On April 22, 2002, ICANN's Board approved a resolution via teleconference authorizing the acceptance of contributions to fund staff support "for the creation and nurturing of At-Large mechanisms for meaningful, self-organizing informed participation in ICANN by a full range of Internet users." Recognizing initial fundraising efforts undertaken by Esther Dyson, a member of the former At-Large Study Committee and former Chair of ICANN, the Board acknowledged that ICANN should use the funds to immediately provide support for facilitating At-Large organizing efforts. Denise Michel, former Executive Director of the At-Large Study Committee, agreed to provide this support on a temporary basis to help nurture the creation of At-Large structures.
On March 14, 2002 in Accra, the Board approved a resolution stating that ICANN should have "a robust At-Large mechanism for meaningful, informed participation by Internet users of the kind recommended in the ALSC report," and calling upon the ICANN community to "devote sustained energy to the creation of At-Large structures built upon bottom-up, self-organized, local Internet community institutions and other organizations that meet the general criteria of openness, participation, and self-sustainability, anticipating that most such entities are not ICANN-specific, but already serve their communities in broader ways."
In the next few months, Denise Michel will help ICANN take initial steps to support the formation of At-Large organizations, including: creating an informal, volunteer At-Large Organizing Committee to assist in guiding preliminary at-large efforts; conducting outreach to identify interested individuals/groups worldwide; identify common objectives and interests relevant to Internet users and ICANN's mission; organize a "founders group" to help catalyze regional At-Large structures; establish mechanisms for coordination and cooperation among At-Large structures; and help coordinate input on the role for those structures in ICANN's coordinating and management structures and recommend future actions to the ICANN Board. The success of these efforts will be dependent in large part on the interest and engagement of the Internet community.
Those interested in contributing to these efforts are encouraged to send their contributions payable to the "ICANN At-Large Project" to: ICANN, 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330, Marina del Rey, CA 90292. (Telephone 310-823-9358; Fax 310-823-8649). Questions should be directed to Denise Michel at dmichel@atlargestudy.org.