[council] Travel funding

[Denise Michel <denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here is some information regarding travel funding and budgets to inform 
your conversation about travel to the ICANN India meeting.  (My 
additional comments are at the end).
History – Initial requests for funding for some of the GNSO’s New gTLD 
Committee intersessional meetings came from the Council Chair and were 
treated on an ad-hoc basis. I provided funding on the basis of economy 
travel for one rep per constituency, plus the Chair and NomCom 
appointees. Due to the utility of these meetings, and the expectation 
that more would be needed to complete this work, I incorporated some 
travel funding in a revised Policy budget I created for the latter part 
of FY 2006-2007 (ICANN’s fiscal year runs from 1 July to 30 June).
Rationale – The rationale was that it was reasonable for 
constituencies/employers to pay for attendance at the main ICANN meeting 
(where there are usually business opportunities to discuss amongst ICANN 
participants), but not for some of the policy-specific meetings held 
between the main ICANN meetings.
Current Budget – I included US$140,000 for two intersessional meetings 
in the Policy budget for FY 2007 – 2008.  The Council has not held an 
intersessional meeting since 1 July 2007.
India Travel –  It is estimated that airfare for 21 Council members for 
this meeting would be US$147,000.  Cost for hotel/per diem for 21 
Council members for this meeting would be US$205,800.
I would be happy to discuss using the intersessional travel funding to 
support Council members’ travel to the India ICANN meeting (as a one-off 
decision) (letters to the CEO not required).  If the Council would like 
to request funding for Council members to receive support to attend all 
ICANN formal meetings, then this will need to be included in the budget 
for the FY 2008 – 2009.  I will be requesting GNSO input for this budget 
cycle shortly.  As noted, travel funding also has been discussed in the 
context of “GNSO Improvements” under consideration by the Board 
Governance Committee.
Regards,
Denise

Denise Michel
ICANN VP, Policy Development
denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx