Guys, I am participating in the WG that has been tasked to evaluate ways to support non-profit and under-resourced applicants for new gTLDs. I am doing so as a prospective applicant, and my opinions are voiced as personal, and not tied to the constituency. In the attachment, you can see comments submitted to ICANN some time ago, on behalf of the Federation I represent, and which address the justifications for the somewhat high fee structure defined for the next round of gTLD applications. Previous rounds featured an application fee of 45 or 50K and the next round will cost 185K. The charter for this WG will be sent to the Council for discussion on May 20th. As a constituency, we have always been supportive of a measured and controllable process for the introduction of new gTLDs, and a robust application fee is of course a deterrent to unscrupulous prospectors. The current debate in the working group revolves around two objectives: - Determine if the proposed 185K imposes an excessive and unjustifiable burden on non-profit applicants, seeking strings that will be simple and non-conflicting. - Determine ways (if any) whereby additional assistance to these applicants can be resourced, such as potential donor organizations, foundations, etc. I thought I would submit this background for Wolf-Ulrich and Jaime to be aware of what's going on, prior to the Council deliberations. Tony Harris