[Chapter-delegates] On funding dedicated to chapters

Tue Oct 5 06:29:57 PDT 2021

Dear Sarah,

Thank you very much for the work you and the team do at the foundation. You
are correct in saying that the foundation is still on its learning curve.
Also thank you for saying that "We will continuously improve this important
program responding to what we learn." This is key.

And there has been some concerns in this list on how the foundation can
overcome US-centric style of doing things as it goes about serving its
global constituencies(chapters) in Africa, Europe, North America, Latin
America, Asia/Middle East. I happen to hold the thinking that ISOC
Foundation is different, needs to be different from the regular American
foundation and its cup of biases and culture. If its basic architecture is
made up of what makes the normal corporate American foundation, then we are
in trouble. And that will need to really be redesigned! Why?

Before it was even born, the ISOC foundation was already a global
foundation with local partners(the chapters) in more than 100 countries
worldwide. It had already had agents globally before it came out of the
womb!

Question is in carrying out the mission of ISOC, does ISOC Foundation think
and see chapters as partners or grantees? If 1 or 2 what evidence backs
that up?

One might ask,is the fondation really committed to invest in the chapters
to help it deliver its mandate globally? Are chapters important to ISOC
Foundation? If yes how important in the scale of 10?  Is this importance in
the scale of 10 reflected in the percentage of total grants budget that the
foundation plans to give?

In the spirit of improving how foundation delivers or should deliver its
mandate I propose that the foundation calls the online forum with its
constituencies one forum per continent or region. The meetings will focus
on how better can the foundation deliver its mandate and work with chapters
as local partners rather than grantees.

I am available to volunteer to help with the calls.

+1

On Tue, Oct 5, 2021, 2:12 AM Jessica Dickinson Goodman via
Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> Hi Sarah,
>
> Thank you for all that you do! I've worked with a fair number of
> foundations and funders in my career, including teaching grant prospecting
> for the U.S. State Department's TechWomen <https://techwomen.org/>
> program. I found the Internet Society Foundation's Beyond the Net Grant
> process relatively painless, nicely transparent, and the staff responsive
> and knowledgeable. There's always room for improvement, but when I'm
> recruiting people to my chapter, the funding streams available to chapters
> who need support in fulfilling our shared mission is an important part of
> my pitch.
>
> I hope you have a great day.
>
> Best,
>
> Jessica Dickinson Goodman
> Chapter President
> San Francisco Bay Area Internet Society
>
> On Mon, Oct 4, 2021 at 12:13 PM Sarah Armstrong via Chapter-delegates <
> chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
>> Hello to all and wishing you all well.
>>
>> I've met many of you but not all and wanted to introduce myself.
>> My name is Sarah Armstrong and I am the Executive Director of the
>> Internet Society Foundation.
>> I've been following the dialogue in this Chapter-delegates list and have
>> been working with Andrew to get you as much information as we have to
>> respond to the issues you've raised.
>>
>> First let me say we appreciate your interest in the work of the
>> Foundation. We are still new and still learning but are proud of the work
>> we've done as we come towards the close of our second operational year.
>>
>> Second, I'd like to share that we truly value our relationship with the
>> Chapters. You are a very important part of the community.  We are regularly
>> in touch with many of you through webinars, emails and Zoom calls.  And we
>> recently distributed a survey to get to even better understand - and thus
>> respond to - your needs. We will continuously improve this important
>> program responding to what we learn.
>>
>> And third, I'd like to respond to the question about the amount of funds
>> provided for Beyond the Net in 2020 (per note below). The figures on the
>> website erroneously included a small number of awards that were made in
>> 2021 for applications received in 2020. We have tightened our processes
>> around updating initiatives based on calendar years, and numbers reported
>> in our AP2021 and Look Back 2020 were correct.
>>
>> I am happy to take any additional questions if there are others and
>> continue to encourage all of you to apply for more Beyond the Net grants.
>> All the best,
>> Sarah
>>
>> Sarah Armstrong, Executive Director, Internet Society Foundation
>> (O) + 1 571-401-8501 (M) + 1 703-980-3116
>> https://www.isocfoundation.org/
>>
>> On 10/2/21, 1:25 PM, "Chapter-delegates on behalf of Hank Nussbacher via
>> Chapter-delegates" <chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org on behalf
>> of chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>>
>>     On 01/10/2021 20:45, Andrew Sullivan via Chapter-delegates wrote:
>>     >
>>     >> 5. Which was the total budget awarded by the various programs of
>> the
>>     >>   ISOC Foundation in 2020, including BtN?
>>     >
>>     > Total Awarded in 2020 across all programs was $3,801,456.
>>     > Hope this helps.
>>     >
>>     > A
>>     >
>>     Dear Andrew,
>>     Can you explain the discrepancy between your number above and:
>>     https://www.isocfoundation.org/about/our-projects/
>>     "We currently support grantees in *58 countries* across 6 continents,
>>     and awarded *$4,476,879* million in funding in 2020."
>>
>>     Regards,
>>     Hank Nussbacher
>>     ISOC-IL
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically
>> subscribed
>>     to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet
>> Society Chapter Portal (AMS):
>>     https://admin.internetsociety.org/622619/User/Login
>>     View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:
>> https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
>> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
>> Chapter Portal (AMS):
>> https://admin.internetsociety.org/622619/User/Login
>> View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:
>> https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
>>
> _______________________________________________
> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
> Chapter Portal (AMS):
> https://admin.internetsociety.org/622619/User/Login
> View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:
> https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
>
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