Each year, from July through December, ICANN’s planning cycle calls for creation of the Strategic Plan. At the end of December 2007, the ICANN Board approved ICANN’s Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is the three-year overview document that describes the strategic priorities for ICANN. See: http://www.icann.org/strategic-plan/.

Each year, from January through June, there is a follow-on planning effort to create the Operating Plan and Budget for a single year. This document outlines the work map and financial requirements for the next fiscal year, consistent with implementing the Strategic Plan Objectives.

The planning work for fiscal year 2009 began with a consultation in Delhi. The community and ICANN’s Board reviewed an initial budget framework presented at New Delhi in February 2008. This approach provided the community the earliest opportunity yet to provide input on a draft budget. Staff held consultations regarding the budget and plan, received posted comments, and worked with the ICANN Board Finance Committee to develop the draft FY09 Operating Plan and Budget.

Substantial work has taken place to incorporate feedback from the community, Board, and staff since the initial framework was first presented in February 2008, but the overall scope and themes remain consistent.

In this fiscal year, highlights of planned ICANN results and activities include:

• Complete, and then launch the new generic TLD (gTLD) program
• Based on progress with the IDN "fast track" process, introduce country code IDNs (ccIDN) at the top level
• As part of establishing a documented security agenda, deliver on DNSSEC readiness, ICANN-internal security improvements, and training on disaster planning and mitigation for interested country code operators
• Working with RIRs and the NRO, continue to highlight issues related to IPv4 depletion and IPv6 adoption
• Grow and enhance contractual compliance capability on behalf of registrant protection
• Invest in IANA services and staffing to improve service availability, automation, response time, and disaster recovery
• Strengthen the multi-stakeholder model by implementing GNSO improvements, expanding stakeholder travel support and expanding translation programs

In summary, the draft budget proposes revenues of about $60.7MM and total expenses (including depreciation, allowances and contingency) of $58.5MM with a contribution to reserve of about $2.2MM. Compared to what was presented in New Delhi, this actually represents a reduction in operating expenses from $54.1MM to $51.8MM. As compared to FY08, the total expense budget, including contingency, is projected to increase from $42.6MM to $58.5MM (37% increase). Operating expenses (excluding contingency, depreciation, and bad debt) are projected to increase from $38.9MM to $51.8MM (33% increase).

This draft Operating Plan and Budget calls for substantial expense growth for ICANN, as a result of an ambitious work program for FY09, as dictated by the Strategic Plan. The goal of this draft FY09 Operating Plan and Budget document is to enable informed, active community and Board feedback regarding proposed objectives and plans. And, when the draft plan is finalized and approved, establish the resources and objectives that will deliver on the right initiatives for the ICANN community during FY09.

This draft FY09 Operating Plan and Budget is being posted for community review with the support of the Board Finance Committee (BFC).

The plan is available at: http://www.icann.org/financials/proposed-opplan-budget-fy08-09-17may07.pdf [PDF, 356K]

This draft plan is one more step in the planning cycle, to allow for additional review and feedback. A public comment forum is available at: [email protected]

Additionally, consultations will be held with ICANN constituencies to get direct feedback, and the final plan discussed at ICANN’s Paris meeting, for adoption by ICANN’s Board in June.