Public Interest Registry Announces 2026 .ORG Impact Awards Finalists Honoring Global Changemakers

35 innovative, mission-driven organizations and changemakers selected from over 4,200 applicants across 145 countries

For the first time, PIR recognizes 'Honorable Mentions' to celebrate organizations whose work stood out in an increasingly competitive applicant pool

RESTON, Va., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Interest Registry (PIR), the people behind the .ORG domain, today announced the finalists for the 8th annual .ORG Impact Awards, recognizing 35 outstanding mission-driven individuals and organizations from around the world for their positive contributions to society. Selected from more than 4,200 submissions across 145 countries, this year's finalists represent the very best of the growing .ORG Community — from changemakers championing environmental stewardship and hunger relief to those expanding access to quality education and strengthening communities.

For the first time, PIR will also recognize Honorable Mentions as part of the .ORG Impact Awards, providing additional recognition for organizations whose innovative and impactful work stood out among an increasingly competitive pool of applicants. This new recognition reflects both the growth of the awards and the extraordinary range of work happening across the .ORG Community.

"We're proud to announce this year's .ORG Impact Awards finalists and excited to recognize an even broader group of changemakers through our new Honorable Mentions," said Jon Nevett, President and CEO of Public Interest Registry. "The continued growth of the .ORG Impact Awards reflects the incredible breadth of mission-driven work happening around the world. Selected from our most competitive applicant pool to date, we are honored to spotlight these 35 finalists whose dedication, creativity and commitment are helping build stronger communities and create positive change across the globe."

This year's finalists represent the top five entries across seven award categories:

• Community Building
• Quality Education for All
• Environmental Stewardship
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Health and Healing
• Hunger and Poverty
• Rising Star (leaders under 30 making a difference in their communities)

Each finalist will receive a $2,500 USD donation and will be eligible to win the prestigious .ORG of the Year award, which includes a donation totaling $50,000 USD. Other category winners will each receive a $10,000 USD award. Beyond the donation, receiving a .ORG Impact Award will help raise the profile of winning organizations — driving donations, funding, talent acquisition, partnership development, and increasing audience reach.

Honorable Mention organizations will receive a $1,000 USD award and a feature on PIR's website in the coming weeks.

Public Interest Registry will announce award recipients during an invitation-only ceremony in Washington, D.C., on October 6, 2026 that will bring together finalists, nonprofit leaders and members of the global .ORG Community for an evening celebrating the people and organizations driving meaningful change.

Emmy-winning television host, author and activist Karamo will host this year's ceremony, helping spotlight the accomplishments of the finalists and celebrate the impact of mission-driven organizations worldwide. Karamo is best known as the culture expert from Netflix's Queer Eye and is the founder of The Talented Twelve, a private philanthropic fund that funds individual scholarships, grants, and community-level initiatives for African American high school graduates and college freshmen in need of emergency funds. He has long advocated for inclusion, empathy and personal growth, and has worked to advance policies benefiting LGBTQ+ youth and their allies.

"Some of the most powerful change in the world starts with people who choose to show up for their communities every single day, often without recognition or fanfare," said Karamo. "The .ORG Impact Awards shine a light on these incredible individuals and organizations, and I'm honored to help share their stories and celebrate the passion, purpose and impact behind their work."

The full list of finalists is available below. For more information about the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards, visit www.orgimpactawards.org.

2026 .ORG Impact Award Finalists

Community Building

AzuKo
azuko.org
AzuKo works alongside women and their families, in Bangladesh and the UK, to build homes that last. They design with communities, not for them – turning housing poverty into homes families can thrive in.

Love Binti International
us.lovebinti.org
Love Binti International is a global NGO dedicated to creating sustainable, community-led solutions to the socio-economic and environmental challenges faced by women and girls in rural African communities.

One Village Partners
onevillagepartners.org
One Village Partners enhances collective wellbeing across Sierra Leone by partnering with communities to develop sustainable, locally led solutions that strengthen leadership, economic opportunity, and long-term wellbeing.

The Sparkle Foundation
thesparklefoundation.org
The Sparkle Foundation Malawi is a locally led NGO based in Sogoja Village, Zomba, working to break the cycle of poverty by strengthening the whole community around each child through sustainable, community-led programs that expand access to education, healthcare, nutrition, and economic opportunity.

