[Chapter-delegates] ISOC Membership Initiatives

[Anne Lord]

The email below is being sent on behalf of Terry Monroe (who is on  
travel out of the office at the moment).

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Dear Chapter Delegates,

As you know, ISOC is making significant investments in the areas of
membership, policy, education, and communications and we are  
committed to
ongoing improvements and new initiatives in support of of ISOC's  
vision and
mission.  We are writing now to provide you with a status report on two
current initiatives:

Business Rules in Membership System Initiative (BRIMS Initiative)

One initiative is the development of business rules that address roles,
responsibilities and expectations of members, chapters and staff as it
relates to our overall membership policies as well as to our membership
system.  ISOC has contracted with an experienced membership and database
consultant to participate in the process of developing an apppropriate
solution to the complex and sensitive issues surrounding our  
membership and
chapter requirements.  We thank the many chapters and members who have
shared their views to-date with the consultant and we look forward to
continuing our dialogue with all of you.  Our desired outcome is one  
that
results in clear and precise business rules with widespread  
acceptance among
the ISOC community.

Membership Policy Review

The other initiative is a review of ISOC's current membership policies,
principles and procedures. Among the areas to be addressed: membership
categories (for individual and  organisation members); policies and
principles regarding the establishment, scope and  development of  
chapters;
clarifying the roles and value propositions for members (organizations,
individual) and chapters; assisting the chapters in finding support for
their activities and exploring opportunities for joint activities  
with ISOC
chapters.  Also, the business rules resulting from the BRIMs  
initiative will
be incorporated into this review.  Getting ISOC community support for  
each
stage is important for building a strong platform for further  
advancement.
And before we can build the platform, we must establish our base,
necessarily starting with ISOC's purpose and legal statutes:

ISOC's Overall Purpose: Per our Articles of Incorporation, ISOC is
established as a non-profit, charitable organization.
http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/incorp.shtml

ISOC By-Laws: http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/bylaws.shtml

ISOC Mission and Strategic Operating Plan:
http://www.isoc.org/isoc/mission/

Policy on Establshment and Conduct of Chapters:
http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/prcchp.shtml

Please let us know that we have your support for proceeding in this  
manner.
It is important that we all start from the same base or we will  
differ in
the future and not know why.  We look forward to a robust dialogue with
chapters and members as move forward with these projects.

Terry Monroe
Director of Development & Membership
Internet Society
+1 703 326 9880 x115