[Chapter-delegates] On funding dedicated to chapters

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hi,

On Fri, Oct 01, 2021 at 08:03:56PM +0200, Alexander Blom via Chapter-delegat

>In 2020 there was not one chapter successfully applying for one of the
>other programs, so chapters having this opportunity in practice made no
>difference.

As I have pointed out, more than one chapter is involved in such programs this year, so one might just as easily say that the Foundation staff work to encourage chapters that way (too) is succeeding.

>About not becoming the everything society: if you look up a couple of the
>grants, you will probably find (like I did) that though certainly
>admirable, many of the organisations and projects receiving these have a
>very loose connection to the internet, if there is such a connection at
>all.

It seems to me that, "Which organization are you funding?" is the wrong question.  The question is, "What does the project they are doing have to do with the Internet?"  For instance, it would not be even a little weird, in my opinion, for there to be a SCILLS grant where the lead of the project was a refugee resettlement group aiming to improve digital literacy of refugees; such a grant might even be in collaboration with a local chapter.  But if you just looked at the organization, you'd have the wrong impression.  Looking at the stories section of the Foundation site, I think we can see ways in which the Internet is involved in all of those efforts.  Some of those ways might not be kinds of projects the Internet Society itself would focus on, but they might fit well within the remit of the Foundation.  Moreover, some of them might not comport with the thematic areas of the BtN large grants; why isn't that ok?  I'd like to think we _all_ support making the Internet "a resource to enrich people’s lives, and a force for good in society," (to quote from the Internet Society mission).

>At the same time, chapters seem to be on a short leash; my example of
>my chapter's "excellent" project being denied funding because of
>disinformation being off-limits speaks volumes in this respect.

Who is supposed to be holding this "short leash"?  The committee that evaluates large grants has a lot of representation from chapters on it.  If a chapter can't convince other chapters that a proposed project is an Internet topic worth funding, that seems to me to be a significant fact.   I also don't think it is healthy for us to be generalizing from your specific example (much less to be litigating the decision through this list), so I'm unwilling to say much more about it.

Best regards.

A

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