Re: [ga] Funding ICANN

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Danny, Bill and all assembly members,

  Bill is quite right that funding is the single biggest problem that it seems
Stuart Lynn believes faces ICANN now.  The funding problems ICANN
has had and it seems continues to have are partly of their own making,
as many have noted from ICANN's conception.

  In the Lynn/Touton/Simms Plan Stuart Lynn seems to be of the
believe that $10m will be needed for the management of the DNS
alone, and a total budget of $50m for ICANN is what the plan
projected.  Karl Auerbach amongst a growing number of other
knowledgeable stakeholders have estimated that the budget
really needed for management of the DNS is between
$2 and $2m.  And ICANN's total budget should not need
to exceed $10m as a non-profit Corporation.  INEGroup
has done two studies that were provided to the NTIA
regarding budgeting estimates for ICANN to provide
for their effective operation for over a 5 year period
and came to about the same conclusions that Karl
had come to.

How can ICANN achieve stable funding?

  INEGroup believes and has itself demonstrated to our members
that funding for a non-profit approximately the same size and scope
of ICANN can best be accomplished by the creation of a Trust
Instrument where as required by the IRS to meet tax exempt status,
receives 2/3s of its funding from donations or as a result of proceeds
originating from donations under 501 (c3).  Once such a "Perpetual
Living Trust" is established and base funding accomplished, ongoing
funding needs with a built in 8-10% increase on a yearly basis
can easily be achieved.

  Presently, and up to this point ICANN has done a poor job
of soliciting or collection of donations.  This we believe is due
to several reasons, the greatest of which is that the conduct
of the ICANN staff and BoD has been sub par.  It seems
also that funding planning is less than adequate due to the
prevailing attitude conduct problems and lack of ability of
the ICANN staff in particular, which has been addressed
repeatedly in the Internet and mainstream press.  The remaining
problem that it seems that ICANN has hoisted upon itself,
which is related to it's personnel conduct, is the failure to
implement a At-Large membership by which a pool of
potential donors, as well a membership fees could go
some distance in securing ongoing funding, but not
initial funding.  ICANN's fiduciary activity has been much
less than reasonable as spending in non productive or
central areas, has been inconsistent with an organization
that has an admitted funding problem.

DannyYounger@cs.com wrote:

> Bill Semich is correct in asserting that the restructuring proposal is very
> weak on the issue that seems of greatest concern to ICANN right now: funding.
>
> Funding is an issue of such importance that it assuredly compelled Mr. Lynn
> to propose governmental involvement in ICANN, even though official US policy
> as cited by the White Paper states:  "the U.S. continues to believe, as do
> most commenters, that neither national governments acting as sovereigns nor
> intergovernmental organizations acting as representatives of governments
> should participate in management of Internet names and addresses."
>
> So, how do we deal with the problem?  Bill has offered one approach... I
> would like to hear from others... perhaps we could get some feedback from
> members of the Budget Advisory Group who even now must be in consultation
> with Stuart Lynn over the details of the new annual budget.  Additionally, it
> would be of benefit to all of us if we could actually review the preliminary
> budget (which still has not been posted).  We can't help that much if we
> continue to be kept in the dark.
>
> Perhaps Mr. Lynn can let us know who currently sits on the Budget Advisory
> Group, and when the proposed budget will be made available for review.
>
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Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 121k members/stakeholdes strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-244-3801 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208


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