The 2026 .ORG Impact Awards and its $50,000 prize

In 2006, Mafah Cornelius Kuta walked into a failing school in rural Cameroon with an idea. He proposed building agricultural enterprises on school grounds: a way for farming families to pay fees, for students to learn by doing, for the school to survive. The idea was rejected.

So he resigned, went home, and spent the next two decades watching the land around Wotutu Village slowly give out under unsustainable farming. So, he built it himself. And put it online.

Wandusoa Organic Cameroon Development Association knows what it stands for. It’s a regenerative agriculture school where displaced youth, 70% of them girls, learn to farm in a way that restores the land rather than depletes it. Where graduates don’t just find work, they build it.

Within six months of completing the program, 80% have launched their own farms or enterprises. The average income increase is 40%. In 2024 alone, Wandusoa planted 10,000 fruit trees, created 85 jobs, and improved food security for over 1,200 households.

Wandusoa is a Namecheap customer. And in 2025, the .ORG Impact Awards found them.

Already know you want to submit? Do it here before May 27. Otherwise, keep reading.

Recognition isn’t just a trophy

The .ORG Impact Awards exist because the organizations doing the most important work in the world are often the least visible. They’re not in glossy reports or on the front page. They’re in Wotutu Village. In Freetown. In Bokay Town, Liberia.

That’s where Central Leadership Academy opened its doors in a community that had gone 14 years without a school. CLA, a 2025 Namecheap customer and finalist in the Quality Education category, isn’t a conventional school. It teaches coding, environmental science, and critical thinking, alongside vocational skills such as construction, tailoring, and computing.

Co-founded by Foday David Kamara in 2023, it now serves hundreds of children and refugee learners across Liberia. The .ORG Impact Awards gave it a platform that most organizations spend years trying to build on their own.

That platform means something real. Finalists receive a $2,500 donation. Category winners receive $10,000. The .ORG of the Year winner receives $50,000. Since 2019, over $865,000 has been distributed to organizations across 120+ countries.

But money isn’t everything. Winners and finalists get featured across .ORG’s global channels, amplified through PR and social media, and handed a credibility signal that opens doors to funding and partnerships long after the ceremony. For organizations operating in some of the most under-resourced places on earth, that kind of visibility compounds.

The breadth of what’s possible

In Sierra Leone, Altruistech Luminary Center is a youth makerspace tackling a specific, devastating problem. 86% of K-12 schools in the country offer no STEM education at all. Founder Abdul Karim Sesay has built a space where children learn robotics, IoT, and creative technology. Not as a luxury, but as a survival skill.

Over 1,700 people have already come through their programs. Their vision is to reach 10 million young Africans by 2040. In 2024, the .ORG Impact Awards named them a Rising Star finalist. They’re a Namecheap customer too.

“It was a powerful moment of affirmation for our team and our community. It showed us that work rooted in local realities can have global relevance and that the efforts of underserved communities deserve to be seen and celebrated.” Abdul Karim Sesay, Founder, Altruistech Luminary Center.

And then there’s The R.E.T.I.N.A. Initiative, a  Nigerian-led organization bringing mobile eye care to communities that formal health systems routinely miss. In one outreach alone, over 400 residents received care who might otherwise never have accessed it.

These organizations built an online presence, got to work, and let the work speak. “Having an online presence helped us share our story beyond our immediate community and connect with opportunities we would not have reached otherwise.” The .ORG Impact Awards gave them recognition to match.

Why .ORG?

Each of these organizations built its presence on a .ORG domain. That’s not a coincidence, and it’s not just habit. The .ORG extension is a true original, part of the architecture of the internet itself.

Over decades it’s become the natural home for organizations whose credibility depends on trust. When a donor, a partner, or a government body lands on a .ORG, something is communicated before a single word is read. Abdul Karim Sesay put it simply: “We chose .ORG because it signals trust, credibility, and purpose to the communities and partners we serve.” 

These organizations understood that. They chose .ORG as the foundation for work that couldn’t afford to be doubted.

What the awards actually are

The .ORG Impact Awards are run by Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit that manages the .ORG domain. Now in their eighth year, they’ve recognized over 300 organizations across 120+ countries and distributed more than $865,000 in funding.

The 2026 program covers seven categories: Health and Healing, Quality Education for All, Environmental Stewardship, Hunger and Poverty, Community Building, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Rising Star (for individuals under 30). There’s also an overall .ORG of the Year, selected by PIR from among the category winners.

Judging is merit-based and runs in two rounds. First, an internal review panel, then external judges from across the nonprofit, tech, and industry sectors. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s a real evaluation of real impact.

Submissions are open now and close May 27, 2026. Finalists are announced on August 11. Winners are celebrated at an in-person event in Washington, D.C. on October 6.

Since 2020, Namecheap customers have appeared among the finalists and winners across multiple cycles. Wandusoa, Altruistech, Central Leadership Academy, and The R.E.T.I.N.A. Initiative are part of that record. If you’re reading this as a Namecheap customer with a .ORG domain, you’re in the right place.

Your turn, or someone else’s

You don’t need to run the organization yourself to enter. If you know a charity, initiative, or community project with a .ORG domain that deserves to be seen, you can submit on their behalf.

And if you do run a mission-driven organization on a .ORG, then you already know what Mafah Kuta knows. That the work matters long before anyone recognizes it. That recognition, when it comes, isn’t the point. But it can turn your vision, your mission, and your mantra into something truly impactful.

The .ORG Impact Awards are how the world finds out what’s been happening all along. This year, that could be you.

See past winners and submit your nomination before May 27.