Members and Chapters

Władysław MajewskiISOC Poland, president

Member's contributions

1. Participation in debates regarding goals and tasks

2. Personal engagement in tasks' implementation

3. Leading by example

4. Promotion of ideas

5. Marketing of goals and tasks

6. Contribution of members' special abilities

7. A monetary contribution (local and global fees)

Members' rights and expectations

1. Admirable and trusted leadership

2. Clear message about mission, goals and tasks

3. Clear, stable and followed rules and procedures

4. Right to speak, to be heard and to be answered

5. Open debate about goals and performance

6. Reliable and transparent financial governance

7. Open disclosure of conflicts of interest

8. Proper representation

Global membership

Contribution✔ Participation in debates

? Engagement in implementation

? Leading by example

✔ Promotion of ideas

✔ Marketing for goals and tasks

✔ Contribution of special abilities

✔ Local fees and donations

✗ Direct global fees and donations

more specific analysis will follow

Rights and expectations? Admirable and trusted leadership

? Clear message

? Right to be heard and answered

? Open debate

✗ Transparent financial governance

± Representation

✗ Disclosure of conflicts of interest

more specific analysis will follow

Organizational members

Contribution Participation in debates

? Engagement in implementation

Leading by example

Promotion of ideas

Marketing for goals and tasks

? Contribution of special abilities

✗ Local fees and donations

✔ Direct global fees and donations

more specific analysis will follow

Rights and expectations Admirable and trusted leadership

Clear message

✔ Right to be heard and answered

Open debate

Transparent financial governance

✔ Representation

Disclosure of conflicts of interest

more specific analysis will follow

Proposed individual members

Contribution Participation in debates

Engagement in implementation

Leading by example

Promotion of ideas

Marketing for goals and tasks

Contribution of special abilities

✗ Local fees and donations

✔ Direct global fees and donations

more specific analysis will follow

Rights and expectations Admirable and trusted leadership

Clear message

? Right to be heard and answered

? Open debate

? Transparent financial governance

✔ Representation

? Disclosure of conflicts of interest

more specific analysis will follow

Chapters

Tasks● Local activities and projects

● Leadership by example

● Marketing of goals and tasks

● Promotion of standars and ideas

● Local debates

● Political lobbing for standards' implementation

● Direct contact with members

● Local internet services and membership management

Expectations● To be asked, heard and answered

● To be invited and included into global and regional projects

● Clear rules for grant application and common projects

● Leadership for multinational projects and activities

● Organizational, technical, marketing and political support if needed and requested – see next slide about the principle od subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity

Nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by

a smaller and simpler organization.

http://www.acton.org/publicat/randl/article.php?id=200

Back to reality

Some specific practical proposals

membership and fees

Membership management● Single point of contact and user interface for

global and local membership management ● Basic local task

– Local language, address and title formats

– Local personal contact with members including newsletters and messages

– Knowledge about member's contributions, achievements and social position

– Participation in local activities

– Fees collection by local bank in local currency = lower transaction costs

● Global services should be subsidary to local– A database interface is a primary way of data exchange in both directions

– Centralised user interface for members feasible only as a last resort

Unified membership status

● No separate “local” and “global” membership● Personal activity is a most important contribution● Chapters know their members (and their record)

● It is reasonable to require:– some experience – for example one year of “associate” status

– some personal contribution

to grant full voting membership ● Fees are complementary to personal activity and

cannot subsitute for it

Basic fees

● Required– to periodically confirm a will to maintain membership

– can be waived in case of verified hardship

● locally affordable● should cover cost of:

– Membership management (local is cheaper)

– Marketing and promotion of membership (local task)

– Members' benefits (local ones are cheaper and more desirable)

– Collection and handling of fees (local is much cheaper)

Premium fees

● Required for premium benefits (local and global)

– Conference discounts

– Printed materials, CDs and DVDs

– Personal promotion

– Advisory and consulting services

– Honorary titles and social benefits (meetings, dinners etc)

● Possibility to monetary support chosen projects● No voting privilidges for sale

Fees distribution

● Fees should be left to chapters– Virtually all costs related to fees are local

● No need for an employed “global membership director”● No need for a rented global “membership management system”

– Incentive for chapters to promote and maintain membership

– Chapters depend on fees; for global ISOC fees are a marginal source

– Local management of fees in local banks and currency is much cheaper

– Fees can used by chapters as their contribution for projects. It is important in case of grant applications

– Fees can be used to fund regional cooperation of chapters

● If international money transfer is necessary - it is cheaper and easier to do it three or four times a year between chapter's and ISOC's account

Chapters and representations

● Voting members of chapters should have voting privilidges equal to all other individual members

● ISOC BoT should specify minimal requirements for status of voting chapter's member

● Seperate representation of chapters reflects chapters' organizational knowledge, competence and position in their respective communities. It should not replace and substitute for representation of individual members

Organizational members' fees

● Each organizational member of global ISOC– should contribute to at least one chapter as its organizational member

– Pillar/project chosen by donor should get up to 50% of contribution

– Other half of contribution should be used for needs chosen by ISOC

● Organizational members of chapters should be able to get some recognition on global level (including info on chapter's page on isoc.org) for reasonable additional fee no exceeding 50% of required local contribution

● Complimentary membership given to organizational members should be equal in rights and requirement to standard ISOC and chapters' membership

Organizational membership

● ISOC is no more dependent only on organizational members' contribution

● Need for separate class of membership and representation for org members is reduced

● Organizational members should have voting power primarily by votes of individual ISOC members recommended and supported by them

● Organizational members should be able to influence projects supported by them

Services for members

● Responsibility delegated to chapters if possible● Outsourced only if no available from internal

resources, chapters, volunteering members or contributing organizational members

● No fixed costs on global level– No dedicated staff– No rented management system

Plea

● Please restart the whole process of defining individual membership from scratch– Let enough time for position presentation by all

affected parties and for debate– Work hard and openly for compromise– Ensure that all proposed terms and solutions are well

understood before decision is declared and implemented

Restart is cheaper than another schizm

Some additional suggestions and remarks

Projects and grants

● Clear and stable rules for:– soliciding of proposals– Requirements for proposals– Prefferences for proposals– Evaluation of proposals and choice of experts– Evaluation of project performance

● No single dollar for project chosen by discretionaly decision of ISOC President or staff

Participation in debates

● No policy declared without global debate. Prerogatives and tasks of VP for policy include initiation and moderation of debate. No more “software patents” policy declared without previous debate.

● Rules for topics identification and scheduling– Time for translation of position documents and local debate

– All parties invited to present their position

– Limited number (4-6) global debates each year

– Each debate summarized by moderator

– Each debate should lead to published position or applicable practical proposals

Promotion and marketing

● Promotion of open standards● Translation of standards● Canon of promotional and explanatory

documents which must or should be available languages

● Standard ISOC leaflets ready to translation● International RSS feed with editing access for

trusted members from several regions, countries and cultures

Leading by example

● ISOC needs examplary internet communication competence and facilities– Accessability– Standard compliance– Distributed content management and information

distribution system– No more “we lack a competence to effectively

distribute our own policy document” drama

Leadership

● ISOC President, VPs and BoT members must:– maintain regular, scheduled meeting and visits in

different regions and countries– Regularly, personally and actively participate in internet

debates by mailing lists, forums and instant communicators

– Regularly communicate their papers, positions, suggestions and calls for action

If communication with members is a waste of time for you - please find other field of activity