In a highly competitive process, cooperatives beat out lawyers who wanted law, financial groups that wanted .fin, telephone companies that wanted mobile, and many other sector-specific groups. NCBA beat the competition because we had a solid application and strong grassroots support from cooperatives in the U.S. and overseas. Internet addresses using different top-level domains can point to the same website. And more importantly, .coop will help consumers find the co-ops they trust online.
Cooperatives can also use the new .coop TLD for their members-only site.
More and more, co-ops are finding that their values and principles sell. Perhaps most exciting, .coop can help increase public awareness of cooperatives. In just four letters, cooperatives have the opportunity to educate not just their own members, but the general public about what cooperatives are, why they matter and how they contribute to the global economy. As ubiquitous as the Internet has become in daily life, there is simply no question that .coop will give cooperatives greater public recognition and a competitive edge. Of course, cooperatives don't have to use .coop.