[Chapter-delegates] Message from Internet Society Audit Committee Chair

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hi,

Several of the items in your mail are about bigger governance changes
than I could do anything about, so I'm just eliding those from my
response.  This isn't because I don't think they're worthy of
discussion, but because I'm the wrong person to talk to them about!
The Board has to adopt Bylaws changes.

On Fri, Nov 06, 2020 at 06:02:44PM +0000, Christian de Larrinaga wrote:
>
>For instance Chapters elect ISOC Trustees.

Well, 1/3 of them, yes.

>Firstly if  ISOC determines how a chapter is governed then that potentially can
>influence how ISOC is governed via influencing (corruptly) the chapter electoral role.

To be clear, though, the Internet Society does not in fact determine
how Chapters are governed, right?  There definitely are minimum
requirements for governance, of course, but those were (1) worked out
with the Chapters and the ChAC and (2) are really the minumum we can
get away with under US law.  One might want to make an argument that
ISOC shouldn't have been organized under US law, but it's too late to
do very much about that: we already are.

>Secondly ISOC pays money to Chapters. A perceived conflict could occur if
>it could be  inferred ISOC or some part in ISOC was using that to
>influence Chapter candidate selection / voting for the board. (for example)
[…]
>There are other potential things to look out for. For instance if an
>ISOC staff member or board member or contractor or other benefactor
>takes on a senior chapter roll and uses the chapter processes to
>influence ISOC in a way that falls outside community consensus.

Yes, which is _precisely_ why the Board has this as a hard conflict.
You can serve in one capacity or another, but you can't serve in both.
We don't allow chapter leadership to be ISOC staff or Trustees to
avoid this kind of problem.  Upthread some seemed to be suggesting we
should relax this stance, but I think you have argued pretty
persuasively that we need to be on our guard here.

>Mostly grants to chapters are for services to the community.

Some are administrative funds, but yes.  And there are substantial
funds set aside every year reserved exclusively to Chapters so that
they can achieve those things.  Historically, we seem to have had
difficulty getting enough Chapters to apply for those funds, but we
continue to reserve them in any case.

>Organizational members in my experience depend on an inside ISOC
>champion but ISOC has never managed to extend that support in those
>organizations to include their brand values with ISOC's core values nor
>encourage direct engagement by them directly with chapters around the world in
>areas they are  doing  business or charitable activities. Some very
>simple things could be  done to join these dots and turn every $1 into
>$10.

I think you are right about this, and it is one of the areas of high
priority work in the coming year.  I feel our disconnect with
Organizational Members acutely.

>I've introduced several orgs to ISOC and some have joined and
>subsequently left because they "don't see the point". i.e, the "benefit".

Correct, that is the central point.

>It has too often been a case of "us" and "them" when it comes to ISOC
>and its chapters and organisational communities.

Speaking for myself, I don't think there is even a possibility of "us"
and "them" as regards the Internet Society and its Chapters or
Organizational Members, because I believe both of those are part of
the Internet Society.  But I am aware that there are some who feel
that either the Trustees or the staff or both are too exclusive of the
community.  I will continue to do what I can to counter that drift
while still pursuing the Mission as directed by the Board.

>Incidentally we've  had a very tough year. Let's be kind in realisation
>people here are here to further the open Internet. It's pretty amazing
>really. Despite everything being thrown at it the Internet can still be for Everyone.

In this I think we are in complete agreement.

Best regards,
A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
President & CEO, Internet Society
sullivan at isoc.org
+1 416 731 1261