TECHO
techo.org
TECHO is a youth-led organization working in Latin America's informal settlements, mobilizing volunteers and communities to overcome poverty through housing, civic engagement, and community-building programs that promote dignity and social justice.

Quality Education for All 

Ideas Beyond Borders
ideasbeyondborders.org
Ideas Beyond Borders equips individuals and communities across the Middle East and Afghanistan with the information, skills, and resources to build a freer and more prosperous future.

Markoding
markoding.org
Markoding is an Indonesian nonprofit that uses technology and innovation to expand access to quality education, equipping women, youth, and children with digital skills that create pathways to education and employment.

Native Forward Scholars Fund
nativeforward.org
Native Forward Scholars Fund is the largest provider of direct scholarships to Native students in the United States, having awarded over $350 million in scholarships to over 22,000 Native students from all 50 states and more than 500 Tribes since 1969.

Style Her Empowered (SHE)
styleherempowered.org
Style Her Empowered is a nonprofit that partners with communities across West Africa to expand educational opportunities for girls and create dignified employment for women through their innovative School Uniforms that Grow, helping build sustainable pathways out of poverty.

UmRio/OneRio
umrio.org
UmRio/OneRio works to end intergenerational poverty in Brazil by using rugby as a platform to connect children, young people, and families with education, healthcare, employability, and social support that create lasting opportunities for personal and community development.

Environmental Stewardship 

Friends of Tonga
friendsoftonga.org
Friends of Tonga is a volunteer-led nonprofit that partners with local organizations across the Kingdom of Tonga to advance education, environmental stewardship, human development, and disaster resilience while fostering cultural exchange and lasting community connections.

Fruity Schools Africa
fruityschoolsafrica.org
Fruity Schools Africa, through its Little Gardens of Eden initiative, grows fruit trees in schools and communities to improve children's access to nutritious food, create green employment opportunities, support climate action, and build healthier, more sustainable communities.

Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center
lwiroprimates.org
Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center protects and rehabilitates orphaned primates rescued from poachers and wildlife traffickers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, while advancing wildlife conservation, research, and environmental education.

Ripple Africa
rippleafrica.org
Ripple Africa works with communities in Malawi to improve the environment and local livelihoods through conservation initiatives, sustainable resource management, education, and community-led development programs.

Ulinzi Africa Foundation
uafkenya.org
Ulinzi Africa Foundation protects some of Kenya's most geographically isolated and vulnerable ecosystems in Tana Delta and Lamu by conserving biodiversity, safeguarding critical wildlife habitats, and working with local communities to address poaching, extractive industry impacts and human-wildlife conflict.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Boys Champions Foundation
boyschampions.org
Boys Champions engages boys and men across Nigeria through community and school-based programming, sports, and fellowships to promote caring masculinity, mental health, and gender equality, reaching more than 26,000 participants and helping shift the norms and behaviors that drive exclusion, inequality, and harm.

Found in Translation
found-in-translation.org
Found in Translation trains low-income bilingual women as medical interpreters, advancing health equity and economic mobility in underserved communities.

Nadia's Initiative
nadiasinitiative.org
Nadia's Initiative is a survivor-led organization working to end conflict-related sexual violence, advance justice and accountability for survivors, and support the long-term recovery of communities affected by conflict.

The Special Youth Leadership Foundation
thespecialfoundation.org
The Special Youth Leadership Foundation is a Nigerian nonprofit founded in 2018 that empowers underserved children and young people through education, leadership development, and opportunities that help ensure no child is left behind, regardless of socioeconomic circumstances.

Transfrontier Africa
transfrontierafrica.org
Transfrontier Africa works to protect wild places in and around the Greater Kruger by strengthening ecosystems and empowering women and local communities through conservation, education, and sustainable development.

Health and Healing

E-Blood Bank Makila
e-bloodbank.org
Inspired by the loss of its founder's mother due to the lack of timely access to blood, E-BLOOD is improving access to emergency healthcare in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a real-time platform that connects hospitals, blood banks, donors, pharmacies, and laboratories to quickly locate and coordinate lifesaving blood and other essential medical supplies.

