[IGFmaglist] FoIGF/Tides Trust Fund

[Patrick Ryan]

Dear All:

Feedback is that there is preference for us to meet tomorrow at lunch
rather than before the MAG meetings.  Thus, I'm sending out a calendar
invitation now for* 12:30 (Paris time). * The location needs to be
finalized, and I'll update the invitation (and send a note to this list)
when that's finalized.

We'll plan on meeting from 12:30 to 13:30.  I have another meeting at 13:30
so we'll need to wrap up then.

Patrick


On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 1:18 PM, Patrick Ryan <patrickryan at google.com>wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I will be hosting an informal meeting, open to all, on Tuesday morning
> before the MAG meeting (details to follow) in order to discuss the new
> Tides arrangement.  If you are interested in joining, I will send out an
> invitation for everyone on Monday.   The Tides fund is ready, as is the
> arrangement between Tides and the UN (a new development in the past few
> weeks).
>
> To recap, the Tides Foundation is a non-profit and registered as a
> 501(c)(3) in the United States.  For more than 30 years, it has provided
> funding vehicles for non-profit and charitable ventures.
>
> *High-level details:*
>
>    - Funders can provide money to Tides directly, and Tides has an
>    arrangement with the UN;
>    - This arrangement avoids the complexities of contracting with the UN,
>    which can take several months;
>    - For U.S. companies, it also provides confirmation that donations are
>    charitable contributions via the 501(c)(3) status, something that is not
>    available by direct donations to the UN;
>    - There will be modalities for credit-card donations, also a new
>    feature;
>    - The Fund charges 3% as its overhead (additional pass-through
>    bank-fees if credit cards are used);
>    - Although U.S. businesses have the most advantage (because of the
>    501(c)(3) status for charitable donations), it may be used by *any
>    private sector or individual contributor* globally;
>    - Funds collected may be transferred to the Secretariat, or they could
>    be used to provide funding for other IGF initiatives (this is how we funded
>    Indonesia last year).
>
>
> *How the fund is managed:*
>
>    - By law, the Fund is independently managed by Tides, and it makes
>    recommendations via “donor/advisors” to the fund;
>    - The Fund currently has three initial donor/advisors: Patrick Ryan,
>    Anriette Estherheusen, Ayesha Hassan;
>    - We hope to add one or two more donor/advisors, including a
>    representative from the ICC BASIS community;
>    - We are committed to total transparency in all funding activities so
>    that the community is aware of donors and the uses of funding.
>
>
> We will shortly have a note on the Tides website that provides information
> to who to contact at Tides and how to donate.  In the meantime, businesses,
> individuals or any other donor can reach out directly to the Tides
> representative to discuss:
>
> Edward Y Wang (fund manager)
> ewang at tides.org
> [t] 415.561.6387 [f] 415.561.6301
>
> Finally, please recall that this is a *non-exclusive* solution.  There
> are other funding models in the works (ISOC is working on a solution that
> would be based in Switzerland, for example).  It seems unlikely that the
> ISOC option may be available in time for this year’s IGF—however, we hope
> that the agreement and arrangements that we have developed with the UN for
> Tides can be similarly used by ISOC and others.  We want to let 1,000
> flowers bloom here.  Additionally, donors that wish to work out an
> arrangement directly with the UN can do so.
>
> We’ll discuss more next week.  In the meantime,  attached is a draft note
> that we hope to put on the Tides website sometime this next week, pending
> approval from the UN’s Office of Legal Affairs.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Patrick
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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