[Chapter-delegates] Bank Accounts was - deadline for admin funding

Tue Jul 7 14:23:27 PDT 2020

This is not a change in policy: SIGs and Chapters are different.

I really do understand the difficulty that is being faced by some Chapters, but the terms of engagement were developed jointly with Chapters.  They are in part limited by our incorporation location and US tax law, as well as the independent status of Chapters and their role in ISOC governance. This is the compromise we’ve settled on, but if Chapters have a consensus to change that compromise to a different one then perhaps that can be part of the governance reform WG?

Best regards,

A

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On Jul 7, 2020, at 17:06, Alexander Blom via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

Hi Judith,

Interesting point. I am somewhat involved in the rejuvenation of the Malta Chapter, and in that case ISOC.org expressly demanded them to have their own legal status and bank account. Since this process in Malta easily takes 4 - 6 months, we proposed something very like your fiscal sponsorship, a Maltese non-profit that offered the use of its legal umbrella and bank account, but that was a nono for ISOC.

Changed their policy recently?

Met vriendelijke groet,
Kind regards

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Op vr 3 jul. 2020 om 17:54 schreef Judith Hellerstein via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>>:

HI All,

On the subject of a Bank account and Non Profit Status, Our Accessibility SIG was able to get our status through a tool that many groups in the US use called Fiscal sponsorship. Fiscal sponsorship refers to the practice of non-profit organizations offering their legal and tax-exempt status to groups—typically projects—engaged in activities related to the sponsoring organization's mission.  The main organization maintains the legal and fiduciary responsibility for the sponsored organization. Other countries probably have a similar tool.  What this allows for is for an established non-profit to provide fiscal sponsorship to a related organization that shares several of the same goals. In our case ISOC NY graciously offered to be our Fiscal Sponsor. We signed a legal agreement with them and they opened up a separate bank account for us to use.

In the US this concept of Fiscal sponsorship is widely used by many, many similar groups whether they are in Tech, or any other sector it is pretty common.

I have heard that in France there is something similar called Hosted Foundations and perhaps these type of arrangements should be looked into more by other Chapters or SIGS.

Best,

Judith

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On 7/3/2020 11:23 AM, Christine Saegesser via Chapter-delegates wrote:
Dear all,

The Chapter Admin Funding programme is there to support the Chapter’s day to day running of the Chapter itself.

While the Admin funding programme was launched in Oct 2016 with an application deadline in Dec 2016, the programme always closed in either May or June in the following years.

The main reasons for closing it in June are:
• feedback we have received from Chapters is that they would like to receive their Admin Funding in the first part of the year to be able to carry out their plans throughout the year.
• budget management and visibility (it’s is a large total amount of money to allocate without knowing how many Chapters will apply)
• end of year accounting volume – there is a tendency for Chapters to apply at deadline. Over the past years, we typically received 70% of the Chapter applications within the last 3 days before the deadline, and this across the various Chapter funding programmes. If the programme closes towards the end of the year, this means a considerable number of invoices that need to be paid on top of normal end of year closing.

Last year, we opened a 2nd round of Chapter Admin Funding to accommodate particular circumstances faced by the Chapters. Based on the feedback here, we will look into opening a second round later in the year for 2020 too. And, as mentioned in my earlier message, we will have a look at the overall funding schedule for next year.

In the meantime, 73% of Chapters have successfully submitted their applications for 2020 by the 30 June deadline and we will work with the Chapters who faced challenges to submit their applications on time due to the very difficult global circumstances to identify solutions. Please reach out to Stine Philipsen <philipsen at isoc.org<mailto:philipsen at isoc.org>> over the next two weeks if this is your Chapter’s case.

Also, concerning the need for a bank account on the name of the Chapter:
What the Chapter Charter Letter says is that the Chapter agrees to “Establish a bank account or other equivalent financial account in the name of the Chapter to receive and disburse funds, including funding provided by the Internet Society.” (see point 3.1.V https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2018-2020-ISOC_Chapter_Charter_Agreement-Apr2020.pdf)
Any "equivalent financial account" would have to be legal and secure (and auditable), and the Chapter would need to make and receive payments to and from it in the name of the Chapter as a legal organization.

