[Chapter-delegates] 2025 Internet Society Annual report (summary)

[Joly MacFie]

https://open.substack.com/pub/isoclive/p/2025-internet-society-annual-report



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https://www.isocfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2025-Annual-Report_EN.pdf
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The Internet Society has released its 2025 Annual Report, covering the
first year of its ambitious 2030 Strategy. The report documents significant
progress on connectivity, online safety, Internet governance, and policy
advocacy — all powered by a vast global community and its supporting
philanthropic arm, the Internet Society Foundation.
*Global Reach in 2025*

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   150 countries and territories reached
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   122 events hosted or co-hosted
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   53,800 people trained
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   55+ advocacy campaigns
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   124 chapters, 156,880 individual members, 79 organization members, 491
   alumni

*Connectivity — Bridging the Digital Divide*

With a quarter of the world still offline, ISOC continued to champion
community-centered connectivity as the most viable path to reaching
hard-to-reach populations. The Foundation granted $7,120,889 to
connectivity initiatives in 87+ countries. Notable stories include the
Gabaspot community network in Papua New Guinea, which grew from 50
households to 5,000 users since 2020, and a Foundation-funded project in
rural Malawi where a voucher-based model cut data costs by over 90%,
connecting 70+ schools across 63 communities and reaching over 70,000
people. ISOC also hosted 32 peering events and supported 20 Internet
exchange points to lower costs and improve performance.

Training was a major focus: 47,705 people received connectivity skills
training, supported by 93 technical trainers and 125 tutors developed
through a Train-the-Trainer model.
*Online Safety — The Foundation’s Expanding Role*

The Internet Society Foundation distributed $7,280,068 across 179 grants
for safety and digital inclusion programs — one of the report’s clearest
illustrations of the Foundation’s direct programmatic impact. Grantee
partners developed localized safety training for newly connected
communities, including women entrepreneurs in Colombia’s Cauca region who
gained both digital skills and online security practices through a
Foundation-supported program. The Mexico Chapter delivered tailored safety
courses to older adults targeted by online scams.

ISOC led a global co-creation process — involving 35 participants from 20
countries across 15 chapters and two special interest groups — to design a
new Online Trust and Safety Hub, set to launch in 2026. The Common Good
Cyber Fund was also launched in 2025 as a global initiative to strengthen
cybersecurity for the public good.
*Encryption Advocacy*

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   14,479 participants in Global Encryption Day events
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   A coordinated campaign by the Global Encryption Coalition — of which
   ISOC is a founding member — successfully defeated a French anti-encryption
   bill that would have required companies to provide access to decrypted
   messages
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   ISOC also fought Canada’s Bill C-2, which threatened warrantless access
   to personal data; after ISOC’s open letter was cited in parliamentary
   debate, the government withdrew the bill and committed to a revised version

*Internet Governance — A Landmark Year*

After years of multistakeholder advocacy, UN Member States formally
reaffirmed the multistakeholder model of Internet governance and gave the
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) a permanent mandate. ISOC chapters,
organization members, and staff played a central role. The Foundation
invested $517,880 in global, regional, and national IGFs and Schools of
Internet Governance in 2025, part of more than $2 million committed since
2020.
*Data and Policy Advocacy*

The Pulse platform — ISOC’s real-time Internet resilience and policy data
resource — was cited 188 times in media, advocacy, and research in 2025, a
40%+ increase from 2024. It tracked:

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   16,783 hours of intentional Internet shutdowns globally
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   An estimated $134 million in combined GDP impact from those shutdowns

Chapters in seven African countries used Pulse data to advocate for full
restoration of connectivity. In South Sudan, Pulse data helped make the
case for the country’s first-ever IXP.
*The Foundation’s Broader Role*

Beyond its grantmaking, the Internet Society Foundation functions as the
philanthropic engine of the ISOC ecosystem — mobilizing resources,
cultivating future Internet leaders, and ensuring long-term financial
sustainability. In 2025, the Foundation helped launch co-funding
partnerships with governments (Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK)
and Craig Newmark Philanthropies, with a combined target of directing more
than $80 million by end of 2029 through the Community-Centered Connectivity
Initiative, the Safer Internet Initiative, and the Common Good Cyber Fund.
*Financials*

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   Total revenues: $66.2M (including $58M PIR contribution to ISOC)
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   Total expenses: $53.1M
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   Investment gains and other activities: $16.5M
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   Change in net assets: $29.6M
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   Largest expense categories: grantmaking (35%), general and management
   (25%), connectivity programs (12%), security (11%)

*Looking Ahead to 2026*

ISOC plans to accelerate community-centered connectivity, scale local
technical training in underserved regions, launch the Online Trust and
Safety Hub, and deepen advocacy on encryption, intermediary protections,
and open standards. The co-funding model is central to delivering impact at
scale on the road to 2030.




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Joly MacFie  +12185659365
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