Dear Registrars,
The vote on our 2010-2011 budget has been completed and the new budget has been approved. I am now writing to all of you to discuss your membership in the Registrars Stakeholder Group (RrSG).
For most of you the membership will be a renewal but for some registrars it will be the first time you are able to join the RrSG. Once again we have been able to keep the cost the same as previous years, US$500 for an annual membership. The membership is for the fiscal year July 1, 2010 – June 30th 2011 (same as ICANN’s fiscal year), and as usual we are just a little late in collections.
This has been a very active year in the RrSG as registrars have been involved in issues such as Vertical Integration, new TLD guidebook, amendments to the RAA, post-expiration domain issues as well as changes to GNSO policy. A great deal of the work representing registrar interests has been completed by registrars acting as volunteers, but also by our registrar advocates, which are retained positions. As more issues come to light regarding registrars we will need to rely more on our paid advocates to bring expertise and help bear the workload. Accordingly, we need to maintain a strong membership in the RrSG.
As a member of the RrSG, you are able to discuss, debate and vote on how registrars are represented at ICANN and in other policy arenas. These discussions on new TLDs, the RAA and other topical matters happen at both ICANN meetings and on our private RrSG mailing list. So you do not need to attend an ICANN meeting to participate, but you do need to be a paid member to be on the mailing lists.
For those that do attend ICANN meetings, only paid members will be able to participate in the closed-door meetings of registrars and have the ability to vote on RrSG positions. Sorry, no exceptions.
We strongly encourage everyone to renew/join for this year. The nominal amount from each Registrar collectively allows us to have a strong voice.
Payments must be received by December 15, 2010 for membership. For those that decide not to renew their memberships, please realize you will be removed from all RrSG mailing lists effective January 1, 2011.
If you are interested in membership for the period, please pay the invoice you will receive to our assistant Cristin Donahue, and return the information requested. If you have not received an invoice by November 20, 2010, or are interested in joining for the first time please contact Cristin directly at cristin[AT]icann-registrars.org (Please check your spam mailbox for Cristin’s email if you have not received your invoice and make sure to white list her address for future correspondence)
