Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA)

55th meeting of the Executive Committee

14 September 2021

 

  1. The Executive Committee held its 55th meeting on 14 September 2021. The meeting took place in a virtual setting with the following participants: Markus Kummer (Chair), Brian Cute, Jimson Olufuye, Joyce Chen, Chris Mondini, Wisdom Donkor; IGFSA Secretariat Jennifer Chung. Apologies were received from Nigel Hickson. A quorum was established for the meeting, with six of the eight Executive Committee members taking part in the call.

 

  1. The agenda for the meeting was adopted. The minutes of the 54th meeting was approved to be posted on the IGFSA website.

 

Funding requests

  1. The Secretariat gave an update on the current funding requests. It was noted that the Kenya IGF request is in progress. There was a sponsorship agreement circulated to the EC from CAIGF and if there are no problems with it, then it can be signed with the preapproved regional level sponsorship of $2500 USD. There was a question on the invoice received from IGF Chad regarding foreign currency amounts, the Secretariat took an action to request for banking information to be listed on the invoice. The EC approved funding support for Youth IGF Argentina with the amount of $1000 USD.

 

  1. The Secretariat also noted that Moldova IGF had applied for IGFSA funding support but as the UN NRI grant has been given to Moldova, they are not eligible for IGFSA funding support this calendar year and has been notified of same from the Secretariat.

 

Outreach and Communications

  1. The Secretariat gave an update regarding the second issue of the IGFSA newsletter and noted that the issue template will be circulated to the EC once ready. The EC profile series for LinkedIn is ready and scheduled to be posted later this week. In addition, there will be a special section on the IGF 2021 replacing the sponsor spotlight for this issue. The Secretariat has reached out to the IGF Secretariat regarding potential video interviews with key people for the lead up to IGF 2021. The NRO sponsor spotlight video interview will be rescheduled for an October/November timeframe.

 

Fundraising

  1. Brian Cute gave an update regarding the outreach with RySG and noted that there will be a substantial follow up with concrete next steps. He also noted that he will be following up with Donuts regarding a possible DNS Abuse educational component as part of the sponsorship funding and asked if the IGFSA EC could assist with identifying and connecting NRIs who would like to include DNS Abuse component in their meeting agendas. There was discussion and agreement that special attention needed to be paid to not push any specific topic to NRIs, but that ‘earmarked’ funding as an ‘opt-in’ can be a solution.

 

Funding procedures

  1. The Chair gave an update regarding the bank being concerned with compliance and money laundering rules and regulations, and noted that due diligence must be observed. He confirmed that he will follow up with the bank for further information. The EC agreed that IGFSA should inform prospective NRI grant recipients regarding procedures. The Secretariat suggested that an FAQ or checklist can be created once more information is received from bank.

 

General Assembly

  1. The Secretariat and presented the draft timeline and noted that the GA date needs to be confirmed with Anja Gengo from the IGF Secretariat. The Chair confirmed that there will be 3 seats up for election, and with Jimson Olufuye completing his term, a Treasurer will also need to be appointed. The Secretariat mentioned that outgoing EC Avri Doria served as the Elections Officer for the 2020 EC election. The Chair recommended that Jimson Olufuye serve in this role for the 2021 EC election, and the nomination was accepted.

 

  1. AOB
    1. Next call: Tuesday 28 September 13:00 UTC
    2. Secretariat to send a doodle to schedule for calls in October and November.