Minutes | Meeting of the Finance Committee of the Board (BFC) | 20 February 2024

BFC Attendees: Harald Alvestrand, Maarten Botterman, Edmon Chung, Danko Jevtović (Chair), and Patricio Poblete

BFC Member Apologies: León Sánchez

Other Board Member Attendee: Katrina Sataki

ICANN org Attendees: Xavier Calvez (SVP, Planning and Chief Financial Officer), Franco Carrasco (Board Operations Manager), Samantha Eisner (Deputy General Counsel), Marika Konings (VP, New gTLD Program Lead), Elizabeth Le (Associate General Counsel), Becky Nash (VP, Planning), Shani Quidwai (Senior Director, Finance), Giovanni Seppia (Vice President – Implementation Operations ), Amy Stathos (Deputy General Counsel), and Theresa Swinehart (SVP. Global Domains & Strategy)

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

1. Grant Program – Edmon Chung and Harald Alvestrand recused themselves from the discussion, out of an abundance of caution to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. The Committee reviewed and discussed a recommendation to allocate USD 10 million from auction proceeds received during the 2012 round of the New gTLD Program to be used to fund projects applied for within the ICANN Grant Program's first cycle of applications. ICANN provided a financial overview of the Grant Program, noting that USD 1.2 million has been spent to date implement the Program, much of which consists of one-time start-up costs. Over the lifecycle of the Program, the estimated costs to operate the Program will be maintained at seven to ten percent of the anticipated grant distributions, which is in line with the Grant Program and best practices for global grant organization costs to manage grant programs. ICANN org provided the BFC with an overview of the implementation of the Program, noting that the org stands ready to launch the application window of the first grant cycle. The Committee noted that there remains certain dependencies related to the language of the CCWG-AP's Recommendation 7 regarding access to ICANN's accountability mechanisms for challenges to decisions on individual applications within the Grant Program. Following discussion, the BFC approved a recommendation to the Board to authorize the allocation of USD 10 million from the auction proceeds received during 2012 round of the New gTLD Program to be used to fund projects applied for within the ICANN Grant Program's first cycle of applications.

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

2. Next Round Update – Edmon Chung and Harald Alvestrand recused themselves from the discussion, out of an abundance of caution to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. The Committee received a status update on implementation of the New gTLD Program Next Round. The BFC provides overall project management oversight for the Next Round. ICANN org provided the Committee with an overview of governance structure for the Next Round, which is organized around workstreams. ICANN org is currently engaged in bottom-up project planning exercise to align the overall program to each workstream, project, and supporting function to provide increased visibility, ownership, governance, dependencies, and risks related to implementation. ICANN org reported that sections of the Applicant Guidebook as well as string similarity guidelines were published for public comment in early February 2024. ICANN org also reported that the Applicant Support Program and the Registry Services Provider Evaluation Program are on track to go live by the end of calendar year 2024. The org further reported that the community consultation on Public Interest Commitments and Registry Voluntary Commitments has been initiated. The Committee received an update of the implementation financials to date and forecast of expenses through June 2024. The Committee compared the actual spend against budgeted projections for the first tranche of funding (April 2023 – October 2023), noting that they are closely aligned. ICANN org also provided an overview of the staffing levels and projections, indicating an increase of dedicated staff as implementation activities progress and an overview of expected costs and staffing levels for the remainder of funding period. ICANN org noted that a report of the progress and status of implementation will be published on ICANN's website for sharing in advance of the ICANN79 Public Meeting as directed by Board Resolution 2023.03.16.14. ICANN org will also hold different Next Round related sessions with the community during ICANN79 and the prep week.