Dear Councilors, Seeing no further questions or concerns, we will get the Council’s letter, on the use of auction proceeds for the Applicant Support Program, sent to the ICANN Board shortly. Best, Steve From: Steve Chan via council <council@icann.org> Reply-To: Steve Chan <steve.chan@icann.org> Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024 at 12:18 PM To: Justine Chew <justine.chew.icann@gmail.com> Cc: "council@gnso.icann.org" <council@gnso.icann.org> Subject: [council] Re: [Ext] Re: Re: Board Letter on ASP Thanks for the eagle-eyed review Anne and Justine, Updated draft attached. Best, Steve From: Justine Chew <justine.chew.icann@gmail.com> Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024 at 11:57 AM To: Steve Chan <steve.chan@icann.org> Cc: Anne ICANN <anneicanngnso@gmail.com>, "lawrence@microboss.org" <lawrence@microboss.org>, "council@gnso.icann.org" <council@gnso.icann.org> Subject: [Ext] Re: [council] Re: Board Letter on ASP Agree with Anne on her Para 1. As for her Para 2, the word "Program" should be deleted as I had proposed earlier since the process was called "GNSO Guidance Process for Applicant Support". Thanks, Justine On Fri, 30 Aug 2024 at 02:44, Anne ICANN <anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com>> wrote: Thanks Steve. I agree with Justine's changes. Please note Para. 1 sentence ends with "next round gTLD application round". I think you may want to make applications plural and end the sentence there? Para. 2 - I think we want a "the" in front of "Applicant Support Program". Thank you, Anne Anne Aikman-Scalese GNSO Councilor NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2024 anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com> On Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 11:17 AM Steve Chan via council <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> wrote: Hi Justine, Lawrence, all, I’ve taken the liberty of updating the letter to incorporate the suggestions from Justine, which seem to just be concerned with accuracy and adherence to the outputs of the GGP, as well as being responsive to Anne’s queries. New proposed deadline! 23:59 UTC on Thursday, 29 August. Best, Steve From: Justine Chew via council <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> Reply-To: Justine Chew <justine.chew.icann@gmail.com<mailto:justine.chew.icann@gmail.com>> Date: Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at 8:01 PM To: "lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org>" <lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org>> Cc: "council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>" <council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>> Subject: [council] Re: Board Letter on ASP Dear Lawrence, In response to Anne's queries, I refer to the following GGP for Applicant Support guidance recommendations: Guidance Recommendation 7: In the scenario that there is inadequate funding for all qualified applicants in the Applicant Support Program, the recommended methodology for allocating financial support should be for ICANN org to allocate limited funding by way of fee reduction equally across all qualified applicants, while not hindering the efficiency of the process. In this context the working group agreed to assume, for the sake of equity, that one application equaled one string. This recommendation is made in the context of no additional funding being made available. However, the group recommends that ICANN org give high priority to and make every effort to provide additional funding so that all successful applicants are supported. Guidance Recommendation 8: To mitigate the risk that the allocation of support under the Applicant Support Program could be diluted to the point of being unhelpful, ICANN org should designate a minimum level of support each qualified applicant must receive, and develop a plan if funding drops below that level. Since Council has adopted the GGP's Final Report (including the guidance recommendations above), I would like to suggest 2 amendments to the draft letter: * The GNSO Council supports this intervention as we believe it is not in variance with advice guidance recommendations previously provided to the Board through the Final Report of the GNSO Guidance Process (GPP) for Applicant Support Program GGP process, and we also believe this would enhance the success of the ASP such that a repeat of the challenges identified with the previous round would be avoided. * It is our understanding also that by this action, meaningful support would be provided for up to 45 new gTLD qualified ASP applicants or an anticipated full support for at least half that number of applicants. Thanks for considering. Justine On Thu, 29 Aug 2024 at 07:07, Anne ICANN via council <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> wrote: Many thanks, Lawrence, for drafting. One question remaining for me is the reference to "anticipated full support" for half of the anticipated funding at 75 to 85% budgeted for 45 qualified applicants. The reason I am asking the question about that is that the current version of the ASP Handbook only makes reference to "up to" 85% of the application fee being available. Please see this link to the version published August 9 - noting the chart on page 7. https://newgtldprogram.icann.org/sites/default/files/documents/next-round-as... [newgtldprogram.icann.org]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/newgtldprogram.icann.org/sites/default/fi...