Recommendation 14

The ALAC should, via the appropriate WG, request access to a share of the gTLD Auction Proceeds. Requested funds should be earmarked to support end user and broad civil society engagement in ICANN. Such a mechanism could replace or complement the existing operational expense incurred by ICANN to support the At-Large Community.

Need for an innovative approach to funding a revitalised At-Large.

The ALAC strongly supports actions to guarantee continued and enhanced funding of At-Large. However, the ALAC is well aware that the gTLD Auction Proceeds were committed to be used for community programs and not ICANN operational funding. Moreover the ALAC is also well aware that the current CCWG looking at Auction Proceeds is not in the business of allocating such funds to recipients, but is designing the process under which application for such funds will be made.

The ALAC is already involved in the first part of this recommendation to the extent of their full participation in the CCWG Auction Proceeds activity. The Vice-Chair of the CCWG Charter Drafting Team was from the ALAC and the ALAC is one of the Chartering Organizations. As such, the ALAC was required to contribute Members to the CCWG and has named five such Members. Other At-Large members are Participants in the CCWG. The ALAC will be called upon to ratify any recommendations that arise out of the CCWG. 

The CCWG will be deciding on the methodology and structure associated with disbursing funds, which will only happen after the CCWG completes its work. However, the CCWG is NOT the place to request funds for specific projects or activities. One of the issues that will be discussed is whether ICANN and its constituent bodies could ultimately apply for any of the funds. If any At-Large people participate in the CCWG with the explicit intent of planning to later request funding for the At-Large Community, we would have to explicitly declare that and as such would not be able to equitably participate in discussions related to this core issue. 

Once the CCWG completes its deliberations, and presuming the Chartering Organizations largely ratify the outcomes, the Board will then consider the recommendations. It is envisioned that if the Board approves, some sort of organization will be created or contracted with to consider projects and do the actual disbursement. 

Moreover, although one can envision all manner of good projects that could be funded, it is not clear that actually funding operational expenses of At-Large is among them, and in fact there is already considerable opposition to doing this, both within At-Large and the rest of ICANN.

So to be clear, the ALAC does not support the recommendation in relation to having access to the auction proceeds funds to support the operational expenses of the ALAC.