FY21 BC Outreach Strategic Plan

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Commercial and Business Users' Constituency [also known as the ICANN GNSO Business Constituency (BC)] FY21 Outreach Strategy seeks to fulfill the BC’s mission [1] as described in the BC’s approved Charter. The BC Outreach goals support the engagement of business users in gTLD policy development and in ICANN’s overall governance.

The BC Outreach Strategy aligns with ICANN strategic objectives, and includes collaborative efforts between the BC and ICANN’s Engagement teams and ICANN org, effective use of CROP funds, as well as activities that are funded from the BC’s membership fees.

The BC’s Outreach Strategy is focused on growing the BC visibility and engagement in ICANN meetings and in selected and related events where business executives and others from the business user communities participate, as well as engaging with governments who may influence ICANN’s stability.

The BC Outreach strategy is described in this document, with specific reference on the use of ICANN’s Community Regional Outreach Program (CROP) funds, and other special funds [some of which are supported by ICANN funding], as well as its own membership funds support activities to increase the engagement of business user companies and business associations and to support the broader BC Outreach Strategy.

The BC Outreach Strategy aims to:

• Effectively use CROP to ensure outreach/inreach in all ICANN regions;
• Use BC funds plus partner with ICANN staff for events both at ICANN and external to ICANN for outreach and inreach; and awareness, including as speakers and co-sponsors;
• Development and enhancement of BC materials, including the “meet the BC” and a member association analysis to promote the diversity of the BC’s memberships;
• Participation in ICANN Newcomers events, including special sessions and Newcomers Booth;
• Continued support from both ICANN and BC for the BC’s Leadership Initiative, which identifies and sponsors 1-2 executives/senior leaders from highly qualified potential members – companies and associations
• Engagement at external events, such as the WSIS Forum, IGF, and other directly related community events, such as regional and national IGFs, RIR regional summits, etc. based on member interest and availability to support as speakers and
• Enhancing the visibility of the BC at national and sub regional level IGF initiatives through distribution of BC Fact Sheets/Newsletters via members participation
• Encouraging speaker opportunities for BC members at the annual IGF in “flash sessions” that are relevant to BC, participation in ICANN’s Open Forum, and any ICANN organized workshops
• Re-establishing at least one annual special lunch/breakfast/engagement with the ICANN GAC, and one special event with either the ccNSO or ALAC on an annual basis [co organized with the CSG constituencies and supported by ICANN at meeting 1 and 3 to strengthen cross community exchange on relevant topics of mutual interest

CROP FY21 Activities:

The BC Outreach activities will draw on ICANN FY21 CROP travel support for three travelers as defined in the ICANN CROP, overseen by the BC Outreach committee and approved by the BC ExCom [and consistent with CROP guidelines] and in keeping with the BC’s regional and other focus priorities. CROP events will benefit from full support from the BC Outreach Committee and always include BC membership materials suited to the event. BC members are encouraged to submit proposals for events at a national or sub regional/regional level where the BC can broaden awareness of the BC’s mission, and recruit new members.

For FY21, the BC Outreach Committee has encouraged early submission of ideas for the full fiscal year. Proposals are preferred for external events but are also welcomed for maximizing outreach support during ICANN meetings. Reports are required, and those funded then write an article about their event/participation activities for the BC Newsletter.

BC Senior Executive Leadership Focus: One sponsored by ICANN and one sponsored by BC Funding.

• The BC supports a senior leadership Executive sponsorship from its own funds, in addition to a senior executive leader supported by Special Project Funds/ICANN.
• Bringing senior leaders into ICANN meetings is challenging in the time demands for their absence from daily work responsibilities, so the BC has a well-established informal coaching program, which includes pre-event coaching/mentoring, onsite coaching, etc. 

Key objectives of the BC overall:

• Provide mentorship and informal support to business representatives attending ICANN or BC meetings as they learn about the BC and understand how to best participate.
• Present information about ICANN and the BC at ICT and Internet governance related events, particularly in regions where there is limited BC membership and/or at events where attendance by business entities that may qualify to join the BC participate.
• Hold special events both at ICANN and at other related events to inform the broader business user community about ICANN and the BC.
• Provide financial support for BC members with experience and expertise in the BC and in ICANN to attend outreach and recruitment events on behalf of the BC, specifically to do BC membership recruitment, using Community Regional Outreach Programmed (CROP) and other BC approved funding from BC budget.
• The priority for CROP will be to advance engagement in the least represented sub-regions/regions but, may, as exception, support travel to an ICANN meeting, if a specially organized outreach event justifies such engagement.

Reporting:

Continue and enhance the reporting of all BC funded travelers attending Outreach events relying on the required reporting of the CROP program as a role model for all BC funded engagements, but where needed, include additional BC requirements.

Enhanced visibility of BC’s Outreach engagement via the BC Newsletter whenever required. Those funded to attend ICANN are required to submit reports, and encouraged to draft an article for the BC newsletter, and potentially, for their own community’s newsletter or website upon their return from their participation. Previous BC Newsletters are available on www.bizconst.org.

