Beyond setting out what we will do and how we do it, there are several organization-level developments that influence our work in 2019.
A. Establishing the Internet Society Foundation
Over the years, the Internet Society has supported inspirational work by people who believe in the power of the Internet. The launch of the Internet Society Foundation during the first quarter of 2019 will be a major milestone for our organization, reflecting the next step in our grants-giving programs and opening new opportunities for initiatives closely aligned with our mission. As a central source for all of our grants programs, it gives us maximum flexibility to expand opportunities for our community and to extend our reach into new areas where we can make a positive impact.
The initial grant programs planned for 2019 include:
Chapter capacity building. Chapter grant funding for local and regional projects aligned with the Internet Society’s mission.
Community capacity building. Support for broader initiatives that improve Internet access and bridge the digital opportunities gap.
Disaster relief and recovery. Support to partner efforts to ensure communities can be reconnected quickly after natural disasters.
Research. The Foundation will explore opportunities to fund research and strengthen research capacity across technical, economic and public policy topics.
Innovation. This fund will encourage and fund technology initiatives and innovative technologies that contribute to the open Internet.
The Foundation will also provide $5 million to the newly-established IETF Administration LLC in 2019 and 2020 as part of the Internet Society’s ongoing commitment to a strong IETF.
The Internet Society Foundation will be closely managed to maximize its impact and to ensure that we as an organization can learn what to do to operate a foundation. Specific measures to determine effectiveness will be the first priority for a planned Executive Director. This is an exciting new period in the Internet Society’s history, where we will support and showcase the positive difference the Internet can make and deliver impact around the world.
B. Supporting the evolution of the IETF
Since its founding, the Internet Society has worked closely with and strongly supported the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In 2018, the IETF reached a significant milestone in the process of evolving its own administrative structure to best suit the current requirements of its work. After nearly two years of discussion about various options, the IETF community created the IETF Administration LLC (IETF LLC), a new legal entity, to meet its administrative support requirements. Formally, the IETF LLC is a disregarded entity and a supporting organization of the Internet Society.
In the more than three decades since it began, the IETF has evolved its administrative structure several times. The process that drove this latest evolution in its day-to-day operational and administrative practices embodied important core principles of the IETF: open and consensus-based processes and improvement based on lessons learned from experience (i.e. “running code”), while keeping firmly focused on an overarching mission to make the Internet work better. Similarly, the IETF LLC Board has already taken decisions that reflect these same principles, such as making its meetings open to observers and promptly publishing its minutes.
During the IETF community’s discussions, the Internet Society expressed strong support for the process and, as the discussions concluded, for the direction the IETF decided to take. The Internet Society made financial commitments to support the process of exploring and defining a new administrative structure, as well as to the IETF going forward under the IETF LLC to ensure a strong start to the new organization. As part of this commitment the Internet Society has pledged $5 million in funding, to be provided via the Internet Society Foundation, each year in 2019 and 2020.
This new administrative structure strengthens the foundation for an Internet built on open standards. Importantly, it will not change any aspect of the IETF’s technical work or the Internet standards process, and it clarifies the relationship between the Internet Society and the IETF. The IETF and the Internet Society continue to be strongly aligned on key principles. Programmatically, the Internet Society initiatives related to the IETF, such as the Technical Fellows to the IETF and the Deploy360 Programme, will continue to support participation in the IETF and deployment of the standards created by the IETF.
C. Improving the Internet Society’s operations
The Internet Society’s internal operations were improved in 2017 and 2018. Growth in staff numbers and the wide availability of software as a service provides us with the opportunity to build on those improvements. In particular, improved financial control systems completing deployment in early 2019 mean that options that were not previously interesting may suddenly be valuable. Areas of particular interest are human resources systems, reporting on travel spending, and mechanisms by which employee expenses are better reported against budget categories. In 2019, these analyses will be undertaken and, when appropriate, new techniques or features will be implemented.
The success of such initiatives will be evaluated in one of three ways. The best case is where the new initiative actually saves money or increases efficiency in the medium term (i.e. 3-5 years), and where there are transparency gains so that our community can better understand how the Internet Society spends the money it has. The second best case is where the new initiative does not save any money (or even costs slightly more), but transparency increases. The final case is where the new initiative only saves money or raises efficiency in the medium term (i.e. net reduced expenditure after 3-5 years). Any initiative that is not likely to yield one of these results will not be undertaken as part of this action plan.
Finally, in response to the ongoing evolution of the organization and the success of recent changes to the way we undertake our work, additional organizational changes are likely in 2019. These changes will be evaluated by how well they support the Internet Society in ensuring that the Internet is for everyone—particularly by strengthening the relationship among staff and our members and Chapters, or by allowing for more effective collaboration and communication throughout the organization.