Wyn, to your question:
In this vein, i am also seeking clarification of your second bullet point below -- "For Chapters in a country where legal registration is not necessary to open a bank account in the official name of the Chapter ..." -- is this worded correctly (with the "not); or should that instead read -- "For Chapters in a country where legal registration is necessary to open a bank account in the official name of the Chapter ...".

This is not a typo. In most cases, a local legal registration is needed for the bank to be able to open a bank account in the name of the Chapter. However, in some countries it is possible to constitute a group that doesn’t need a legal registration in order to be able to open a Chapter bank account. In South Africa for example, it is possible to create "Voluntary Associations" that can open bank accounts in the name of their entity without any formal legal registration. Chapters who operate in a similar legal context are invited to reach out to us by contacting Stine Philipsen (philipsen at isoc.org<mailto:philipsen at isoc.org>) to discuss their particular case.

I hope this helps clarify some of the points raised.

Best,

Christine

On 3. Jul 2020, at 14:57, Christian via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>> wrote:

I am sympathetic to the needs of chapters that for whatever reason can't viably work within their own registered formal entity locally.

ISOC London was informal as it became ISOC England which did formalise in 1999 before it became a chartered chapter (there was already a formal ISOC Scotland organisation since defunct). ISOC England again became "informal" in the mid2000s and stayed informal as the core of the current team refreshed it from 2011 until a couple of years ago.

A sufficient stable revenue that would at least meet our regularised costs for at least  3 years beyond the current financial year was for us an essential pre condition before we formalised.

So far that has happened according to plan.

One thought I've had that might help with chartered but informally structured chapters.

ISOC regional offices could set up a regional secretariat entity that was managed by ISOC staff with chapter leadership engagement to handle the financial formalities for informal chapters.

With grants managed from that  with chapter and ISOC trustee oversight. It should satisfy concerns for accountability and getting  the money doing useful things?

If an informal chapter starts to get viable longer term support locally that will allow it to sustain its own structure and governance then it can always do that at a later date.

?

C

On 03/07/2020 12:46, sivasubramanian muthusamy via Chapter-delegates wrote:

In the case of the Chennai Chapter, we have opted NOT to incorporate, because incorporation / formation as an NGO / Trust requires systematic paperwork, filing of monthly / quarterly reports or what we call "returns" and might involve visits to one or more Government offices, additional procedures for receiving / sending money from / to accounts outside the country.  That makes it difficult for a Chapter of volunteers to commit to such processes that might require a Chapter Accountant, and in addition would require the Chapter to engage the services of a Chartered Accountant and in some cases a Lawyer.  Professionals with a sense of responsibility, commitment and thoroughness, who also have a sense of Accountability are expensive in terms of the fee payable.  As a Chapter, who have handled a sum total of about $ 6000 in 12 years, it was unwise to seek to commit to these processes, which would have required us to spend about $5000 a year in professional fees alone merely to meet the compliance requirements.  The $ 5000 / year indicated here is arbitrary, one could argue that there are professionals of lesser standards who can be engaged at about $500 a year or even less (not denying that the fee charged is not always a measure of the standards of service extended, but it is often true that reliable services require a good outlay for professional fees);  It can also be argued that much more than $ 5000 a year is to be set aside towards professional fees, and even additional provisions may be required for legal services;  With this rationale, though not conclusively decided not to incorporate in some form, we have been hesitating;  We do have a bank account, though I am not saying this to ask for admin funding right now.

Sivasubramanian M
Internet Society India Chennai

On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 3:35 PM Winthrop Yu via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org<mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>> wrote:

Thank you for your comprehensive reply Christine.

