Executive Committee Summary Records Summary Record of 75th meeting of the Executive Committee – 22 January 2024

Mar 18, 2024 | Meeting Summary Records, Reports and Meeting Minutes

Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA)

75th meeting of the Executive Committee

22 January, 2024

  1. The Executive Committee held its 75th meeting on 22 January 2024. The meeting took place in in a virtual setting with the following participants: Amrita Choudhury (chair), Markus Kummer (chair emeritus), Nigel Hickson (Treasurer), Flavio Wagner, Wisdom Donkor, Anriette Esterhuysen, Amado Espinosa, Fiona Asonga; and from the Secretariat, Jennifer Chung and Phyo. A quorum was established for the meeting with six of the nine Executive Committee members taking part. Wim Degezelle was invited to join the meeting to present on the IGFSA Annual Report progress.
  2. The Agenda was adopted as circulated, and the summary record of the 74th meeting is pending approval if no comments or corrections are received on the IGFSA EC mailing list before 29 January 2024.

IGFSA Annual Report

  1. Wim Degezelle gave an overview of the current status of the draft and walked through the sections giving examples of the supported NRIs, spotlights on youth initiatives and also noted that there were certain figures that he was coordinating some quotes from. The feedback and discussion from the EC noted that attention needed to be paid to the presentation of the donors list, and also include quotes from current donors. There was discussion around the purpose of including a section on highlighted initiatives or to just fold it into the 2023 supported initiatives list. Additional comments are sought from EC after the current round of feedback is done to finalize the report for publication.

Status report on finances and funding requests

  1. The Secretariat gave an update on the ongoing funding requests.
    • Liberia IGF – need confirmation that funds have been returned to IGFSA bank account before it can be reissued
    • Ukraine IGF – provided English translation, request should be able to proceed
    • Colombia and LACIGF – confirmed that funding has been received, thanks IGFSA for supportThe Secretariat took an action to confirm with the IGFSA Accountant that there are no additional pending requests carried over from the 2023 list.
  1. It was noted that the payment administrative processes is complicated with Postfinance and there is 5 day period where each request remains active for the second authorization to be completed. It was suggested that the administrative process should be streamlined and there should be bi-monthly payment cycle to ensure all authorizations are confirmed in a timely manner.
  2. The Treasurer gave an update regarding the erroneous payment made to Caption First that needs to be returned to IGFSA bank account and further noted that this payment should have gone to the IGF Secretariat and noted a need to follow up to see if any invoicing is needed from the IGF Secretariat. It was also noted that there needs to be a follow up on the Tides Foundation funding as well.

Fundraising plans and activities for 2024

  1. There was discussion on Fundraising plans and follow up with outreach efforts to diversify the donor base. Several EC members noted that there were preliminary discussions with possible corporate donors such as Huawei and GIZ and took an action to follow up. There were also discussions at IGF 2023 regarding donor possibilities from GIZ.

Outreach and communication

  1. There was continued discussion on how to increase outreach and awareness of IGFSA. There was some reflection and feedback on the communication messaging that was sent out by the IGF Secretariat on their mailing list, however the Secretariat noted that it did not convert to a substantial membership increase. It was noted that membership renewals usually happened around the reminders that came with the IGFSA EC elections messaging and cycle. There was suggestions to increase IGFSA outreach and awareness at upcoming relevant meetings such as ICANN and to see if there it was necessary to streamline the steps to join as an IGFSA member. The Secretariat noted that how to join is included as a widget on the IGFSA website and invited addition feedback on the usability of the process.
  2. AOB
    • Secretariat took an action to arrange for an EC meeting on the sidelines of ICANN 79 in San Juan as the end of February coincided with various public holidays.