Thanks for raising this Seun.

I am not sure that characterizing my position as wanting to go beyond ICANN's mission" is quite accurate. The issue of the mission (in regard to the auction funds) comes out of a dual need: a) to "support" ICANN's Mission and Core values, and b) to protect ICANN's non-profit status.

Since the original auction fund was conceived, we of course have significantly altered the words describing ICANN's mission and core values. That may be for the good or bad depending on how you view things, but it is unlikely that we will roll that change back and equally unlikely that the entire community could be convinced to alter the Bylaws explicitly for wider use of the auction funds.

So we are constrained. But I think it is really important that we use the mission and core values as a constraint, and not the driving objective.

We are talking about well over #200,000,000 (exactly how much will depend on how long the funds last, because there will be growth along the way). This is a one time opportunity to do some real good, and I would like to help ensure that we have as much flexibility as absolutely possible.

Among the original uses that were described in the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook was: "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". My hope is that we can get as close to that as possible, and interpret the various parts of the mission and core values to give us the utmost possible flexibility.

We do not want to endanger ICANN, but we also do not want to squander the money. If we ONLY do things that are strictly within ICANN's scope in how it uses its operational funds, then we may as well just roll the money into the ICANN operational budget. We need to be innovative.

My classic example is Internet Exchange Points. They are not what I would consider something that is strictly within ICANN's mission. But they are very important to parts of our community including ISPs and the RIRs (the second N in ICANN). And they even (typically) require Autonomous System Numbers, one of the unique identifiers that we are here for. And they create great benefit for the "greater Internet community", and perhaps even more important, they help strenghten the relatively weak infrastructure in places not necessarily well served  by the Internet.

More specifically, I want the CCWG to leave the door as wide open as possible while meeting the Board's concerns, to allow project requesters to be innovative in creating viable links from their projects to the constraints that we must meet.

I hope this helps.

Alan



At 06/09/2017 03:29 AM, Seun Ojedeji wrote:

Hello,

There has been ongoing discussion in reaction to the attached letter from the Board. The discussion has been around using the auction funds for purpose beyond the ICANN mission. I was of the opinion that her mission though has a scope was broad enough to ensure the funds have a global reach as much as possible.
However I have also noticed some members (notably Alan) have the view that the funds should be used beyond the ICANN mission scope. While it's not important that we share same opinion I also don't want to take lightly veterans view on this matter, perhaps am missing something :-)

Specifically, is there a disadvantage for At-Large if the auction funds is used within ICANN mission that makes it so important for us to support acting outside of the ICANN mission?

The specific thread can be followed here:
http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/ccwg-auctionproceeds/2017-September/000470.html

I like to read comments from folks here to better inform my participation.

Regards
Sent from my mobile
Kindly excuse brevity and typos
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Erika Mann" <erika@erikamann.com>
Date: Sep 4, 2017 3:29 PM
Subject: [Ccwg-auctionproceeds] Fwd: Board reply to CCWG-AP
To: < ccwg-auctionproceeds@icann.org>
Cc:

Dear All -

herewith I'm forwarding Steve's reply to our letter.

We will have a first exchange on Thursday this week, during our CCWG AP call. I send Steve already a quick reply, saying that we will discuss the Board letter then for the first time.

Best,
Erika


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steve Crocker < steve.crocker@board.icann.org>
Date: Sun, Sep 3, 2017 at 3:19 PM
Subject: Board reply to CCWG-AP
To: Erika Mann <erika@erikamann.com>, Ching Chiao <chiao@brandma.co>, Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org >
Cc: Steve Crocker < steve.crocker@board.icann.org>, Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org >, Icann-board ICANN <icann-board@icann.org>, Avri Doria <avri@apc.org>, "Sarah B. Deutsch" <sarahbdeutsch@gmail.com >, Board Operations <Board-Ops-Team@icann.org >, Sally Costerton < sally.costerton@icann.org>, Samantha Eisner < Samantha.Eisner@icann.org>, Lauren Allison <lauren.allison@icann.org >


Dear Erika and Ching,
 
Thank you for your letter received on May 22, 2017 on behalf of the Cross Community Working Group on New gTLD Auction Proceeds (CCWG-AP) in response to the Board email of March 2nd 2017.
 
On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to see that we are aligned in our thinking regarding the points discussed in the original email. Specifically, in response to your letter, please find attached a letter including additional acknowledgements and requested clarifications.
 
Thank you again for your efforts leading this work.
 
Steve
 





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