During the campaign for signing by all Chapters of the Chapter Letter, correct me if i misheard or do not remember correctly, but i distinctly recall your mentioning that alternative procedures would be made available for those Chapters in countries where a bank account requires full incorporation. I mention this again as in some developing countries such a registration, particularly for non-profit entities, is extremely onerous. This is does not just entail red-tape and the usual mandatory regulatory requirements, but the surrender of personal privacy; for example a requirement that all officers of such an entity sign waivers allowing scrutiny of all personal bank accounts. In a country where there is reasonable rule of law, this may perhaps be barely reasonable. In a country where the government can and does "weaponize" the law, this represents a significant risk and threat against the officers of such an entity.

In this vein, i am also seeking clarification of your second bullet point below -- "For Chapters in a country where legal registration is not necessary to open a bank account in the official name of the Chapter ..." -- is this worded correctly (with the "not); or should that instead read -- "For Chapters in a country where legal registration is necessary to open a bank account in the official name of the Chapter ...".

Kindly advise, thank you!

WYn

On 3 Jul 2020 5:20 pm, Christine Saegesser via Chapter-delegates wrote:
Dear Chapter Leaders,

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts around the Chapter Admin Funding Programme (and other funding programs), please know that all your feedback is noted and taken into consideration for future improvements.

We will be in touch with the Chapter Advisory Council Steering Committee later this year to agree on a timeline that works better for everyone for 2021.

Based on the comments on the list, we also wish to share some clarifications that are hopefully to everyone’s benefit:

Bank Accounts and Funding Eligibility:

  *   The requirement to have a bank account in the name of the Chapter/SIG is not a new requirement. This was introduced in 2018 as reflected in the updated Charter Letters, and required for the Internet Society and the Internet Society Foundation to comply with their own accounting and liability requirements (see point 3.1.V https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2018-2020-ISOC_Chapter_Charter_Agreement-Apr2020.pdf).
  *   For Chapters in a country where legal registration is not necessary to open a bank account in the official name of the Chapter, please reach out to Stine Philipsen  (philipsen at isoc.org<mailto:philipsen at isoc.org>) with some background on the local setting your Chapter is operating in. We evaluate these circumstances on a case-by-case basis.
  *   Concerning the 2019 round of evaluations: Please keep in mind that additional time was needed to evaluate the applications last year since we were missing documentation (legal registration and matching bank account) from a number of Chapters. We needed to have these documents on file for being able to disburse funds.

Internet Society & Internet Society Foundation Funding Programs:

  *   The Foundation handles project-related funding for Chapters as well as additional funding programs open to a wider audience. This includes Beyond the Net, SCILLS, IGF and COVID19 Emergency Response, please refer to 'Funding Areas' on the Foundation website<https://www.isocfoundation.org/funding-areas/>.
  *   The Internet Society manages the Chapter Admin Funding  (for the day to day running of Chapters/SIGs) and the Chapterthon. For Chapter Admin Funding, please refer to 'Chapter Admin Funding' on the Internet Society website.<https://www.internetsociety.org/grants/chapter-admin-funding/>

Deadline for Chapter Admin Funding:

  *   The 30 June deadline (including funding requirements) has been communicated via numerous Chapter Updates, regional calls and updates, and is listed on the website under the Chapter Admin Funding section. If you consider there to be gaps in our communication around important deadlines, we welcome your suggestions on how you wish to receive this information. Please share this feedback directly with your Regional Community Engagement Managers.
  *   From a systems perspective, the 'Valid until July 01, 2020' is to ensure the program remains open and all applications submitted within the 30 June 2020 deadline are well-received across all time zones.

General comment:

  *   As Stine mentioned in her e-mail to the list on 1 July, we kindly ask those Chapters facing issues linked to the unusual circumstances the world is facing this year to contact her (Stine Philipsen) directly at <philipsen at isoc.org<mailto:philipsen at isoc.org>> by 15 July, so we can evaluate potential solutions for their Admin Funding requests.

Thanks again for your collaboration. As mentioned, your feedback and suggestions are noted and taken into consideration for future improvements of our Chapter Admin Funding program.

Best,

Christine

Christine Saegesser Baethge, Sr. Director Chapters and Individual Members
saegesser at isoc.org<mailto:saegesser at isoc.org> | Twitter: ch_saebae

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