards our future.

Boosting the Economy
Another primary purpose for the creation of the .green TLD is to facilitate green economic growth across industries, and around the world. The green economy has come to represent the pinnacle of economic innovation, and the potential for further economic growth and job creation. The .green TLD in relation to the green economy will provide ease and clarity for Internet users and registrants who wish to:

1. Enable a Global Response to Environmental and Economic Necessities (.GREEN) through unity around Green action.
2. Identify contributors of the green movement online
3. Disseminate green information
4. Promote all available green products and services
5. Demonstrate registrant participation in the green economy
6. Create opportunities for further innovation in the green economy
7. Respond to increased consumer demand for green economic growth
8. Provide opportunities for the largest users of environmental and social capital to address reputational issues surrounding policy development and implementation; and,
9. Showcase the importance of governments and their green policies and initiatives in the greater global picture.

The .green TLD seeks to symbolize the new online green economy, and to collectively galvanize growth across all industry sectors.

Embedding Charity and Philanthropy
An obvious and essential purpose for the .green TLD is DGC’s integration of public benefit charity ideals, aspirational approaches to stakeholder engagement, and grant giving to green projects and programs aimed at sustainability in every region of the world including initiatives around Internet penetration and adoption which are directly connected to the green movement. DGC includes automatic philanthropy with domain registration by contributing to the DotGreenFoundation.org, a Non-profit 501(c)3 For-Public Benefit Charity, and to EarthShare.org, the world’s leading federation of 400 environmental and conservation organizations.

Cultivating Community
It is also a central tenet of the .green TLD to facilitate community engagement within the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)and the global green movement. The DotGreen Community, Inc. embraces participation in the multi-stakeholder process at ICANN where open access and transparency for Internet policy development occurs. Global organizations, such as the Internet SOCiety (ISOC) and the Government Advisory Committee to ICANN (GAC) and many others, ensure Internet benefits are fully realized by fostering consumer trust through increased consumer awareness, robust discussion, freedom of expression, and transparency.

DGC seeks broad participation in the .green namespace. Standards and policies are designed to favor inclusivity in the online green movement and encourage unrestrictive green participation through the same principals of increased consumer awareness, robust discussion, freedom of expression, and transparency in the .green TLD namespace

Benefits to Internet users and registrants are detailed in the answer to the following question, 18b.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.supportGrand Orchard, LLCdonuts.coView
Q18A CHAR: 7985

ABOUT DONUTS
Donuts Inc. is the parent applicant for this and multiple other TLDs. The company intends to increase competition and consumer choice at the top level. It will operate these carefully selected TLDs safely and securely in a shared resources business model. To achieve its objectives, Donuts has recruited seasoned executive management with proven track records of excellence in the industry. In addition to this business and operational experience, the Donuts team also has contributed broadly to industry policymaking and regulation, successfully launched TLDs, built industry-leading companies from the ground up, and brought innovation, value and choice to the domain name marketplace.

DONUTS’ PLACE WITHIN ICANN’S MISSION
ICANN and the new TLD program share the following purposes:
1. to make sure that the Internet remains as safe, stable and secure as possible, while
2. helping to ensure there is a vibrant competitive marketplace to efficiently bring the benefits of the namespace to registrants and users alike.

ICANN harnesses the power of private enterprise to bring forth these public benefits. While pursuing its interests, Donuts helps ICANN accomplish its objectives by:

1. Significantly widening competition and choice in Internet identities with hundreds of new top-level domain choices;
2. Providing innovative, robust, and easy-to-use new services, names and tools for users, registrants, registrars, and registries while at the same time safeguarding the rights of others;
3. Designing, launching, and securely operating carefully selected TLDs in multiple languages and character sets; and
4. Providing a financially robust corporate umbrella under which its new TLDs will be protected and can thrive.

ABOUT DONUTS’ RESOURCES
Donuts’ financial resources are extensive. The company has raised more than US$100 million from a number of capital sources including multiple multi-billion dollar venture capital and private equity funds, a top-tier bank, and other well-capitalized investors. Should circumstances warrant, Donuts is prepared to raise additional funding from current or new investors. Donuts also has in place pre-funded, Continued Operations Instruments to protect future registrants. These resource commitments mean Donuts has the capability and intent to launch, expand and operate its TLDs in a secure manner, and to properly protect Internet users and rights-holders from potential abuse.

