[DT-O] Contingency fund

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond]

Dear Chuck,

my comments in-line:

On 29/05/2015 08:57, Gomes, Chuck wrote:
> Let's discuss these ideas on list.  Please see my comments below.
>
> Chuck
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dto-bounces at icann.org [mailto:dto-bounces at icann.org] On Behalf Of Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond
> Sent: Friday, May 29, 2015 2:39 AM
> To: dto at icann.org
> Subject: [DT-O] Contingency fund
>
> Hello all,
>
> whilst on the CWG calls yesterday, I was thinking about any other aspects we might have not covered re: budget and wonder whether this fits in.
> IANA will need to be adequately funded under any circumstance, so I gather we are making a recommendation that ICANN is not able to cut the IANA budget unilaterally.
> [Chuck Gomes] This would need to be more specific.  Would cuts have to be approved?  By whom?

Historically, in the past 5 years I have seen some budgets being
cut/reduced without any ICANN community being involved. It is unclear on
whether these are decisions of the Board Finance Committee or of the CFO
& Staff, or of the COO.
I'll therefore refer to "ICANN" as the "organisation" - if ICANN decided
to reduce budgets, should there be guidelines as to keep a guaranteed
PTI budget?




>
> What about if ICANN has a cash squeeze? Should we have a recommendation that in the event of limited cashflow at ICANN priority must be given to funding IANA operations?
> [Chuck Gomes] What does priority mean?    Again I think we would need to be more specific.

Apologies for my poor expression of issues - a bit tired. :-) See above.


> What about in the event of ICANN bankruptcy - should a reserve sum be kept in an escrow account (a contingency fund) to bridge the period required for reorganisation?
> [Chuck Gomes] I think the affiliate model in CA covers some concerns about bankruptcy but wouldn't necessarily provide funding.  One thing we might suggest that I think someone commented on is that one or more years of funding be kept in escrow at current year spending levels.

Agreed.
Kind regards,

Olivier