Dear Brent, Thank you for your note. I do think that that GNSO council would be interested in speaking with you about this issue during one of our calls. I will contact you directly to schedule a time in one of our upcoming meetings. Thanks a. On 5 dec 2007, at 23.23, Doug Brent wrote:
GNSO Counselors,
I understand that there is an ongoing discussion regarding travel support for GNSO Council members to ICANN meetings. You all are volunteers, and rightly want an explicit policy for travel support, a rationale that makes sense to you about that policy, and understanding of how that plays into the budget.
Just a few years ago, this was an easy discussion with an automatic decision...ICANN just didn't have the resources to broadly fund travel. Now, it is important to re-look at the situation and come up with explicit, sensible policies....which is challenging. How do we encourage and support the activities of volunteers? How do we justify the money we collect and spend? This is clearly an issue with broad community impact.
Staff is actively working on this topic, with a goal (a tough one) to get a broad community policy ready for review by the Delhi meeting. Another very logical input point is the 2009 budget work, which will certainly begin in Delhi. I'd be happy to join a GNSO phone call some time soon to get your input on this matter, or am also happy to hear directly from you on this via email or phone.
Thanks, Doug -- Doug Brent Chief Operating Officer ICANN Voice: +1 310.301.3871 Mobile: +1 650.996.4447 Fax: +1 310.823.8649