Donuts firmly believes a capable and skilled organization will operate multiple TLDs and benefit Internet users by:

1. Providing the operational and financial stability necessary for TLDs of all sizes, but particularly for those with smaller volume (which are more likely to succeed within a shared resources and shared services model);
2. Competing more powerfully against incumbent gTLDs; and
3. More thoroughly and uniformly executing consumer and rights holder protections.

THIS TLD
This TLD is attractive and useful to end-users as it better facilitates search, self-expression, information sharing and the provision of legitimate goods and services. Along with the other TLDs in the Donuts family, this TLD will provide Internet users with opportunities for online identities and expression that do not currently exist. In doing so, the TLD will introduce significant consumer choice and competition to the Internet namespace – the very purpose of ICANN’s new TLD program.

This TLD is a generic term and its second level names will be attractive to a variety of Internet users. Making this TLD available to a broad audience of registrants is consistent with the competition goals of the New TLD expansion program, and consistent with ICANN’s objective of maximizing Internet participation. Donuts believes in an open Internet and, accordingly, we will encourage inclusiveness in the registration policies for this TLD. In order to avoid harm to legitimate registrants, Donuts will not artificially deny access, on the basis of identity alone (without legal cause), to a TLD that represents a generic form of activity and expression.

DONUTS’ APPROACH TO PROTECTIONS
No entity, or group of entities, has exclusive rights to own or register second level names in this TLD. There are superior ways to minimize the potential abuse of second level names, and in this application Donuts will describe and commit to an extensive array of protections against abuse, including protections against the abuse of trademark rights.

We recognize some applicants seek to address harms by constraining access to the registration of second level names. However, we believe attempts to limit abuse by limiting registrant eligibility is unnecessarily restrictive and harms users by denying access to many legitimate registrants. Restrictions on second level domain eligibility would prevent law-abiding individuals and organizations from participating in a space to which they are legitimately connected, and would inhibit the sort of positive innovation we intend to see in this TLD. As detailed throughout this application, we have struck the correct balance between consumer and business safety, and open access to second level names.

By applying our array of protection mechanisms, Donuts will make this TLD a place for Internet users that is far safer than existing TLDs. Donuts will strive to operate this TLD with fewer incidences of fraud and abuse than occur in incumbent TLDs. In addition, Donuts commits to work toward a downward trend in such incidents.

OUR PROTECTIONS
Donuts has consulted with and evaluated the ideas of international law enforcement, consumer privacy advocacy organizations, intellectual property interests and other Internet industry groups to create a set of protections that far exceed those in existing TLDs, and bring to the Internet namespace nearly two dozen new rights and protection mechanisms to raise user safety and protection to a new level.

These include eight, innovative and forceful mechanisms and resources that far exceed the already powerful protections in the applicant guidebook. These are:

1. Periodic audit of WhoIs data for accuracy;
2. Remediation of inaccurate Whois data, including takedown, if warranted;
3. A new Domain Protected Marks List (DPML) product for trademark protection;
4. A new Claims Plus product for trademark protection;
5. Terms of use that prohibit illegal or abusive activity;
6. Limitations on domain proxy and privacy service;
7. Published policies and procedures that define abusive activity; and
8. Proper resourcing for all of the functions above.

They also include fourteen new measures that were developed specifically by ICANN for the new TLD process. These are:

1. Controls to ensure proper access to domain management functions;
2. 24⁄7⁄365 abuse point of contact at registry;
3. Procedures for handling complaints of illegal or abusive activity, including remediation and takedown processes;
4. Thick WhoIs;
5. Use of the Trademark Clearinghouse;
6. A Sunrise process;
7. A Trademark Claims process;
8. Adherence to the Uniform Rapid Suspension system;
9. Adherence to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy;
10. Adherence to the Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Policy;
11. Detailed security policies and procedures;
12. Strong security controls for access, threat analysis and audit;
13. Implementation DNSSEC; and
14. Measures for the prevention of orphan glue records.

DONUTS’ INTENTION FOR THIS TLD
As a senior government authority has recently said, “a successful applicant is entrusted with operating a critical piece of global Internet infrastructure.” Donuts’ plan and intent is for this TLD to serve the international community by bringing new users online through opportunities for economic growth, increased productivity, the exchange of ideas and information and greater self-expression.