> (I'm not opposed to full support but as far as I know, it's not contemplated based on the IRT work on the ASP Sub-track.) Can you bring me up to date with respect to the possibility of "full support"? Was this a matter of GGP Guidance? Thank you, Anne Anne Aikman-Scalese GNSO Councilor NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2024 anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com> On Tue, Aug 27, 2024 at 4:44 PM Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts via council <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> wrote: Dear Steve, Thanks for the typo corrections and edit. Your submission is indeed helpful and the clarity between the auction proceed funding and Grant program improves my knowledge. Would wait to review Kurt response and those from other council members. Lawrence Olawale-Roberts Global President & GMD, MicroBoss. ICANN GNSO Councilor Email: Lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org> Skype: Lawrencegroove Mobile: +234.8033509558 ________________________________ From: Steve Chan <steve.chan@icann.org<mailto:steve.chan@icann.org>> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2024 12:14 AM To: Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts <lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org>>; desiree-me <desiree-me@protonmail.com<mailto:desiree-me@protonmail.com>>; kurt kjpritz.com [kjpritz.com]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/kjpritz.com__;!!PtGJab4!7-1OYrO0hB9jN7mw4g...> <kurt@kjpritz.com<mailto:kurt@kjpritz.com>> Cc: council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org> <council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>> Subject: Re: [council] Re: Board Letter on ASP Dear Councilors, I have taken the liberty of putting Lawrence’s draft onto Council letterhead, which you will find attached. Note, I’ve made a couple of non-substantive typo and grammar corrections. I would note that per Tripti’s blog<https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/icann-board-seeks-input-on-applicant-...>, correspondence was requested by 12 August, so we are far behind schedule at this point. I would encourage you all to wrap up discussions as quickly as possible in order to deliver your input to the Board while it remains timely. To facilitate the conclusion of those discussions, perhaps I can respond to the questions from Kurt/RySG. As the blog notes, $5 million will come from the auction proceeds and $5 million will come from application fees. The $5 million from the auction proceeds is not a loan and therefore there is no further impact to the application fees. I would also note that the $5 million will be from the auction proceeds and not the Grant Program; the ICANN Board/ICANN org are not and will never apply for a grant via the Grant Program. If I may, perhaps I can suggest a deadline of 23:59 UTC on Wednesday, 28 August for any further edits or concerns? Best, Steve From: "Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts via council" <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> Reply-To: "lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org>" <lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org>> Date: Monday, August 26, 2024 at 3:32 PM To: desiree-me <desiree-me@protonmail.com<mailto:desiree-me@protonmail.com>>, "kurt kjpritz.com [kjpritz.com]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/kjpritz.com__;!!PtGJab4!7-1OYrO0hB9jN7mw4g...>" <kurt@kjpritz.com<mailto:kurt@kjpritz.com>> Cc: "council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>" <council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>> Subject: [council] Re: Board Letter on ASP Dear Kurt, Desire and All, Thanks for carefully reviewing the draft and proposing the clarifying questions to seek further details. The suggested questions are at variance with current understanding of the board’s intent and sponsoring program and so I respectfully decline accepting this edit till we consult and reach an agreement on possible text to adopt. The board seeks to uterlise funds from the Auction proceeds through the ICANN Grant program which has a modus operandi of granting funds to applicants rather than giving funds out as a loan. My belief is that this edit has the potential of changing the dynamics of the ICANN Grant program as currently structured from grants to loans. I fear that the consideration of this intervention as a loan may set an unintended precedence. The boards letter also stated that 50% of the ASP cost would be funded from application fees from the coming round which suggests that the fee charged would be reduced by half in the least. Am happy to jump on a call with you and other interested parties to reach a compromise. Lawrence. Get Outlook for iOS [aka.ms]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/aka.ms/o0ukef__;!!PtGJab4!9n09XSbyDk7oDWV...> ________________________________ From: desiree-me <desiree-me@protonmail.com<mailto:desiree-me@protonmail.com>> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2024 7:12:19 PM To: kurt kjpritz.com [kjpritz.com]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/kjpritz.com__;!!PtGJab4!7-1OYrO0hB9jN7mw4g...