A meeting of the Finance Committee of the Internet Society (ISOC) was held on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 10:00 am local time in Vancouver, British Columbia. In attendance were Eva Frolich and Bert Wijnen as members of the Finance Committee. Regrets were received from Jason Livingood.
Also in attendance were Lynn St.Amour, ISOC’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Greg Kapfer, Chief Financial Officer, Walda Roseman, Chief Operating Officer, and Karen Rose, Senior Director Strategic Development & Business Planning.
Call to Order
Eva called the meeting to order. As a majority of the members of the Finance Committee were in attendance, a quorum was present for the meeting.
Review of Q2 Financial Statements and Management Discussion
Greg summarized the results reported in a preliminary Management Discussion for the Second Quarter of 2012. He addressed comments and points from members of the Committee previously discussed on the Finance Committee elist, with several changes to be made to the final Q2 report. Greg noted that the final Q2 2012 report was due to the Board of Trustees by August 13. The Committee discussed the level of details that the Finance Committee should review and the level of detail that should be presented to the full Board of Trustees. The Committee agreed to discuss this matter further with the Board to ensure clarity of the Committee mandate in both periodic results (quarterly) and specific financial results (e.g., reserves).
Bert commented that first-half expenses for the past two-three years had been less than the budget and some revenues tended to be greater than first-half budgets. Bert recommended that, while variances were within acceptable ranges, specific variances should be closer to respective budgets. Greg noted that the periodic budgets were set before Q4 results were known from the prior year and agreed to further review the quarterly budget allocations for 2013 as they are set.
Bert also noted that revenues for DO (in particular, Deploy360 sponsorships) were below budget for the six months, possibly necessitating further Board discussion about the balance of financial contribution vs. the contribution of the program to ISOC’s overall mission.
PIR Non-Recurring Contribution
Lynn reported that PIR would discuss the possibility of making a non-recurring contribution to ISOC at the ensuing ISOC Board meeting, and that she would recommend that these funds be used for activities of the Internet Society other than ongoing programs.
Strategic Operating Reserve
Eva noted that the Finance Committee would make a recommendation to the Board regarding the level of reserves retained by ISOC, and the recommended timeframe for achieving any increase in such reserves.
2013 – 2015 Business Plan
Lynn discussed the involvement of the Committee in the development of the 2013-2015 Business Plan, and expressed her appreciation for the efforts of the inaugural Finance Committee (the Committee was formed in 2011) in developing Business Plans for 2012. The Committee would be further briefed on planning details for the 2013-2015 Business Plan in the coming weeks.
Adjournment
With no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:15 am.
All Board Finance Committee Meeting Minutes