The problem is legal before anything else. To allow the compensation (not salary) to the chair we did a formal legal move, consulting the court, and this was allowed because there is, really, much more burden to the chair out of the internal tasks, not demanded to the members of the board.
Hmmn. I see why Karl says that board members need their own lawyers. Anyone who told you that it was difficult to pay the directors of a California non-profit was at best misinformed. The California not-for-profit law makes it quite clear that directors can be paid. The main rules are that the full board, not just a committee, must set the compensation (Section 5212(a)(3)), and that the compensation be reasonable (Section 5235(a)), which considering how large ICANN is, and how much work it expects of its directors, would never be a problem for any plausible amount of pay. R's, John