operating procedures for membership changes

[Marita Moll]

Oh, the devil is always in the details. In Canada (and elsewhere I am 
sure) we encourage "social enterprises" as a way for non-profits to 
attain sustainability. These are non-profits that earn profits through 
some service or product and use those profits to fulfill their mandates.

For example, a community network offers affordable web design and 
development services and makes a profit which helps support their 
charitable services -- i.e. bridging the digital divide. In this case, 
membership is mainly non-commercial, focus is non-commercial. But profit 
making is part of the focus as well.......

Chambers of Commerce are used as an example below -- they are not 
necessarily homogeneous. Big cities -- big businesses maybe. But in 
small towns supporting small family businesses, local non-for-profits, 
social enterprises --  sometimes the only possible drivers behind 
initiatives like community-owned broadband. Is supporting these things 
truly and solely a commercial focus? I know it doesn't exist in the 
legal documents, but maybe an element of "community focus" could be 
introduced here.

Sorry to muddy the waters.

Marita Moll


On 9/6/2017 7:13 AM, Tapani Tarvainen wrote:
> Hi Joly,
>
> Thank you for raising this.
>
> The paragraph you noted is based on 2.2.1(4) in NCSG Charter, which
> states that
>
> "4. In the case of a membership-based organization, the organization
> should not only be noncommercial itself, but should have a primarily
> noncommercial focus, and the membership should also be primarily
> composed of noncommercial members. (E.g., a chamber of commerce,
> though it may be a noncommercial organization itself, and might even
> have some noncommercial members, is primarily composed of commercial
> organizations and has a commercial focus and would not be eligible for
> membership.)"
>
> As we have such a requirement in the charter, we need to have
> something matching in the member removal procedures.
>
> Now what exactly that means is the question. We discussed about it
> and concluded roughly that the point is to exclude *formally*
> non-commercial organizations that nonetheless have *de facto*
> commercial purpose and mostly commercial members, such as a chamber of
> commerce given as an example.
>
> Where the line should be drawn is up to the Executive Committee to
> decide whenever either such an organization applies for membership or
> when an existing members' eligibility is challenged.
>
> We do not intend to set up any general requirement for NCSG member
> organizations to document their members' non-commercial status in
> detail, although I guess it could come to that in a specific case.
>
> As we have several ISOC chapters in our membership it is clear they
> have been considered eligible despite that clause, and I see no
> obvious reason to change that policy. The EC could of course
> reconsider that either in general or in the case of a specific ISOC
> Chapter, but for the time being I don't see any immediate need for
> existing members to worry about that.
>
> All members are of course welcome to express their views on this, as
> well as the proposed procedure on dealing with ineligibility claims,
> or even suggest changes to the charter to avoid potential problems
> and ambiguities in its interpretation.
>
> Tapani
>
>
> On Sep 02 14:27, Joly MacFie (joly at punkcast.com) wrote:
>
>> As an organizational member rep (ISOC-NY) I take an interest in the
>> following:
>>
>> 4. Organizational Member is determined to not meet eligibility requirements
>>> for NCSG membership. Pursuant to NCSG’s Charter, only organizations meeting
>>> the following criteria are eligible for membership in the Stakeholder Group:
>>> ​ ​
>>> a) The organization is incorporated as a noncommercial entity (in
>>> countries that have a provision in their commercial code) or, if
>>> unincorporated, or if operating in a country without provisions for
>>> noncommercial incorporation, that operates on a not-for-profit basis
>>> primarily for noncommercial purposes
>>> ​,
>>> and b) Be the exclusive user of at least one domain name for noncommercial
>>> purposes,
>>> ​
>>> and c) Is engaged in online activities that are primarily noncommercial,
>>
>> ​No problem with any of that​ But..
>>
>>
>>> and d) In the case of a membership-based organization, (meaning
>>> ​​
>>> organized as a membership-based organization under the applicable law as
>>> used in NCSG’s Charter) the organization should not only be noncommerical
>>> itself, but should have a primarily noncommercial focus, and the membership
>>> should also be primarily composed of noncommercial members.
>>
>> As an Internet Society Chapter we do not discriminate on the basis of, or
>> even know  the majority of, our members' commercial activity. However, all
>> NCSG votes are taken by our (elected) board, who might well qualify, but
>> are elected by the mebership..
>>
>> Are we, or any other ISOC Chapter, thus ineligible?
>>
>> I haven't looked it up. Could you clarify '
>> ​
>> organized as a membership-based organization under the applicable law as
>> used in NCSG’s Charter'?
>>
>> joly
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 1:49 PM, Robin Gross <robin at ipjustice.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> Please find the attached procedures for handling changes in one's NCSG
>>> membership status, which is intended to formalize our EC’s operation on
>>> such matters.  If there are no significant concerns with these procedures,
>>> they should go forward as an NCSG operating procedure in the coming weeks.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Robin
>>>
>>>
>>
>> -- 
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>> -

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