[Chapter-delegates] Funds from-to Chapters? -was- ISOC LIVE

[Andrew Sullivan]

Dear colleagues,

On Thu, Mar 14, 2024 at 11:55:30AM +0800, Winthrop Yu via Chapter-delegates wrote:
>+1 Sivas. There's also the erroneous assumption that all Chapters 
>receive Admin Funding -- IIRC, about a third of Chapters have been 
>unable to receive funding of any kind from ISOC Central since the new 
>Chapters' Letter was enforced several years back.

It is not true that 1/3 of chapters can't receive any funding.

Of the current 122 chapters, there are 20 who cannot receive funds.  In some cases this has to do with local legal conditions (e.g. chapters whose registration has expired and which is necessary for them to conduct business locally).  In some other cases, this is because the chapter does not have a bank account, so it is not possible for us to send money to them.  Finally, in some countries, chapters need to have permission to receive funds from a foreign entity (the Internet Society counts as a foreign entity in those cases), and they do not have that permission.  In several of the cases where chapters cannot receive funds, they are working to address the barrier & I am confident that that number will go down.

We work very hard to ensure that the chapters have as many opportunities as possible to receive funding from the Internet Society.  It is important to us that the network of chapters is strong, and yet that each chapter retains its independence and ability to manage its own destiny.  Obviously, we will respect the law in every country where we are transferring money, which is why the above 20 are unable to receive money.  But it would be a very serious problem indeed if 1/3 of our chapters couldn't receive funds from us, and I would surely make it a priority to repair such a problem.

Best regards,

A

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