Background


The charter, as set by the ALAC,

c) Establishing a framework, including a possible recommendation for a separate ICANN originated foundation, for managing any auction income, beyond costs. for future rounds and ongoing assistance;


The Final Application guidebook contains the following:

Possible uses include formation of a foundation with a clear mission and a transparent way to allocate funds to projects that are of interest to the greater Internet community, such as grants to support new gTLD applications or registry operators from communities in subsequent gTLD rounds, the creation of an ICANN-administered/community-based fund for specific projects for the benefit of the Internet community, the creation of a registry continuity fund for the protection of registrants (ensuring that funds would be in place to support the operation of a gTLD registry until a successor could be found), or establishment of a security fund to expand use of secure protocols, conduct research, and support standards development organizations in accordance with ICANN's security and stability mission.

The two elements in these quotes are obtaining funds that can be used to offset the costs for JAS-qualified applicants and establishing a framework for managing and distributing these funds. In discussing these two objects there is a close link between them, and in many cases it is hard to imagine one of them happening without the first. For example, without funds, there is no purpose in a framework that has been institutionally instantiated, yet without a framework it is impossible to collect funds.

Framework

As stated in the footnote in the Applicant Guidebook, investigations should be held on creating a foundation or fund to handle any auction funds that are not used in the manner described in this comment. Additionally, funds could be obtained from other fundraising opportunities such as the auction of single character second level domain names, or from donations from, e.g. the incumbent gTLD and ccTLD registrars and registries. In the case that such a fund or foundation can be setup in time to provide further funding opportunities for applicants in the later stages of the process, this should be documented at a later stage.

The JAS WG recommendation that the Board set up a planning committee, at the same time as the approval for the new gTLD program is approved, to investigate the various possibilities for funds and/or foundation and after consultation with the community to make recommendations on the formations of such a fund. the specific work items that should be included in the Board Foundation Recommendion WG include, but are not limited to:

  • [Work with ICANN staff to investigate and understand the legal structures that are available to a California 501C corporation for creating a fund of Foundations.
  • [Work with ICANN staff to investigate and understand the requirements for creation of a fund or foundation in California.] (move to footnote was suggested)
  • Draft a document defining the core responsibilities and activities of the fund or foundations.
  • Define methods of work for the found or foundation, including fundraising, and fund distributions
  • Suggest membership for the first board of the foundation, including dealing with issue such as as the relationship between ICANN's corporate structure and the new fund or foundation.
  • Start obtaining pledges of funding with which to seed the resulting fund or foundation.

The JAS WG recommends that the members of this WG be drawn from all of the Supporting Organizations and Adivisory Committees to insure that the concerns of all segements of the community be taken into account.

Additionally, as recommended in MR1, JAS recommends that ICANN arrange a contract with a professional fundraiser familiar with this sort of international effort to support JAS-qualified applicants, to work with the Board Foundation Working Group.

Funds

Funds for the foundation to mange and distribute can come from a variety of sources:

  • Budget allocation from ICANN, including the USD$ 2,000,000 committed by the ICANN Board.
  • Solicitation of funds to match the initial allocation made by the ICANN Board of Directors
  • Auction proceeds beyond the cost of the running the auction
  • Allocation of funds from ccTLDs
  • Allocations of funds from incumbent gTLD registries and registrars
  • External funding sources
  • Other source yet to be determined

Donors:

Various registrars and registries from both the gNSO and the ccNSO have made statements that if there were a way to donate that could not be gamed, they would be interested in helping. A well-formed fund or foundation could provide an opportunity for such generosity.
Various campaigns are possible. There is, for example, quite a lots of money in the hands of the some of the existing gTLD registries and registrars. We have, for example, seen an escalation in the amount each sponsor gives to the three ICANN meeting this year. There is a lot of funding available, it is just that no one has been doing the requisite fundraising.

Auctions:

Since the GNSO first allowed for auctions as a possible method of resolving gTLD name contention, there has been the intent that these funds be applied to worthy causes including the support for what has now being called JAS-qualified applicants. Thought the quantity of the funds that may result from is unknown and they are certainly not available for the payment of fees in the 2011-2012 rounds, the funding will be available to fill the reserve and risk funds, if those funds are defered to cover the costs for the application fee reductions, as recommended in MR1 and MR2 for the fees of JAS-qualified applicants.

Availability of Funds

[The goal of the program in terms of providing funds is both immediate and ongoing.  There is an immediate need to obtain funds sufficient to help a significant number of JAS-qualified applicants to participate in the application process of the first round in 2012.  There is an intermediate goal to assist the JAS-qualified applicants in setting up their registries in 2013.  And there is a long term goal of insuring that the second, and further, rounds will have a stable source of funding available for assisting JAS-qualified applicants.]

Use of funds

Funds collected, can be used for various purposes to assist JAS-qualified participants.  Included among these uses in the first round are:

  • Application assistance beyond the JAS recommended reduction in fees
  • Assistance in defraying the cost of the required continuity instrument
  • Overcoming technical requirement gaps, such as the IPv6 and other technical requirements which may require technical upgrade not obtainable through in-kind assistance.
  •  
  • No labels