insight 

The Monday 17 December deadline for sending feedback about our proposals for a Nominet Foundation is fast approaching. If you have any views on the concept of a foundation, or suggestions of possible beneficiaries we’d be very interested to hear from you. Either complete our short online survey or email comments to foundation@nominet.org.uk.

We have received some encouraging comments so far, but the level of feedback has been disappointing with only 20 responses received.

Some background:
Our proposal recommends that we create a Nominet Foundation for the purpose of public benefit to UK Internet stakeholders through education, research and the funding of suitable projects. We would set it up as a charity and company limited by guarantee, with a first year donation of £5m.

This proposal has been made to resolve the issue of the level of our reserves, which have been increasing significantly beyond the level we have identified as necessary for the ongoing running of the business.

We have thought long and hard about possible ways of resolving this issue and some of the more obvious options are not open to us. For instance we are unable to change the price of domain names unless 75% of our membership vote in favour of a change. And, although some members favour a price reduction, others are equally convinced that the price should be increased, as they feel price reductions devalue the product. Also, our constitution prevents us from distributing funds to our members.

As these options are not available to us, the plan for a Foundation to benefit the Internet industry in the UK has emerged as the most popular solution and we’re taking feedback on this proposal now, so do let us know your thoughts.