> <kurt@kjpritz.com<mailto:kurt@kjpritz.com>> Cc: Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts <lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org>>; council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org> <council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>> Subject: Re: [council] Re: Board Letter on ASP Hi Kurt Thanks for proposing to clarify the request. I would support adding those or similar sentences to Lawerence's draft. Desiree -- NA GNSO Councilor, CPH On Friday, 23 August 2024 at 03:05, kurt kjpritz.com [kjpritz.com]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/kjpritz.com__;!!PtGJab4!7-1OYrO0hB9jN7mw4g...> via council <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> wrote: Hi Lawerence: Thanks for the well written email. The Registry Stakeholder group discussed and approved the position laid out in your draft but noted some lack of detail in the ICANN proposal and hope that we could add some clarifying questions to your draft. We could put it in the following way or you can re-write it in your own style and insert it in a place you deem appropriate: “While we support the proposition unreservedly, we note some lack of detail in the blog posting and hope that ICANN could provide that in advance of the commitment of auction proceeds for this purpose. Does ICANN propose that the use of auction proceeds be a loan to the TLD Program, to be paid back from application fees? The gTLD application fee justification recognised the Applicant Support Program as one of the costs to be covered. If the use of auction founds is not a loan, what is the effect on those application fees? If the use of these funds is a loan, what is the timing of the payback? While neither approach would affect our support of the use of auction funds, we think it is appropriate to describe and manage the implementation details of this use of funds.” Lawerence, if you disagree with including this material, let’s have a chat at your convenience. Best regards, Kurt On 13 Aug 2024, at 3:55 am, Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts via council <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> wrote: Sir Osvaldo, Many Thanks for the feedback. LOR Get Outlook for iOS [aka.ms]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/aka.ms/o0ukef__;!!PtGJab4!9n09XSbyDk7oDWV...> ________________________________ From: Osvaldo Novoa <osvaldo.j.novoa@gmail.com<mailto:osvaldo.j.novoa@gmail.com>> Sent: Monday, August 12, 2024 12:27:39 PM To: Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts <lawrence@microboss.org<mailto:lawrence@microboss.org>> Cc: council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org> <council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>> Subject: Re: [council] Board Letter on ASP Dear Lawrence, Thank you for the draft response. I support it, excellent work. Best regards, Osvaldo On 11Aug, 2024, at 20:23, Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts via council <council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org>> wrote: Dear All, I committed to turning in a draft as a response to the boards letter seeking $5M in funding for ASP from the Auction Proceeds. Kindly find my draft below: From: The ICANN GNSO Council To: The ICANN Board Dear Tripti, We write in response to your letter asking for input on new gTLD Applicant Support Program [newgtldprogram.icann.org]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/newgtldprogram.icann.org/en/application-r...> (ASP) use of $5M in Auction proceeds. It is our understanding that the ICANN Board and Org. seek a workaround to provide adequate funding to kick off the Applicant Support Program prior to the commencement of the next round of New gTLD application round. The GNSO Council support this intervention as we believe it is not in variance with advise previously provided the board through the Applicant Support Program GGP process, and we also believe this would enhance the success of the ASP such that a repeat of the challenges identified with the previous round would be avoided. It is our understanding also that by this action, meaningful support would be provided for up to 45 new gTLD applicants or an anticipated full support for at least half that number of applicants. The GNSO Council will continue to evaluate progress made with the ASP and provide feedback deemed necessary. DiBiase, Gregory GNSO Council Chair Lawrence. Get Outlook for iOS [aka.ms]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/aka.ms/o0ukef__;!!PtGJab4!9n09XSbyDk7oDWV...> _______________________________________________ council mailing list -- council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org> To unsubscribe send an email to council-leave@icann.org<mailto:council-leave@icann.org> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). 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You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on. _______________________________________________ council mailing list -- council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org> To unsubscribe send an email to council-leave@icann.org<mailto:council-leave@icann.org> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on. _______________________________________________ council mailing list -- council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org> To unsubscribe send an email to council-leave@icann.org<mailto:council-leave@icann.org> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on. _______________________________________________ council mailing list -- council@icann.org<mailto:council@icann.org> To unsubscribe send an email to council-leave@icann.org<mailto:council-leave@icann.org> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on.