Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA)
14th and 15th meeting of the Executive Committee
29 February / 9 March 2016
Summary Record
1. The Executive Committee held its fourteenth meeting on 29 February 2016 via Webex and continued the meeting on 9 March 2016 during the ICANN Meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco. The following members and staff were present or participated remotely:
Raúl Echeberría, Chair; Marilyn Cade, Tarek Kamel, Edmon Chung, Cheryl Miller, Jimson Olufuye, Virat Bahtia, Subi Chaturvedi (Only February 29), Avri Doria ; Markus Kummer and Kyle Shulman.
2. It was noted that there were a majority of the Executive Committee members taking part in both calls and that therefore, as required by the Articles of Association, there was a quorum for holding both meetings.
3. The following agenda had been circulated prior to the call and was adopted as proposed:
A Adoption of the agenda
B. Update on the relations with UNDESA
C. Activities 2016
D. Support of national/regional IGF initiatives
E. Outreach/recruitment of new members
F. AOB
4. A preliminary response had been received by the IGFSA Secretary from Mr. Juwang Zhu, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, UNDESA. UNDESA was waiting for a clarification from the Office of the Legal Advisor whether a 3rd party can raise funds for the UN. IGFSA will be updated as soon as possible.
5. There was a discussion on how to move forward while waiting for an answer from UNDESA. It was felt tat there is a need for the IGFSA to focus on recruiting new members and produce information and print materials for this purpose. There was also a general agreement on the continued need for supporting National and Regional IGF initiatives. The Executive Committee agreed to hold outreach events at the following forthcoming meeting in April, May and June 2016: IGF MAG: WSIS Forum, CSTD and ICANN 56.
6. It was agreed that the IGFSA will keep the funds allocated to the UN on hold while waiting for an answer from NY and will inform the IGFSA membership and donors about this situation. The Executive Committee agree in general to a further update to donors to advise of any plans to change direction if the funds allocated to the UN-IGF Trust Fund cannot be accepted. The Chair agreed to write an advisory update note to the IGFSA members. This was sent on 23 March to the members list.
7. The Secretariat was tasked to seek legal advice whether there would be a need to refund donors if the funds cannot be accepted by the UN.
8. There was agreement to continue to support national and regional initiatives with the existing funds. It was also agreed that under the 2016 allocation of funds the 10% earmarked for the direct support of the IGF Secretariat would be reallocated to support regional and national IGFs, bringing this budget line up to 25% of the total budget.
9. The TOR for ISOC’s support of the IGFSA was approved with no objections
10. The Executive Committee acknowledged with gratitude that the Numbers Resource Organization (NRO) had offered to donate USD 25,000 to the IGFSA.
Make one time or recurring donations to support the IGFSA!