The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board has announced that it’s rejecting the proposed deal with Ethos Capital, a private equity firm, to acquire Public Interest Registry (PIR), the company that owns the .ORG domain.

The potential sale has been under scrutiny for months as concerns were raised, especially among the nonprofit sector, about the possibility of domain price increases and the threat of censorship. The sale posed a potential financial burden to small nonprofits along with the risk of our sector losing control of its .ORG brand value.

In a statement released on Thursday, ICANN stated in part: “The board was presented with a unique and complex situation – impacting one of the largest registries with more than 10.5 million domain names registered. After completing its evaluation, the ICANN Board finds that the public interest is better served in withholding consent as a result of various factors that create unacceptable uncertainty over the future of the third-largest gTLD (generic top-level domains) registry.”

ICANN’s decision comes after months of opposition to the sale as lawmakers, organizations and agencies around the country expressed concerns. Nearly 27,000 people and 871 organizations signed on to the online petition, SaveDotOrg, formally opposing the sale.

CMF was among those voices. Our Public Policy Committee approved a resolution opposing the sale and calling for ICANN to “maintain the ownership of the .ORG domain within the nonprofit sector to ensure proceeds support nonprofits and so the .ORG domain is able to maintain the brand and its integrity.”

SaveDotOrg shared a message on Thursday thanking supporters for helping to elevate this issue, though cautioning that reliable ongoing stewardship of the domain will be necessary.

“This is not the final step needed for protecting the .ORG domain. ICANN must now open a public process for bids to find a new home for the .ORG domain. ICANN has established processes and criteria that outline how to hold a reassignment process. We look forward to seeing a competitive process and are eager to support the participation in that process by the global nonprofit community.”