[Chapter-delegates] Services, staff considerations, and so forth (was Re: ISOC LIVE - the reports of its death are exaggerated, but..)

[Christian de Larrinaga]

Eduardo, Well that is helpful. I was not aware of the detail about cha c nor of Dave
Burstein's comments today. I see Ted Hardie has posted a note back which
mentions some points relating to some questions we wanted to discuss. So
I think that will be the next thing for us as a chapter to consider.

No harm in other chapters and members having discussions here or via a
ch ac activity. It might be given your experience useful for discussions
to start and document advice here and then ch ac can co ordinate the
communication with the board? As of yet we haven't got as far as
"advice". We just feel we need to know what ISOC board and staff want
and are trying to do and also what they have been doing.

If they don't want chapters or don't want them involved in some things
that I think would be very useful to know. I for one don't want to waste
my or others time locally "flogging a dead horse". 

My experience in recent months is caught by a few mixed messages. On serious policy
initiatives. ISOC does seem happy and want our voice and
perspectives. But it is inconsistent and there's a considerable amount
of yoyoing around that interface not from staff we are working with but
from somewhere behind them. Obviously we want to support and encourage very good
people who have a demanding day job at ISOC. We value their work and
engagement. 

We are trying to get to the bottom of this because there are
relationships and activities with organisations and
institutions that can get very mixed messages as to whether to take ISOC
seriously as and when a senior ISOC leader walks in without so much as a nudge or a
wink to us. As a corollary we always keep interested staff in the loop
on our activities in their area of expertise. 

As I say we are asking at this time not deciding.

C
Eduardo Diaz <eduardodiazrivera at gmail.com> writes:

> Christian:
>
> Thank you for your words. My intention is not to stop any discussion but to ensure everyone knows the
> alternative channels available for communicating with the Board. All formal advice from the ChAC-SC to the
> Board gets published for the public record here: [Internet Society Chapters Advisory
> Council](https://www.internetsociety.org/chapters/chapters-advisory-council). At the end of this page, a button
> labeled "Find all the recommendations with responses from the Board" is supposed to direct you to the
> recommendations the ChAC-SC has produced so far. However, this button is malfunctioning, leading nowhere
> upon clicking. Whether this oversight was intentional remains to be determined, but rest assured, I will pursue
> this matter diligently.
>
> It's important to note that most of the recommendations published so far were related to the period when ISOC
> contemplated selling the .org domain to another entity and making ISOC a more bottom-up organization. These
> events occurred during my tenure as the chair of the ChAC-SC. I understand there have been no more formal
> recommendations after that, which prompts inquiries for the subsequent ChAC-SC chairs who have succeeded
> me.
>
> -ed
>
> On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 7:53 AM Christian de Larrinaga <cdel at firsthand.net> wrote:
>
>  Ed - let's not inhibit discussion. The cha ac is only advisory on ISOC
>  board and is not a middle man between chapters and the board.  
>
>  Chapters have a duty to good governance to their own community. Their ISOC relationship is
>  probably the most important relationship of a chapter overall. So there
>  is a direct conversation to be had.  
>
>  It does make sense for the ChAC when advising the board to advise
>  for transparency and disclosure in the round. No harm to do that. But
>  discussion should be encouraged.
>
>  C
>
>  Eduardo Diaz via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> writes:
>
>  > This is a matter that the Chapter Advisory Steering Committee (ChAC-SC) can address by recommending
>  the
>  > Board publish all detailed account information publicly. In fact, all matters discussed in this list that the
>  Board
>  > should attend to should be channeled through the ChAC-SC as formal recommendations to the Board.
>  > Remember that all recommendations that go to the Board need to be approved by the ChAC membership
>  so
>  > that when they get there, they are considered to be the voice of all the chapters and not of a few.
>  >
>  > -ed
>  >
>  > On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 12:05 PM Andrew Sullivan via Chapter-delegates
>  <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>
>  > wrote:
>  >
>  >  Dear colleagues,
>  >
>  >  On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 11:01:11AM +0000, Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond via Chapter-delegates wrote:
>  >
>  >  >We are not asking for analysis. Quite the contrary, we are asking for 
>  >  >more transparency on already existing report. We assume that they 
>  >  >exist because any firm would produce abbreviated accounts starting 
>  >  >from detailed accounts. As abbreviated figures are currently 
>  >  >published, we assume that detailed account exist. I would be very 
>  >  >concerned if details of every project budget in the Internet Society 
>  >  >did not exist. That would be alarming.
>  >
>  >  Yes, there are of course detailed accounts, and our accounts are audited annually.  Indeed, the reason the
>  >  Form 990 takes so long to post is because we have to wait for the results of the audit.
>  >
>  >  But as I said, a substantial change to the information (and its form and timing) that we release requires, in
>  my
>  >  view, a change of board policy, whcih would need to be adopted by the Finance Committee and then the
>  >  Board of Trustees.
>  >
>  >  Best regards,
>  >
>  >  A
>  >
>  >  -- 
>  >  Andrew Sullivan, President & CEO, Internet Society
>  >  e:sullivan at isoc.org m:+1 416 731 1261
>  >  Help protect the Internet for everyone:
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>
>  -- 
>  Christian de Larrinaga 


-- 
Christian de Larrinaga