[Chapter-delegates] FYI - new post - The Sale of PIR: The Internet Society Board Perspective

Thu Dec 5 08:13:24 PST 2019

Hi,

concerns about revenue diversification at ISOC have existed for ever, basically. I just randomly picked the minutes of the board meeting 10 years ago, for instance, and they talk about revenue diversification indeed:
https://www.internetsociety.org/board-of-trustees/meetings/76

I was not on the board at the time (most likely we have people on this list who were part of it at that time), but know that both earlier and later boards also discussed the issue.

With respect to what was actually tried, nothing seems to have been too successful, as you anyone can easily understand just by looking at our current revenue mix. When it comes to the domain business in particular, as you know the .ong and .ngo domains did not really result in revenue diversification.

Cheers,

Gonzalo

From: Reuben Loewy <rloewy at me.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 5, 2019 16:10
To: Gonzalo Camarillo <gonzalo.camarillo at ericsson.com>; bd at thinkmetrics.com
Cc: Livingood, Jason <Jason_Livingood at comcast.com>; Livingood, Jason via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>; InternetPolicy at elists.isoc.org; Ayden Férdeline <ferdeline at protonmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] FYI - new post - The Sale of PIR: The Internet Society Board Perspective

Dear All,

Thank you for your replies.

I am curious to learn when this concern about ISOC’s dependency on a single (albeit lucrative) stream of income first arose. What efforts were made over the years to diversify? Or charge a membership fee? Drum up more commercial sponsorship for our activities (without exposing ISOC to conflicts of interest, naturally)?

I believe transparency about these question may help shed light on the background and motives for the Ethos deal.

Reuben

Reuben Loewy
Living Online Lab
The Curriculum for the Digital Era
- a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit
www.livingonlinelab.org<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=09767371-55ffdc1a-097633ea-0cc47ad93ea2-06a7cacfe0bbc082&q=1&e=35200835-e251-4aa0-a7bc-85f66490cfe3&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.livingonlinelab.org%2F>
Tel: 609.947.3782

On Dec 5, 2019, at 09:56, Gonzalo Camarillo via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>> wrote:

Exactly, the scope of ISOC’s mission is much wider. And yes, it is true that this would prevent that potential moral hazard in our policy work.

Cheers,

Gonzalo

From: Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org>> On Behalf Of Livingood, Jason via Chapter-delegates
Sent: Thursday, December 5, 2019 14:08
To: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] FYI - new post - The Sale of PIR: The Internet Society Board Perspective

Quite right, Gonzalo. Risk & diversification are all relative. For ISOC, PIR poses a concentration risk. For Ethos, PIR is more likely part of a diversification strategy (in particular by adding an investment that may be less correlated to public equity markets).

Also, with respect to “…if there is a problem with the single revenue stream coming from OUR industry, the one we have relied so far upon, means that there is a real problem we have to face and fix” I would say two things. First, ISOC’s industry is IMO the whole of the Internet and what is best for all users – which is much bigger that the narrower domain name industry. Second, a side effect of the sale is that ISOC will have a freer hand to express views on the domain name industry, on the future of domain names, technical alternatives to that system, and so on without fear of the potential negative effects on an operating business that supplies most of their income.

Jason

From: Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org>> on behalf of Gonzalo Camarillo via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>>
Reply-To: Gonzalo Camarillo <gonzalo.camarillo at ericsson.com<mailto:gonzalo.camarillo at ericsson.com>>
Date: Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 3:08 AM
To: Reuben Loewy <rloewy at me.com<mailto:rloewy at me.com>>
Cc: "chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>" <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>>
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] FYI - new post - The Sale of PIR: The Internet Society Board Perspective

Hi Reuben,

different people have different risk profiles. It depends on what your goal is. ISOC’s goal is to have a stable and reliable revenue stream to fund our mission-oriented work. Ethos’s goal is different and, thus, their appetite for risk may be different as well.

Cheers,

Gonzalo

From: Reuben Loewy <rloewy at me.com<mailto:rloewy at me.com>>
Sent: Wednesday, December 4, 2019 18:54
To: Gonzalo Camarillo <gonzalo.camarillo at ericsson.com<mailto:gonzalo.camarillo at ericsson.com>>
Cc: Enzo Puliatti <epuliatti at itsyn.com<mailto:epuliatti at itsyn.com>>; chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] FYI - new post - The Sale of PIR: The Internet Society Board Perspective

With all due respect, Gonzalo.

