Seconding Allan Greenberg Comment on Gap between Board compensation and volunteers

[Klaus Stoll <kdrstoll@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello

I just would like to second Allan Greenbergs comments on the gap between 
Board compensation and the support available for volunteers. I think 
this is a very important topic and needs to be addressed urgently in 
order to keep the multi-stakeholder model within ICANN functional.
Klaus Stoll

Allan Greenberg wrote" - One of the reasons always sited for such 
compensation is that having no compensation limits the available 
candidates who will make themselves available for the ICANN Board. Given 
that there has never been an AC/SO seat vacant due to lack of 
candidates, there is often competition for such seats, and the 
Nominating Committee regularly says that it has had to make very 
difficult decisions in selecting Board members since there was a surplus 
of eminently qualified candidates, in the name of transparency and 
accountability, it would be good to see hard evidence of the rationale. 
- The introduction of Board compensation widened the gulf between Board 
members and other volunteers within ICANN. The proposed change widens 
that gulf further. There is no question that many Board members work 
very hard on behalf of ICANN, and that dedication eats into their other 
professional activities and personal life. However, the same can be said 
for many ICANN volunteers. There are many in the community who work 
equally hard and dedicate the same kind of hours as Board members. 
Indeed, it has been claimed that many in the community put in far more 
time and effort than some Board members. I believe that this claim is 
accurate. SO and AC Chairs have been identified as meeting the above 
levels of commitment, and indeed many or perhaps all do. However, there 
are others who do not receive the existing benefits given to Board 
members and AC/SO Chairs who also dedicate unending hours and effort to 
ICANN. Board and now Liaison compensation without any new consideration 
of the contributions of others denigrates the efforts of the rest of the 
ICANN volunteers. Such acknowledgment need not be financial compensation 
- there are a host of other benefits that Board members get that other 
volunteers (and Chairs) would really appreciate. Although I understand 
the difficulty of identifying those who put Herculean efforts into ICANN 
from those who are lower level contributors, we cannot continue to widen 
the gulf between the privileged few and the rest of volunteers and 
expect there not to be repercussions.