Minutes | Board Finance Committee (BFC) Meeting 2 December 2020

BFC Attendees: Harald Alverstrand, Becky Burr, Ron da Silva, Danko Jevtović (Chair), Mandla Msimang, Ihab Osman and Tripti Sinha

Other Board Member Attendees: Avri Doria, Lito Ibarra, Göran Marby, and Matthew Shears

ICANN Org Attendees: Xavier Calvez (SVP, Planning and Chief Financial Officer), Franco Carrasco (Board Operations Specialist), Kirsten Crownhart (Financial Planning and Analyst Manager), John Jeffrey (General Counsel and Secretary), Elizabeth Le (Associate General Counsel), Alex Morshed (Finance Manager), Becky Nash (VP Planning), Brett Peterson (Director Accounting), Shani Quidwai (Sr. Director Finance), and Amy Stathos (Deputy General Counsel)


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

  1. BFC Workplan – The BFC reviewed its Workplan for FY2021, which is on target.
  2. Operating Fund Excess Allocation – The Committee continued its discussion from the previous meeting of 6 November 2020 regarding a proposal to allocate some portion of excess from the Operating Fund to a Supplemental Fund for Implementation of Community Recommendations. The Supplemental Fund fro Implementation of Community Recommendations (the Fund) would support the funding of large and multiyear implementation projects that are approved by the Board. The activities of ICANN, including the projects that could potentially be funded by the Fund, are all part of ICANN's activities that are all the subject to ICANN's budgeting and planning processes. The proposal suggests that projects that have been approved by the Board or are soon to be adopted and cannot fit within the annual budget due to size and length could be candidates for the Fund. These projects proposed to be covered by the Fund would be considered during the annual operating and budget plan and five-year operating and financial plan processes posted for Public Comments. The replenishment of the Fund would be evaluated annually during the planning process, which is also when ICANN org proposes to make recommendations to allocate any excess from the Operating Fund into the Supplemental Fund for Implementation of Community Recommendations. If adopted, each year there will be a section of the budget that provides an overview of the recommended allocation to the Fund and the projects that would be covered by these funds. The first consideration for any Operating Fund excess will be to add to the Reserve Fund, then to the Supplemental Fund for Implementation of Community Recommendations based on the needs for funding of approved and eligible projects. The BFC requested ICANN org to revise the proposal to reflect the Committee's discussion for further consideration at an upcoming BFC meeting.

    • Actions:

      • ICANN org to revise the Supplemental Fund for Implementation of Community Recommendations proposal to reflect the BFC's discussion and bring it back to the BFC for discussion.

Published on 20 January 2021