COMMUNITY REGIONAL OUTREACH PROGRAM (CROP) – THE BC’S USE OF CROP FUNDS

CROP funds will support travelers to events that are primarily focused on companies/associations that fit the definition of Business Users. The BC presence and participation at events will be further reinforced by materials and presentations developed within the BC’s Outreach Committee and the designated CROP BC traveler. Such materials will be shared via the full BC list, as part of the Meeting Outcome Report required from all funded BC outreach events. [All materials must reflect the BC official policy positions, in discussions about ICANN policy topics/or other governance topics.]

Normally, CROP will primarily support the engagement in or be associated with external to ICANN events where business users can be easily reached, rather than creating unique events, in order to avoid additional organizing costs, other than those that CROP covers. On some occasions, CROP will support bringing members from the region of the ICANN meeting who can support the outreach efforts during the ICANN meeting. 

The BC Executive Committee will evaluate/approve funding requests from BC members to attend an event, and specifically evaluate the effectiveness of the use of CROP funds to augment BC funding participation. Such BC expenditures may include printing of brochures or fact sheets for use, which will not be covered by CROP. Responsibility for making recommendations for use of funding lies with the BC Outreach Committee, with budgetary review by the BC Financial Committee and final approval resting with the BC ExCom. Selected events might require sponsorship or registration fees. Ultimately, approval is also required by the ICANN staff and support from the regional VPs/business VP of ICANN.

For CROP and other BC supported funding, priority for funding will be given to BC experienced members who have a speaking role at an approved event, where the speaker has the ability to directly promote the work of the BC (versus speaking on another topic). Where a unique relationship exists between a BC member and an organization [including ICANN regional teams] organizing an outside event that has high visibility within a region/sub-region with low BC membership, CROP can be considered to bring a BC member as a special “recruiter”. Given the limited funding from CROP, priority will be given to proposals that are well documented regarding high opportunity for new BC member(s) and enhancing ICANN visibility over the longer term.

As an exception and due to the limitations of CROP funding for FY21, CROP funding could be used to support participation and the active engagement of a BC member who could not otherwise attend an ICANN meeting or another major ICANN-related event where a BC Outreach event is organized, and a particular BC member brings unique contacts in that region. In these cases, the member’s engagement must augment the legitimacy of the BC’s role and effectiveness of BC outreach within that region. This would be an exception and would be assessed on a case-by-case basis, looking at the needs of the BC and the parameters of the CROP program.

Documentation:

A written proposal, and documented plans are required for consideration of CROP, as well as any BC funding for Outreach and Awareness/Recruitment. A written report that assesses the effectiveness of a particular event, direct and indirect outcomes is required.

Outcomes:

Through our outreach efforts, the BC expects to:

• Reach an in-person audience of qualified 20-25 potential members through attending and speaking at various events and conferences, with a hard goal of 8-10 new recruits from the least represented organizations but establishing relationships for follow up with the full group.
• The total reach for awareness is approximately 1000 during FY 21 but this is for awareness; only a small number of these contacts will meet membership criteria, yet, there is benefit from awareness about why ICANN matters to the business user community and such businesses/associations can be encouraged to engage with ICANN at the regional level, or via the National IGF events where ICANN is typically a speaker/supporter.
• The BC’s focus is quality, versus quantity of candidate members, as experience has shown that associations and industry groups can more consistently maintain attendance and contribute to policy development than individual small companies from developing countries, but need to have a reason to participate in ICANN – e.g. a policy issue of concern. 
• Attract 8-10 new members by the end of FY21. 

Goals:

• Distribute 800 BC newsletters, 350 BC business cards, and a target of 500 factsheets with a goal of 50 percent being external to ICANN meetings. For example, the BC will seek to distribute 500 from all three published items at the ICANN AGM and another 200 at the IGF2019 in Berlin using the ICANN booth as a distribution mechanism. All BC members are encouraged to distribute Fact Sheets and Newsletters at external events. The additional distribution opportunities will be developed by the events organized for CROP outreach events, and at the ICANN meetings.

• Invite all Association members of the BC to post a story about the BC’s focus on a particular policy area that their members care about in their newsletters or official publications. The topics should focus on those areas where there is strong consensus within the BC. Such a story could be provided to any BC association members who might be willing to publish it, with a personal introduction, in their association newsletters.

• Attract more than 200 webpage views through social media enhanced engagement – to be developed further, including encouraging all BC member to like the BC Facebook page and to send at least three (3) tweets a year about their engagement with the BC activities which must be consistent with BC policy positions or activities if the BC is referenced in the tweet/post.
• Improve the ICANN Board’s understanding of the BC, specifically in regard to the BC’s views and perspectives, and the engagement of Business Users at ICANN, e.g. explore a BC breakfast with full Board and CSG as a special event for the BC’s 20th anniversary during Montreal/ICANN66, as a celebration event and provide BC sponsorship with support from other CSG constituencies. This will strengthen direct and positive engagement of business users with the full board. 

Special enhancement of engagement of BC members within the BC to strengthen their visibility and engagement:

In FY 2018-2019, the BC commissioned a special study for the Latin American region, funding a $25,000 (USD) study to better understand what and why Latin American businesses/ associations might increase their engagement in ICANN. While the study is specific to the Latin American region, the BC believes that it has relevance to other regions’ as a general reference document. Relevant recommendations from that study included ways to further develop the BC’s own awareness about the challenges and interests at the sub regional and regional level, via inclusion of mini sessions at BC virtual calls; and translation of BC website to UN languages among others.