Emilio Nares Foundation
enfhope.org
The Emilio Nares Foundation partners with families of children facing cancer and other life-threatening illnesses by providing comprehensive resources that foster healing, strength, and hope so no family faces a child's diagnosis alone.

Hope To Walk
hopetowalk.org
Hope to Walk provides low-cost prosthetic legs and prosthetic training programs to help amputees in underserved communities abroad regain mobility, independence and the ability to walk.

Preterm Infants Parents Network Uganda
preterminfantsnetworkuganda.org
Preterm Infants Parents Network Uganda is a parent-led nonprofit that empowers families of preterm babies through education, peer support, psychosocial care, and advocacy while partnering with healthcare providers to improve survival and long-term outcomes for premature infants across Uganda.

Unchained At Last
unchainedatlast.org
Unchained At Last is a survivor-led nonprofit organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and systems change.

Hunger and Poverty

Acceso
acceso.org
Acceso is a nonprofit social enterprise working to transform rural livelihoods through a scalable, market-based model that connects smallholder farmers to support within their own communities.

Food4Education Foundation
food4education.org
Food4Education works to ensure no child has to learn hungry by partnering with governments and communities across Africa to build locally rooted, financially sustainable school feeding systems that nourish children and strengthen local economies.

Global Fund for Widows
globalfundforwidows.org
Global Fund for Widows supports widows and female heads of households to overcome poverty through entrepreneurship, access to capital, skills training, and legal education.

HERVeg.05
herveg.org
HERVeg.05 combats malnutrition in rural Tanzania by promoting sustainable agriculture, empowering farmers, and providing nutritious, chemical-free food solutions that improve health and livelihoods.

Upaya Social Ventures
upayasv.org
Upaya Social Ventures is an impact investing nonprofit that supports early-stage businesses across India to create dignified, sustainable jobs for people living in extreme poverty, helping build more inclusive communities and economies.

Rising Stars 

Dr. Adriana Viola Miranda, 1000 Days Fund
1000daysfund.org
1000 Days Fund empowers communities across Indonesia to give every child a healthy start during the first 1,000 days of life by advancing maternal and child health, preventing stunting, and strengthening community health systems.

Jovany Florvil, Educare Now
educarenow.org
Educare Now expands access to education, STEM, and sustainable community development in Haiti, Uganda, and Tanzania, empowering children and young people to become the next generation of leaders and innovators.

Razel Suansing, Klima Education International Incorporated
klimaintl.org
Klima answers a climate curriculum written in English, overly scientific, and authored elsewhere: it teaches Filipino children comprehensive climate education from a deck of cards in their own language, equips them to build funded solutions for their own communities, and carries what they build into national policy.

Robyn Mijares, Grow School Philippines
growschoolglobal.org
Grow School Philippines, a nonprofit organization and the country's first bamboo farm school that provides free accessible environmental and agricultural education that equips public school youth across the Philippines with the knowledge and skills to transform hunger into opportunities for learning, growth, and lasting change.

Smart Israel, Smartel
smartelco.org
Smartel restores degraded land and protects biodiversity by deploying smart, soil-free hydroponic systems that enable communities in climate-vulnerable regions to grow food sustainably without degraded land, chemical fertilizers or excessive water use.

.ORG of The Year

The 2026 .ORG Impact Award, .ORG of the Year, recognizes an outstanding nonprofit or nongovernmental organization nominated in one of the seven categories for their incredible achievement in the past year as evidenced by results and contributions to their sector, constituents, community or society at large. The winner will be announced on October 6.

About Public Interest Registry
Public Interest Registry (PIR) is a nonprofit that operates the .ORG top-level domain—one of the world's largest generic top-level domains with more than 12 million domain names registered worldwide. .ORG is open to everyone, providing a global platform for organizations, associations, clubs, businesses and individuals to bring their ideas to life. PIR has been a champion for a free and open Internet for two decades with a clear mission to be an exemplary domain name registry, provide a trusted digital identity and help educate those who dedicate themselves to improving our world. PIR was founded by the Internet Society (internetsociety.org) in 2002 and is based in Reston, Virginia, USA. Visit www.pir.org for more information.

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