[ALAC] Briefing note: Use of gTLD Auction Proceeds for ICANN Reserve

Judith Hellerstein judith at jhellerstein.com
Thu Oct 26 06:12:05 UTC 2017


Hi Seun,
As explained by either Xavier or Sam Eisner using some of the funds for the reserve is legal however, people on the group at least at the time they made the presentation  felt that while not illegal sends the wrong message and so they preferred not to do it. Also the consensus from the call and the survey taken by members and participants felt that any amount going to replenish the reserve be under 10%. I for one agree with that as the people who spoke about this made a very good case.  Interested to hear what others have to say, but as I and Maureen said the group has moved passed this point many months ago and is now discussing the frameworks on how the structure that manages the money and gives the grants will function. Since we are no longer discussing this issue, I do not think it is fair for us to argue on this anymore. We need to focus on the issues now being discussed

Happy to discuss this with you and others

Judith

Sent from my iPad 
judith at jhellerstein.com 
Skype ID:JudithHellerstein

> On Oct 25, 2017, at 6:17 PM, Alan Greenberg <alan.greenberg at mcgill.ca> wrote:
> 
> Thanks Seun.
> 
> There is no question of the "legality" of ICANN using the auction find to top up the reset. Or at least I have never heard mention of such a concern.
> 
> Whether operating costs are reasonable and justified is an ongoing issue. It might be addressed in the current public comment, or in the one to be opened on the FY19 Plan and Budget.
> 
> Alan
> 
> 
> On October 25, 2017 4:49:51 AM GMT+01:00, Seun Ojedeji <seun.ojedeji at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Alan,
> On the assumption that ICANN can legally use part of the proceeds to fund reserve, I'd be also can live with up to a 20% of whatever is the accessible amount of the AP.
> However on a related note, I do personally think ICANN operating cost is quite on the high side in the first place and while effort is being made to get a 1 year reserve, i will be interested to know how much effort the Board is putting on 2 specific items:
> 1. Avoid continuous increase on the operating cost which could then make a year target meaningless.
> 2. Minimize operating cost as much as possible (of course without affecting the SO/AC part of things) so a 1 year reserve could end up sufficient for many more months when the need arises.
> Regards
> Sent from my mobile
> Kindly excuse brevity and typos
> On Oct 25, 2017 2:07 AM, "Alan Greenberg" <alan.greenberg at mcgill.ca > wrote:
> This is a briefing note in preparation for the discussion in AbuDhabi current scheduled for 9:30 am, local time, on Sunday.
> As is common for non-profit organizations, and particularly ones where their income or expenses might be subject to unexpected fluctuations, ICANN maintains a "Reserve Fund" to allow it to cover unexpected expenses or below expectations income. Currently the target for the fund is one year's regular expenses, but due to unexpected expenses (primarily associated with the IANA transition and accountability exercise), it is below that. There is an open Public Comment where you can find out more about the fund - https://community.icann.org/x/GJNEB.
> It has been suggested that some portion of the proceeds of the new gTLD Auctions (currently about $235m, although there is some chance it could be as low as $105m) be used to help build back the reserve.
> Excluding this possibility, the target use of the Auction Funds will be projects that are aligned with ICANN's mission and enhance the Internet (wording still under debate).
> This brief discussion will be to solicit thoughts on whether this would be a good idea or not.
> Alan
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