21 projects approved for funding of up to $500,000.
ICANN has released a list of projects funded in the first cohort of its inaugural grant program.
The program uses funds collected from “auctions of last resort” from the last round of top level domain names.
Overall, the group is contributing just over $9 million to 21 organizations covering a wide range of projects.
One that it will be interesting to learn details of is $500,000 to Universidad Católica del Norte for “Assistance for Domain Name Holders in ICANN’s Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy Procedures.” It will be interesting to see if this includes some form of legal assistance and who will provide it.
Other projects include $387,000 for Seva Sahayog Foundation to work on universal acceptance of IDNs, $500,000 for Kenya Network Information Centre to work with ccTLDs and gTLDs management in Africa, and $350,000 for Digital Natives Academy Charitable Trust for “Empowering Māori in Internet Governance and DNS Management: A Culturally Tailored Educational Programme for Enhancing Equitable & Indigenous Participation in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Digital Landscape.”
ICANN’s new TLD auctions grossed $240 million, although $135 million of that is held up for a contested auction of .web.
A seemingly fair criticism of the grant program is that it has taken over 10 years to distribute any funds, and the program’s overhead must be quite substantial compared to the money granted in this initial cohort.
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