If PIR’s single-stream funding model was not “resilient”, “future proof”, and diversified, then one might legitimately ask why anyone would want to pay ISOC over $1 B to purchase it.

With regards,
Reuben

ISOC New York

Reuben Loewy
Living Online Lab
The Curriculum for the Digital Era
- a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit
www.livingonlinelab.org<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=ddc32830-814af277-ddc368ab-0cc47ad93e96-af8371a935f48fec&q=1&e=0f7020d3-e37f-41d8-a978-3446ac055f83&u=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2Fprotect2.fireeye.com%2Fv1%2Furl%3Fk%3D1d77800c-41fd552a-1d77c097-86aae6564056-8670e82a6ba11df2%26q%3D1%26e%3Dd94f983d-3a1b-4b28-82e1-c2f667277cb7%26u%3Dhttp%2A3A%2A2F%2A2Fwww.livingonlinelab.org%2A2F__%3BJSUlJQ%21rx_L75ITgOQ%21Sg1iU67gAT4TGpCrF9YQ20iaIk8F9bxT9Z5x4Ebxq0QI7YaoUvpwIszCtqFJv5Uzz3gnaw%24>
Tel: 609.947.3782

On Dec 4, 2019, at 06:49, Gonzalo Camarillo via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>> wrote:
Hi Enzo,

ISOC’s mission is too important to depend on a single source of revenue, no matter how solid the source currently may seem to be. Putting all your eggs in the same basket is not a good financial approach. Our job is to make sure that the activities that support our mission are supported, in turn, by a *resilient* funding model. It is a way to future proof our mission.

Cheers,

Gonzalo

From: Enzo Puliatti <epuliatti at itsyn.com<mailto:epuliatti at itsyn.com>>
Sent: Wednesday, December 4, 2019 10:31
To: Gonzalo Camarillo <gonzalo.camarillo at ericsson.com<mailto:gonzalo.camarillo at ericsson.com>>
Cc: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] FYI - new post - The Sale of PIR: The Internet Society Board Perspective

Dear Gonzalo,

first of all, I would like to thank you all for the effort done in sharing your views with us and for answering our concerns. Thanks also for the blog that resume pretty well the issues discussed.

I would like to share my concern with a statement I have heard during the call that I also find stated in the blog:

“we will no longer be reliant on one single revenue stream, from one company, in one industry”.

Maybe it’s only me but this statement strikes me: we are those who have made it happen so far and if there is a problem with the single revenue stream coming from OUR industry, the one we have relied so far upon, means that there is a real problem we have to face and fix. Being comfortable if such a problem exists but will not affect our revenue stream sounds more like a statement from the board of a company with a purely speculative approach aimed to maximise its revenues and profits.

Independently from the issue we are currently discussing, I would like to say that personally I feel quite happy in ISOC relying on a revenue stream coming straight from our industry and that in any case I personally cannot see this as a plus in favour of the sale of the PIR. Even if it’s a financially sound approach sounds pretty bad to the ears of those thousands of activist that during all these years have worked as volunteer dedicating time and money to our cause.

Best regards,

Enzo Puliatti
ISOC Italy

On Wed, Dec 4, 2019 at 9:15 AM Gonzalo Camarillo via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>> wrote:
Hi,

FYI: we have just published this post on behalf of the Board of Trustees:
https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2019/12/the-sale-of-pir-the-internet-society-board-perspective/<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=6835cf12-34bc1555-68358f89-0cc47ad93e96-78556a400f922b85&q=1&e=0f7020d3-e37f-41d8-a978-3446ac055f83&u=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2Fwww.internetsociety.org%2Fblog%2F2019%2F12%2Fthe-sale-of-pir-the-internet-society-board-perspective%2F__%3B%21rx_L75ITgOQ%21Sg1iU67gAT4TGpCrF9YQ20iaIk8F9bxT9Z5x4Ebxq0QI7YaoUvpwIszCtqFJv5ULpCwadw%24>

Cheers,

Gonzalo
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