Dear All, With reference to Item 13: Any Other Business (5 mins) on the GNSO Council agenda<http://www.gnso.icann.org/en/meetings/agenda-council-19mar15-en.htm> for tomorrow 13.1 - CWG on Auction Proceeds The following letter went out to the Constituency/SG/SO/AC Chairs. Attached and copied below, are the 9 responses received to date for you to review before the Council meeting tomorrow and which may perhaps help in determining next steps. Thank you. Kind regards, Glen A working group to develop recommendations on new gTLD auction proceeds During the GNSO weekend sessions at ICANN 52 in Singapore, the GNSO discussed the issue of new gTLD auction proceeds. As you know, new gTLD auction proceeds have been building up and there is no current plan in place for the use or allocation of these funds. In order to commence discussions on a plan for the use of new gTLD auction proceeds, the GNSO would like to form a working group to develop recommendations on this topic. As such, I am reaching out to you to see whether there is an interest to form a cross-community working group on this topic. Note, should there not be sufficient interest to form a cross-community working group at this stage, the GNSO plans to form a GNSO working group on this topic which will be open to anyone interested to participate in. Regardless of which approach is chosen, it is the GNSO's expectation that any work on this topic will be conducted through an open and consultative process allowing everyone interested to participate and provide their perspectives. In order to determine the interest from the different communities in this topic, I would like to ask you to provide an initial response to me by 14 March 2015 at the latest. Based on the feedback received, the GNSO Council will initially discuss how to proceed at its meeting on 19 March 2015. Sincerely, Jonathan Robinson For and on behalf of the ICANN GNSO Council A working group to develop recommendations on new gTLD auction proceeds Input was requested from Constituencies, Stakeholder Groups, Supporting Organisations and Advisory Committees Responses were received from: ccNSO GAC Intellectual Property Constituency Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers Constituency Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group NRO Executive Council Registrar Stakeholder Group Registries Stakeholder Group W3C ccNSO - Bart Boswinkel Thank you for the invitation to discuss the formation of a cross-community working group to develop recommendations for the allocation of the new gTLD auction proceeds. On behalf of Byron, I want to inform you that this topic will be on the ccNSO Council meetings agenda of 19 March 2015. After the Council meeting we will get back to you as soon as possible. Government Advisory Committee - Olof Nordling on behalf of the GAC Chair Thanks again for your invitation for the GAC to consider involvement in a WG regarding New gTLD auction proceeds. Having circulated this invitation to the GAC Membership, Member comments received so far are all positive, supporting the initiative and GAC involvement, noting synergies with other GAC activities and even providing concrete proposals for the subject matter of how to best use auction proceeds. Accordingly, please note the GAC's support for this initiative, with a GAC preference that this will materialize as a cross-constituency working group. The GAC is looking forward to hearing from you on how the initiative will develop following the GNSO's further consideration and please count on positive involvement by the GAC in upcoming work in line with this initiative. This message is sent on behalf of the GAC Chair. Intellectual Property Constituency - Greg Shatan - Chair I appreciate the opportunity to respond, on behalf of the Intellectual Property Constituency, to the question of whether the GNSO should establish a Working Group to develop recommendations on new gTLD auction proceeds. The IPC believes that such a Working Group should be formed. Auction proceeds represent a significant sum, and are essentially "found money" from running "last chance" auctions where the members of the contention set could not arrive at another option. The IPC is very interested in participating in a Working Group regarding the gTLD auction proceeds, whether it is a GNSO Working Group or a Cross-Community Working Group. If a Cross-Community Working Group is formed, it is critical that the IPC has a member's seat on the CCWG, rather than being forced to participate through a single Commercial Stakeholder Group representative. Each Constituency will have its own opinions, which may be in disagreement with the others, and the Constituencies of the Commercial Stakeholder Group should not be forced to develop a homogenized or compromised opinion. Furthermore, the IPC should not be deprived of the opportunity to participate in decision-making and consensus building. In any event, the IPC looks forward to working with other stakeholders to develop an appropriate plan for the use or allocation of these funds. Based on a preliminary exchange of views, the IPC tends to believe that a primary and substantial use of these funds should benefit the community. Specifically, a substantial portion of these funds should benefit the various SO-AC-SG-C groups, by providing funding for the support initiatives discussed in Los Angeles and Singapore to combat volunteer burnout, provide more sophisticated infrastructure and support, improve knowledge management and increase outreach, engagement and retention. The IPC notes that the current funding for SO-AC-SG-C group support is quite modest, and the plans in progress are both significant and sorely needed. The new gTLD program, and by extension the auctions from which these proceeds were derived, was built on the backs of the stakeholders, many of whom were (and are) volunteers who are not part of the "domain name industry" and who will not reap significant financial benefits from the new gTLD program. This makes it especially fitting that a large amount from these auction proceeds go to support the continuing efforts of the ICANN stakeholder community. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or if we can be of further assistance. Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers Constituency (ISPCP) Osvaldo Novoa volunteered to be the ISPCP representative on the future working group Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group - Rafik Dammak - Chair After consultation, NCSG reached the position to support a CCWG being established and we would also participate in a GNSO working group if it comes to that for any reason. NRO Executive Council - Axel Pawlik - Chair, NRO We have discussed this within the NRO Executive Council. At this time we do not think a whole new CCWG is needed. However, if the GNSO were to set up a working group to discuss principles and develop recommendations, we would support that course of action. Registrar Stakeholder Group - Michele Neylon - RrSG Chair Having discussed this with the RrSG Excom we believe that there should be forward movement on this topic. We can see there being advantages and disadvantages to forming a CCWG, but feel that there should be progress in some form How do the other groups feel about this? Registries Stakeholder Group - Keith Drazek - RySG Chair The RySG is very interested in participating in any community discussions around New gTLD Auction Proceeds. We support a GNSO working group on this topic and will certainly appoint representatives to participate. Please let me know if you need anything else from me. W3C volunteers Daniel Dardailler and Wendy Seltzer Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> http://gnso.icann.org<http://gnso.icann.org/>