Guide

Get your rescue’s web address

A web address, or domain, like yourrescue.org. It takes about 20 minutes, costs around $8 to $10 for the first year, and it should belong to your rescue, not to any one person.

Why it should be in your rescue’s name

Treat your web address like the rescue’s bank account: it belongs to the organization, two people can get into it, and it’s paid on the organization’s card.

Whoever is listed as the owner owns it. Volunteers move on, and a web address in someone’s personal name leaves with them. One rescue that won a website in a contest lost its address within two years; it now sends visitors to a gambling site.
Renewal reminders go to the owner. If that’s a former volunteer’s inbox, the address can lapse without anyone noticing.
Lapsed addresses get bought and reused. Links from vets, news stories and adopters then send people somewhere you’d never choose.
Your email can live on it too. Lose the address and you lose the email, along with password resets for PayPal, Petfinder and Facebook.
You stay free to change. You can move to a different web designer or host, us included, without asking anyone’s permission. We never hold your login.

Before you start

Choose the name. Short, easy to say out loud, and ending in .org. Check it reads well in lower case: yourrescue.org.
Use a shared email for the account, such as a Gmail address the rescue owns (yourrescue@gmail.com), not someone’s personal email. Don’t use an email at the address you’re buying: it stops working if the address ever lapses.
Have the rescue’s card ready. The address renews every year, and it renews on the card on file.
Pick a second person who’ll also have access. Steps for adding them are below.

Pick where to buy it

All three are reputable, include privacy for free, and can renew automatically. We don’t earn anything from any of them. If you already have an account somewhere, using it is fine.

Porkbun

$7.98 the first year, then $11.84 a year

The lowest yearly price of the three, and a plain, simple site. Renews automatically from the start.

Porkbun steps

Namecheap

$8.48 the first year, then $18.98 a year, plus a $0.20 fee

Well known and easy to use. You switch on automatic renewal yourself; the steps show you how.

Namecheap steps

Squarespace Domains

$9 the first year, then about $20 a year

Where Google Domains moved, so it may feel familiar. Renews automatically from the start.

Squarespace steps

Prices for a .org from each company’s own site, checked October 2026. They change; the checkout shows the real figure.

Step by step

Open the one you picked. Button names are the ones each site uses.

Porkbun$7.98, then $11.84 a year

Create your account. Go to porkbun.com and sign up with the rescue’s shared email. You’ll need a phone and an authenticator app later if you add a second person.
Find and buy the address. Type the name under “Search for your new domain name”, click the magnifying glass, then the “+” next to the .org, then “Checkout”. Say no to web hosting, email hosting or anything else that isn’t the address itself, then “Continue to Billing”. Double-check the spelling first: it can’t be changed after you buy it.
Put the rescue’s name as the owner. In “Domain Management”, open “Details”, then “Contacts”, and click the pencil. Enter the rescue’s legal name in “Company name” for each contact type. Privacy is already on.
Check it renews itself. It does by default: in the “Renew” column the renew icon shows it’s on, and a white icon means off (“Enable Auto Renew” turns it back on). Add the rescue’s card under “Account”, “Settings / Billing”, “Add Credit Card”.
Add a second person. They create their own Porkbun account first. Then go to “Account”, “Authorized Users”, enter their Porkbun username and click “Submit”; they accept from the email they get. Both accounts need two-step verification turned on. They can manage the address and its settings, but can’t change the owner details or transfer it away.

Later, when your site is ready: we’ll tell you exactly which two or three records to add, under “Domain Management”, “DNS”, “Add Record”. New Porkbun addresses come with placeholder records that we’ll ask you to delete first.

Namecheap$8.48, then $18.98 a year

Create your account. Go to namecheap.com and click “Sign up”. Use the rescue’s shared email, and pick the username carefully: it can’t be changed. Untick the newsletter box if you don’t want it, then “Create account & continue”.
Find and buy the address. Search for the name, click “Add to Cart”, then “Checkout”. Say no to the extras offered (web hosting, an SSL certificate, an email trial, a VPN, business cards). Make sure the auto-renew switch for the address is on, and leave “PremiumDNS” off. Then “Confirm Order” and “Pay Now”.
Put the rescue’s name as the owner. On your first order, choose “I’m registering on behalf of a company” and enter the rescue’s legal name as the company. Privacy is switched on for you.
Make sure it renews itself. This is the step people miss. In your “Domain List”, click “Manage” and check auto-renew is on. Then go to “Profile”, “Billing”, “Payment Cards”, “Edit Defaults”, tick “Use for auto-renewal” and “Save Changes”. Without a card set this way, it won’t renew. (PayPal can’t be used for renewals.)
Add a second person. They create their own Namecheap account first. Then go to “Domain List”, “Manage”, the “Sharing & Transfer” tab, “Share Access”. Enter their email or username, click “Add”, and tick what they can change. They have 7 days to accept, logged in.

Later, when your site is ready: we’ll tell you exactly which records to add, under “Manage”, “Advanced DNS”, “Add New Record”. New Namecheap addresses come with parking-page records that we’ll ask you to delete first.

Squarespace Domains$9, then about $20 a year

Find and buy the address. Go to domains.squarespace.com, search for the name, click it, then “Checkout”. Skip the Google Workspace offer for now (our email guide covers that). Then “Save and continue” and “Confirm and purchase”. Use the rescue’s shared email for the account.
Click the verification email. Squarespace sends one after you buy. You have 15 days, or the address is suspended.
Put the rescue’s name as the owner. In the domain’s “Registration” details, enter the rescue’s legal name as the Organization. Squarespace notes that the organization then counts as the legal owner. Privacy is on, though the organization name, state and country stay public for .org addresses.
Check it renews itself. Squarespace addresses renew automatically. Make sure the rescue’s card is on file: click the address in your domains dashboard, then “Billing”. It’s charged 15 days before renewal.
Add a second person. Click the address, then “Permissions”, “Invite domain manager”, and enter their name and email. They’ll need a free Squarespace account. They can manage the address but can’t change billing or delete it.

Later, when your site is ready: we’ll tell you exactly which records to add, under “DNS”, “DNS Settings”, “Custom Records”, “Add record”.

Already with GoDaddy?Two settings to check

Turn on automatic renewal. In your “Domain Portfolio”, select the address, switch the toggle under the “Renew” card to “On”, then “Continue”.
Give a second person access. Use “GoDaddy Delegate Access”, “Invite to Access”, and choose “Domains Only”. Invitations expire after two or three days.

GoDaddy offers a lot of extras at checkout. None of them are needed for your site.

Then tell us

Add the address to your answers on Tell us about your rescue, or email it to rescuerefresh@camaliagroup.com. You don’t need to change any settings yet. When your new site is ready to go live, we send you the exact records to add, and check everything still works afterward.

Want email at your new address too, like info@yourrescue.org? See Set up your rescue’s email.