As happens every year ICANN has put their budget and plans out for public comment. The organisation’s overall budget has grown significantly over the last 10 years, as has the organisations staff headcount, number of offices and other aspects of its operations.
However this year’s budget is going to be quite different from those of previous years.
Revenue is not growing like it used to.
The reserves need to be replenished.
Cuts will need to be made.
It is against this backdrop that both the ICANN CEO and Board Chairs issued stark warnings in the run-up to Christmas that the days of plenty were no more.
What does that mean?
Essentially ICANN will need to refocus itself on its core mission. Over the past few years between the launch of new TLDs and the IANA transition, coupled with a rapid and aggressive growth strategy the number of employees, offices and overall expenditure mushroomed. While a lot of that spend was justifiable, like making the organisation a lot less US-centric, the growing revenues allowed for expansion in spend on non-core activities.
You can download the various documents that make up the finance documents here. You can also peruse specific finance reports including board member spend here.
Want to know how much ICANN is spending on bringing various people, including government representatives, to ICANN meetings? All the information is here. (Disclosure: as a member of ICANN’s GNSO Council and previously related to my other activities I have been in receipt of travel support from ICANN)
