[NCSG-PC] Fwd: Re: [council] Reminder - topics for meeting with ICANN Board at ICANN61

[Ayden Férdeline]

Thanks, Sam, I found this very useful.

I don't believe that community travel is a large expense for ICANN; relative to staff travel, it is nothing. ICANN flew 220+ staff to Abu Dhabi, and gave the NCSG and NCUC three travel slots each. Yes, others have alternative funding, be that through the Council, Review Teams, Onboarding, or Fellowships, but this support is not extensive.

The real cost base at ICANN is not us - it's personnel costs, consultants, external counsel, and other "professional services", leasing office space, and staff travel to an array of irrelevant events. So when we fight for our five CROP slots to be retained, I hope we can make it clear that we understand the need for fiscal prudence and believe ICANN should only be funding activities related to its core mission. CROP is; those expensive Boston Consulting Group papers (which a former Board member described on Facebook as being "recycled" over and over again, so why does ICANN keep buying them?) and other spend are not...

That said, I think you're right that cuts are going to continue coming our way, so the time is now for us to start 'boosting our defences' and get out there fundraising, boosting our own Reserve Fund, and perhaps becoming enough of a legal entity to be able to do all that...

Also - your note about the org's dissatisfaction with the PDP model reminds me that we (NCSG) haven't sent any feedback in on the staff whitepaper on this topic (the one drafted by Emily and Marika that could spell an end to bottom-up, end-user participation at ICANN). We should probably add that to the long list of statements we need to draft urgently...

Ayden

-------- Original Message --------
On 16 February 2018 1:37 AM, Sam Lanfranco <lanfran at yorku.ca> wrote:

> Ayden, et. al.,
>
> The gist of my comments on Skype (reproduced below) are that ICANN is probably at an inflection point on its revenue growth curve, and the budgets will get tighter going forward. There are diminishing returns from new gTLDs, when they come, there are social media options to registering domain names, both for persons and entities, and there are likely to be new technologies for Registrars to do their work. The prospects for a Distributed Ledger Technology (think blockchain 3.0 or Tangle 4.0 - i.e., down the road) will likely reduce the earned fees from existing domain name registrations. READ: ICANN's budget will shrink, hence my analogy of ICANN going from a Plum to a Prune.
>
> This means that NCSG (& NCUC/NPOC) have to seriously look inward and assess the relative efficiency and effectiveness of the ICANN expenditures they account for. Xavier and crew have gone a considerable distance in giving us the granularity of budget expenses we asked for, to aid us in decision making. While we can mount arguments for why CROPP needs to be retained, we are implicitly (with silence) saying that everything else needs to be retained (mainly with regard to travel and accommodations - the big budget items).
>
> It is my assessment that a "no shrinkage" strategy with regard to the NCSG entitlement is a "no go", and that budget cuts will come with or without consultation.  This may take a couple of years to roll out, but the NCSG & Co future will be will less ICANN funding. We can either think through how we adjust to that, we can start to look for other funding, or we can do both. What we cannot do, for much longer, is just insist on the status quo based simply on the notion that we we do is a good idea and in the Public Interest.
>
> At the same time, we are hearing more and more about how ICANN the org, and ICANN the board are not happy with the dynamics and the progress of the ICANN pdp-wg model. We should anticipate, and help shape, changes there. Those of you meeting in Puerto Rico should be spending considerable time on how NCSG deals with these issues (or show that I have it wrong) and spend less time in a dance that makes it look like we are trying to hold the Board and ICANN org more accountable.
>
> Sam L
>
> [Skype posting] By the last time I was able to attend an ICANN meeting (ICANN58: Copenhagen) Xavier had discussed greater budget granularity with NCSG and pledged to improve access and transparency. We may quibble on how much we now have, and how far ICANN has gone in improved granularity, but it is important to recognize that Xavier has gone a great distance in honoring that pledge.
>
> That budget lines are under threat should come as no surprise as ICANN faces tighter revenues, and as ICANN goes forward both with a bit of belt tightening, and (not surprisingly) some reflection and reviews around how it carries out its work.
>
> I, as an outsider with no inside information, suspect that ICANN will have to undergo a bit of organizational restructuring in the service of its remit and do so within tightening budget constraints.  While NCSG, and NCUC & NPOC, concern themselves with the short run future of CROPP, we should be thinking about structural changes that may even impact on our respective charters. At least that is my read from the outer seats in the stadium.
>
> On 2/15/2018 7:03 PM, Ayden Férdeline wrote:
>
>> This is an excellent suggestion, Stephanie. I would like to hear what suggestions the Board has here for us, too. This is something we really need to tackle. And it's something I hope we might be able to table for discussion in San Juan as well. We need to talk about the expected standard of behaviour for our officers and members, along with the trajectory ICANN is moving in and what that could mean for us... We predicted ICANN was broke last year, insinuated as much in our Reserve Fund comment, and called for cuts to spending, but we haven't insulated ourselves sufficiently from these cuts... We are very, very vulnerable at the moment and if we are not prudent with our allocation of resources I worry we [non-commercial voices] could pay a heavy price. I think Sam made a very insightful comment on this topic yesterday on Skype; I'm cc'ing him into this discussion in case he'd like to paste his message here for other list subscribers to see, and/or expand upon his prediction... I'd certainly like to hear more about the 'red flags' we should be looking out for over the coming 12 months...
>>
>> Ayden
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------
> "It is a disgrace to be rich and honoured
> in an unjust state" -Confucius
>  邦有道，贫且贱焉，耻也。邦无道，富且贵焉，耻也
> ------------------------------------------------
> Visiting Prof, Xi'an Jaiotong-Liverpool Univ, Suzhou, China
> Dr Sam Lanfranco (Prof Emeritus & Senior Scholar)
> Econ, York U., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA - M3J 1P3
> email:
> Lanfran at Yorku.ca
> Skype: slanfranco
> blog:
> https://samlanfranco.blogspot.com
> Phone: +1 613-476-0429 cell: +1 416-816-2852
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