Useless organization spends $126 million for doing pretty much nothing

ICANN, a useless organization that does pretty much nothing all year around, managed to “only” spend $126 million in the financial year ending 30 June 2020. Almost all of its policy development is done by volunteers while in the past year ICANN decided on its own that it is not a price regulator so it left all domain name registrants to the mercy of a few companies exercising a true monopoly.

ICANN’s expenses were USD 11.1 million (8%) lower than budgeted because of USD 6.2 million savings from the travel & meetings category (This was the result of holding ICANN67 and ICANN68 as virtual Public Meetings as well as travel restrictions to other meetings.) and from lower personnel expenses, primarily due to slowed recruitment during the pandemic. I am so sorry that ICANN staff didn’t go on their paid vacations on resorts around the globe! NOT!

If you can tell me what ICANN does except issuing a few press releases every year and creating a couple of reports I would be much obliged. They spend half of every year on deciding how much money to spend on themselves. That is our money they are spending that they don’t protect us. They actively sell us out.

Read the complete report issued by ICANN below:

Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced financial results for the fourth quarter of the financial year ending 30 June 2020, which reflects ICANN’s unaudited financials for the full fiscal year. ICANN remains in a strong financial position despite the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The domain name market was resilient in the second half of fiscal year 2020 (FY20), despite the pandemic. As a result, ICANN’s funding is USD 0.6 million (0.4%) higher than the budget. However, ICANN is uncertain if these market trends will continue.

ICANN’s expenses were USD 11.1 million (8%) lower than budgeted, resulting in a net excess of USD 14.6 million. This was a result of several factors, including:

• USD 6.2 million savings from the travel & meetings category, as a result of holding ICANN67 and ICANN68 as virtual Public Meetings as well as travel restrictions to other meetings.
• Lower personnel expenses, primarily due to slowed recruitment during the pandemic.

ICANN was able to cover unplanned expenditures while still spending less than budgeted. These expenditures included Information Transparency Initiative (ITI) costs delayed from FY19; costs associated with the .ORG change of control request; and installation of the ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) cluster in Singapore.

ICANN’s funds under management increased by USD 15.8 million when compared to the previous year, largely due to net excess and investment gains despite market volatility. Investment accounts are comprised of proceeds that ICANN holds from the New Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program auctions of last resort, New gTLD Program application fees, the Reserve Fund, and the Operating Fund. Replenishing ICANN’s Reserve Fund to achieve at least 12 months of operating expenses by FY25 has been a top priority, and at the end of August 2020, the Reserve Fund balance reached the minimum target level.

FY20 Reports Published

The following reports are now available:

• FY20 Q4 Unaudited Financials : These reports are posted every quarter as a summarized update of ICANN’s year-to-date financials. The FY20 Q4 report reflects ICANN’s unaudited financials for the full fiscal year. ICANN expects to publish the audited FY20 financial statements as soon as the independent auditor has completed review.
• Country code top-level domain (ccTLD) Contributions: Voluntary contributions paid to ICANN from ccTLD registries are listed by ICANN fiscal year and reflect the fiscal year for which the contribution was intended, regardless of the date the contribution was issued.
• Funding by Source: This report includes funding by customer and customer class.
• Board Expenses Report – This report includes reimbursements and compensation paid to (or paid on behalf of) the ICANN Board of Directors.