[Chapter-delegates] 2% for Stronger Chapters: Making real the board goal

[Ted Mooney]

David,

I just emerged from two days of meetings.  I wanted to get back to you just so you know that your suggestions aren't falling into the ocean.  Enhancing the chapter administrative capabilities is a hot topic as you know and one on which we will stay focused to resolution.  I was on a call with our European chapters on Monday in which we discussed this issue.  You may recall that Jordi  Iparraguirre made a number of proposals how we might address chapter administration and I voiced support for the process he suggested.  I and other staff would like to participate in the Chapter Admin Support  working group proposed.  I expect such a group will be composed primarily of chapter members and will address how we can jointly resolve chapter administration issues in both the short and long term.  Jordi has posted a spreadsheet in which he asked chapter members to provide a list of administrative issues and potential solutions.  We would like to have the working group take that spread sheet and see what concrete proposals can be made and move forward. Your participation is welcome.

You raised two other issues in you mail that merit a response for clarity.

1.The role of the economist has been vetted by minds more savvy than mine on this issue and we are proceeding consistent with our principles of neutrality and transparency.  
2. The Internet Society is governed by the Board of Trustees and managed by staff.  It convenes multiple stakeholders on a variety of issues of Internet technology and policy.  It is not, however, by charter or by action a bottom-up organization itself.  That said, we are committed to understanding, learning from and incorporating input from out communities of support.

With the Board's statement affirming the role and importance of chapters, the Internet Society Staff has a renewed mandate for assuring strong support for chapter work and organization around the world.  I look forward to the coming months in particular as we make progress on all the issues of chapter strength, vitality and collaboration.

Best regards,

Ted

Ted Mooney
Sr. Director, Membership & Services
Cell: 301-980-6446
Skype: ted.mooney3

www.internetsociety.org





On Apr 23, 2013, at 10:22 PM, Dave Burstein <daveb at dslprime.com> wrote:

> Folks
> 
> Great to see the board wants stronger chapters
> "Board re-affirmed that the Internet Society is a mission-driven organization, and addressed the strategic role of Chapters in the achievement of the ISOC mission.  As a follow-up to this meeting, the Board agreed that Chapters are vital to advancing the mission, principles, and values of ISOC at the local and regional levels and they contribute to ensuring the organization is globally and locally engaged. The Board was sympathetic to requests by Chapters for support in their essential operations,"
> 
> Let's make this real by shifting 2% of the budget ($500,000) to the chapters immediately, enough to give each chapter that applies $5-10,000 over the next 12 months. It won't transform the chapters, but is enough for 20-40 hr/month admin and/or several events with $1,000 budget and/or economy travle for 1 or 2 members to a major meeting.  
> 
>      It's almost certainly a more efficient use of funds than hiring expensive people in DC or Geneva and flying them around the world.
> 
>     This is a "just do it" proposal to reinforce the bottom-up, multistakeholder model in the Internet Society itself. 
> 
>      We have professional management that certainly can rearrange 2% of the budget. There's an obvious source in not filling two positions currently open on the website: one's for an economist with strong experience in fundraising http://www.internetsociety.org/jobs/senior-economist  and the second a newly created position for a marketing communications manager.  http://www.internetsociety.org/jobs/marketing-communications-manager . There's presumably ~$400-500K in the budget for those postions and related expenses.  There are several other open positions with six figure salaries and expenses where the money could be more effectively spent on local programs. 
> 
>     We all know that most funds that can be raised in our field come with serious strings attached; the last thing an ISOC economist or any policy person should be doing is begging interested parties for money. That job should never have been created because of the obvious influence on the policy proposed. ISOC is already fighting back against claims we're unduly influenced by multinational corporations and positions; tying policy so closely to fundraising just provides ammunition to such attacks. 
> 
>    And while it might be valuable "to develop, manage, edit and review existing collateral for marketing effectiveness and adherence to brand guidelines" we already have some hard-working professionals doing that. The money would be much better spent bythe chapters working directly in the field, I believe.
> 
>      Going forward,  I'd bet shifting 10-20% of the ISOC budget to local efforts will result in far more impact than spending the money as we now do, but that will take time to organize. 
>  
>     I hope chapter leaders will rise up with proposals how to make this happen and that the center can see the wisdom of being a less "top-down" group.
> 
> Dave Burstein
> 
> 
> We've got experienced senior managers who
> 
> -- 
> Editor, DSL Prime, Fast Net News, Net Policy News and A Wireless Cloud
> Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley, 2002) and Web Video: Making It Great, Getting It Noticed (Peachpit, 2008)
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