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

Thu Apr 25 21:54:25 PDT 2013

+1

On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 10:47 PM, David Vyorst <dvyorst at gmail.com> wrote:

> +1
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 3:20 PM, John More <morej1 at mac.com> wrote:
>
>> 1+
>>
>>
>> On Apr 25, 2013, at 3:06 PM, Veni Markovski <veni at veni.com> wrote:
>>
>>  I'd support this idea - as a beginning.
>> ISOC should do this as a pilot program, and immediately implement it.
>> Give each chapter a chance to prove themselves, and those of them, which
>> are successful, should get more funds, and those who are not, should get
>> more support from ISODC and other chapters, to be more successful next time.
>>
>> v.
>>
>>  On 04/24/2013 18:51, Ted Mooney wrote:
>>
>> 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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>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Best,
>> Veni Markovskihttp://www.veni.comhttps://www.facebook.com/venimarkovskihttps://twitter.com/veni
>>
>> The opinions expressed above are those of the
>> author, not of any organizations, associated
>> with or related to him in any given way.
>>
>>  _______________________________________________
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>> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> David Vyorst
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>
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