Posted on October 6, 2026 · The Yong Technologies
It happens more often than you'd think: a volunteer who registered the domain moves away, a former designer stops answering, or a website builder subscription lapses — and the organization loses its website and email overnight. A few minutes today can prevent that.
1. Who is the registrant of your domain?
Your domain should be registered in your organization's name, with a shared organizational email as the contact — not a personal address. Make sure you can log in to the registrar account, and turn on auto-renew.
2. Can you get a full copy of your website?
Ask your provider for a complete backup: files and database. If your site lives on a closed website builder, find out whether you can export your content. If you can't take it with you, you are renting, not owning.
3. Who has admin access?
List every account that can log in to your website, hosting, domain and email. Remove people who no longer need access, and make sure at least two trusted people in your organization have admin rights.
4. Where is your data?
Membership lists, donor records, form submissions and newsletter subscribers are valuable. Know where they are stored, export them regularly and keep them somewhere safe.
5. What does your contract say?
A fair agreement makes clear that once the project is paid, the design and content are yours, and that your provider will help you move if you ever choose to leave.
Our approach
At The Yong Technologies, domains are registered in our clients' names, the final design belongs to the client once paid, and we provide full backups on request. We'd rather keep clients because they're happy than because they're stuck.
Not sure who owns your domain or website? Give us a call and we'll help you find out.
