[Chapter-delegates] Accounting Accountability

[Veni Markovski]

Hi.
If ISOC loses its tax exempt status, I don't why would this result in 
its liquidation. There are plenty of tax-exempt organizations that lose 
their status regularly. It can be obtained back, by the way.

But this sounds also strange, as many tax-exempt foundations provide 
funding for projects overseas. ISOC Bulgaria has received funding 
through the years in the form of grants, we have also been part of 
European Framework programs, etc., and the accounting is part of what we 
do to be in compliance with the national laws.

Some time ago we had a discussion on one of the lists, that with 100 
chapters, ISOC could easily provide $ 100,000 to each of them, on 
average, and that will only be $ 10 M from its budget. But it will 
empower the chapters around the world tremendously. Of course, some 
chapters are not ready to spend such an amount of money, but others can 
spend even more. Point is - when the chapters are the ones that are 
making ISOC a global organization, they have to be supported by the 
headquarters. Whether it's money, or staff support, or (we talked about 
it at some time, too) by providing them web hosting services at 
.isoc.org, or, or, or - the question is to have the desire. In some 
countries web hosting services are still expensive, so even something 
like that may be useful for the chapters.

ISOC does amazing educational outreach, helps building IXPs, engages in 
public policy debates, etc., and it could - and should? - use the 
chapter better, and more. More, and better. We are all like one living 
organism, with different parts around the world, to keep them all in a 
harmony, is a coordination effort we all have to participate in. If we 
only think ISOC HQ should be the initiator of the coordination, that 
won't work well enough. The biggest challenge is the cross-cultural 
diversity, which we all have to keep in mind.

Hope this is helpful.


On 04/08/16 06:52, Eric Burger wrote:
> One of the major issues with disbursing funds is accounting and 
> accountability. Get one of those wong and the Internet Society loses 
> its tax exempt status. Losing its tax exempt status could result, in 
> the extreme, in the liquidation of ISOC. At the worst, such an event, 
> and the path to that event, would mean lots of lawyers getting rich 
> and those of us in chapters getting nothing.
>
> Tax law is specific about banning individuals from enriching 
> themselves from a non-profit. This is one of the structural reasons 
> why non profit pay is so much less than private sector pay for the 
> same job.
>
> A problem with simply paying block grants to chapters is if ANY 
> chapter improperly spends the money, then ALL of ISOC is at risk.
>
> I am not saying ISOC should not be financially supporting Chapters. 
> What I am saying is that if there is going to be some sort of funding 
> model proposed, please also propose how the accountability mechanisms 
> will work.
>
>

-- 

Best,
Veni Markovski
http://www.isoc.bg

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