.org (organization) is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used in the Internet's Domain Name System. In the typical style of most gTLDs, .org is sometimes pronounced in word form as 'dot-org' when spoken, although not all users of the TLD agree on this usage.

.org was one of the original top-level domains, established in January 1985, originally intended for use by organizations that did not meet the requirements for other gTLDs. Now anyone can register a .org domain. .org was the domain commonly recommended for use by individuals, although .name and .info are now alternatives.

The .org TLD has been operated since January 1, 2003 by Public Interest Registry.

Although organizations anywhere in the world can register .org domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own country code TLD. Such second-level domains are usually of the form .org.xx or .or.xx, where xx is the ccTLD.

In the US and the UK, the .org TLD is mostly associated with non-profit organizations (in the latter '.uk' is usually but not always added after the '.org'). In addition to its wide use in the charitable field, it is often used by the open-source movement, as opposed to the .com domains used mostly by companies.

Political parties in the US, such as the following, have domain names ending in .org:

United States Democratic Party: http://www.democrats.org
United States Libertarian Party: http://www.lp.org
United States Green Party: http://www.gp.org
However, the Republican party uses http://gop.com .

Some European political parties also use .org, such as the Union for French Democracy at http://www.udf.org and the Party of European Socialists at http://www.pes.org/ .

Some diplomatic missions, such as the Togolese Embassy in Paris ([1]) and most French consulates in Canada and the United States, have websites ending in .org.

Registrations are processed via accredited registrars and some categories of internationalized domain names may also be registered (see details).

Source: www.wikipedia.org