Minutes | Board Finance Committee (BFC) Meeting 3 October 2018

BFC Attendees: Maarten Botterman, Ron da Silva (Chair), Chris Disspain, and Khaled Koubaa

Other Board Member Attendees: Cherine Chalaby, Avri Doria, and Göran Marby

BFC Member Apologies: George Sadowsky

Invited Observers: Tripti Sinha

ICANN Org Attendees: Susanna Bennett (Chief Operating Officer), Michelle Bright (Board Content Coordination Director), Xavier Calvez (Chief Financial Officer), Aaron Jimenez (Board Operations Sr. Coordinator), John Jeffrey (General Counsel & Secretary), Vinciane Koenigsfeld (Director, Board Operations), Elizabeth Le (Associate General Counsel), Becky Nash (VP Finance), Wendy Profit (Manager, Board Operations), Lisa Saulino (Board Operations Sr. Coordinator), and Amy Stathos (Deputy General Counsel)


The following is a summary of discussions, actions taken and actions identified:

  1. BFC Work Plan – The BFC reviewed the Committee's work plan, which is on target.

  2. FY18 Financials/FY19 Budget – The BFC received an update on the FY18 financials. The BFC noted that some of the key highlights include the fact that ICANN operations generated an operational net excess of US$2.3 million for the year-ending on 30 June 2018, based on actual funding of US$134 million and cash expenses of US$131.7 million. The BFC further noted that the operations funding for FY18 was US$600,000 lower than the FY17 actuals and US$8.8 million lower than the FY18 adopted budget. During the course of FY18, there was a significant drop in the funding forecast against the adopted budget mainly due to the slower-than-anticipated growth of new gTLD registrations. Based on the change in FY18 forecast, ICANN was successful in managing the FY18 actual expenses and ended up with US$2.2 million lower than FY17 and US$14.3 million lower than the adopted budget. The BFC noted that the significant amount of savings is in large part due to the reduction in trips during the fiscal year as well lack of increase in headcount despite the budget plan to do so.

  3. Reserve Fund Replenishment Strategy Discussion - The BFC reviewed the snapshot of the FY19 budget overview as compared to the FY18 actuals. The BFC noted that the budget does not account for any excess that would be used to allocate to the reserve fund. The BFC engaged in a discussion regarding replenishment strategy for the Reserve Fund. The BFC agreed that the strategy document for replenishing the reserve fund needs to be expanded to explain the process by which the replenishment will be accomplished before submitting to the Board for approval.

    • Actions:
      • ICANN org propose path forward for the replenishment of the Reserve Fund over the next five years.
  4. Approval of Legal Fees (above $500k USD) – The Committee approved a recommendation for Board approval of a payment of an invoice for legal expenses that was in excess of US$500,000.

    • Actions:
      • ICANN org to prepare the relevant materials for Board consideration.