Go Daddy 2008 Charity Donations Hit $1.7MM

January 2, 2009; 06:41 AM

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--When GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons does something, he usually does it BIG – which is exactly how you could describe his company’s charitable donations this year. Go Daddy’s 2008 philanthropic contributions to local, regional, national and international charities have reached $1.7 million for the year. That tops Go Daddy’s own company record, set last year with $1.4 million to charity.

“Why not give back?” asks Parsons. “Our company had its best year ever. Considering our country is in the midst of an economic recession now is exactly the time to help out good organizations and people less fortunate.”

Go Daddy is the world’s largest domain name registrar, meaning they register Web site addresses. The Scottsdale-based company is also a leading Web host provider and offers products aimed at getting people online affordably and easily. This time of year, the company draws attention for its Super Bowl commercials, but Go Daddy works on less publicized endeavors throughout the year, such as helping charities and keeping the Internet safe.

During the past two years, Go Daddy’s philanthropic works supported a wide variety of charitable and community organizations dedicated to such causes as domestic violence, child abuse, disabled children, teenage homelessness, Parkinson’s research, breast cancer, animal shelters and more. Major recipients of Go Daddy contributions include the Arizona Children’s Association, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Make A Wish Foundation, Toys for Tots, Arizona Humane Society, Phoenix Zoo, Chrysalis, HomeBase Youth Services and The Salvation Army.

Go Daddy employees helped too. This year, 750 Go Daddy employees, family and friends turned out for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International’s Walk to Cure Diabetes in Tempe. Parsons and the Go Daddy corporate team donated $135,000 to support continued juvenile diabetes research.

Parsons, a Purple Heart Marine, is also strongly committed to supporting injured military personnel. In October, Go Daddy sponsored “The Ride for Semper Fi” charity bicycle ride to benefit the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund. The four-day, 430-mile excursion stretched from Scottsdale, AZ to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA.

In addition to charitable donations this year, Go Daddy was instrumental in passing two significant pieces of legislation into federal law. Both aimed at keeping the Internet safe. One protects kids from online sexual predators by prohibiting the transfer of live images of child abuse via the Internet, increasing funding to fight child exploitation on the Web, and providing Internet companies easier measures to shut down online predators targeting children. The second law gives Web companies much-needed tools to take illegitimate Internet pharmacies offline.

“Go Daddy has spent considerable time and energy on bi-partisan legislation this year,” said Parsons. “We feel very good about that, along with the charity work we’ve done. Go Daddy definitely made a difference this year. Now in 2009, it’s onward and upward baby!”

To learn more about Go Daddy’s work to help charity, visit Go Daddy Cares.

About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.

Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and Web site design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce Web site hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group, Inc. has more than 32 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every second. GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world’s largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2007, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all domain names registered in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi. To view Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons’ blog, visit www.BobParsons.tv.

- The Go Daddy Group -

Contacts:

The Go Daddy Group
Lisa Contreras, Senior PR Specialist
480-505-8800 x4641
[email protected]

Source: www.businesswire.com