[Chapter-delegates] Day-to-day funding

[John More]

David

Your comments are right on point.  The DC Chapter makes a a fair amount happen with minimal resources (but benefitting from being able to tap into the folks at Reston who have been very helpful).  

I believe that a major focus for ISOC should be how to acquire the funding for active Chapters -- with the ultimate purpose of having a part- or full-time paid staffer who has received ISOC training.  My experience in activist organizations, which ISOC needs to be to protect the Internet, is that a trained paid staffer can make all the difference for volunteers (who do have to earn a living).  Of course, there also needs to be a budget for ancillary expenses.

Structuring such a system worldwide would be complicated because of local laws and economies, but for some Chapters where there are inadequate local resources such support could be especially significant.

It is important, however, that local Chapters raise funds themselves (unless somehow forbidden by local law).  It is an iron rule for a truly successful organization that everyone has to contribute something (even if small financially).  Otherwise, there is no true ownership. This is where ISOC Global can provide help and guidance (as it has been doing already to some extent).

John  More
DC Chapter


On Mar 12, 2013, at 10:38 AM, David Solomonoff <president at isoc-ny.org> wrote:

> ** apologize for any duplicate posting **
> 
> An ongoing concern for the NYC Chapter -  and for me personally as my day job will be ending in a year due to a combination of office politics and downsizing of public universities and medical facilities in NY.
> 
> I work in an IT capacity so I sometimes can get professional leave for ISOC-related activities. I think a lot of the most active volunteers have day jobs closely related to the ISOC mission so they can get at least some time off, travel expenses, etc. for their volunteer efforts.
> 
> The problem here is twofold:
> We (thinking of the NY Chapter but I'm sure other Chapters as well) still don't have enough active members to cover every aspect of the ISOC mission. More collaboration between Chapters on regional and global issues would allow for pooling of resources, a more unified voice and less reinventing the wheel.
> We aren't making an effective outreach beyond the immediate tech community. Even the startup community in NYC tends to take Net access for granted and doesn't give much thought to how public policy decisions affects them. And many people who are politically active and fairly tech saavy have no interest or understanding of the issues we're concerned about.
> We're caught in a situation where it's hard to do stuff, recruit volunteers and do all appropriate publicity, documentation and record-keeping. One aspect is always going to get short-changed. Happily I think we make the right choice and focus on making things happen.
> 
> But we need to have a much higher public profile. This requires paid, full-time staff who can recruit and mentor volunteers who in turn may eventually wish to make a full-time commitment.
> 
> I understand that this is currently beyond the financial (and current staff) resources of the global organization. In addition,       the Chapters are closer to the ground in terms of local issues and concerns so they can do this better if they have more direct control of resources.
> 
> What I'd like to see - and this hasn't happened yet - is for the global development team to work with Chapters to find new sources of funding. I'm sure there are a lot of creative ways to do this I haven't thought of.
> 
> On 03/11/2013 10:48 AM, Elver Loho wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> Dealing with everyday chapter issues takes a lot of time and effort.
>> Last week I was sitting on the council of the Data Protection
>> Inspectorate discussing legislation regarding personal data. Today I
>> was at the parliament's constitutional commission discussing Open Data
>> implementation. Preparing for these meetings, taking part, and later
>> reporting to the board and members takes a full day's work for each
>> event. And we haven't yet figured out how to fund such activities.
>> 
>> Can anyone shed some light on how day-to-day funding has been resolved
>> at your chapter?
>> 
>> I'd like to hear about workable funding models, which would let us
>> keep 2-3 salaried positions. Running all of this for no salary for
>> over two years has been highly successful (NGO of the year 2012,
>> prevented ACTA from being signed, biggest peaceful public protest in
>> the country's history, helped create the best law of 2012 bringing
>> Open Data into Estonian legislation, etc.), but I'm also broke right
>> now and have no medical insurance, so, yeah... It's probably not a
>> sustainable model of getting things done. And donations simply don't
>> work in a small country like Estonia.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Elver Loho
>> Estonia Chapter
>> 
>> elver.loho at gmail.com
>> +372 5661 6933
>> skype: elver.loho
>> _______________________________________________
>> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
>> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
>> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> David Solomonoff, President
> Internet Society of New York
> president at isoc-ny.org
> isoc-ny.org
> _______________________________________________
> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org

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