Content Comparison

I. Goals of the Program:

1. Building local/regional awareness and recruitment of new community members;
2. More effectively engaging with current members and/or "reactivating” previously engaged ICANN community members; and
3. Communicating ICANN’s mission and objectives to new audiences. 

Based on community comments received to the draft FY20 ICANN Budget and further consideration of the question of how to provide support to the community’s outreach efforts while remaining within appropriate budget limits, a sum of US$50,000 was allocated in the FY20 Budget for CROP. In line with the ICANN Board’s request that CROP guidelines and criteria should continue to meet the program goals in a cost-effective manner, while facilitating those FY20 community outreach efforts that are directly and demonstrably related to ongoing ICANN policy, technical and advisory activities, most of the features of CROP remain unchanged from FY19 to FY20.

This page outlines the scope of CROP for FY20, including eligibility, applicable deadlines, number and types of permitted regional trips, and principles by which trip proposals are to be submitted and reports provided.

III. Rules & Conditions for CROP Travel Allocations:

A. General 

• For FY20, all trips must be completed before the end of ICANN's 2020 fiscal year. Specifically, travelers must have returned to their originating destination on or before 30 June 2020.  
• All eligible groups are responsible for:
• ensuring that trip proposals and approvals fulfill any and all criteria that the group may have developed for the program (including ensuring that all necessary information is provided in sufficient detail to allow for a reasonably informed decision to be made as to whether or not to approve the proposal);
• tracking the number of trips that were proposed, taken and remain in any fiscal year; 
• which community members have been allocated travel under the program; and 
• submitting all required trip reports within the prescribed time frame. 
• While ICANN staff can and will assist with logging trip proposals, assessments and reports in a timely fashion, it is not ICANN staff’s responsibility to remind an eligible group of any remaining trip allocations, deadlines or events, or to liaise on a group’s behalf with the relevant GSE teams.  
• A trip that has been allocated, but not taken, will not carry over to the next fiscal year.
• Trips must originate and conclude within the same region. No out-of-region travel will be permitted.
• Multiple persons may use CROP funding to attend one meeting; however, each traveler is counted as utilizing one of the allocated trips for that community group and must submit an individual, separate trip request and report to facilitate recordation and tracking. 

B. Eligibility & Process Requirements 

To participate in CROP, each eligible community group must comply with all the following requirements: 

1. Create an Outreach Strategic Plan for that fiscal year. The Plan (to be developed based on the template provided by CROP staff) must include details of the group’s outreach goals, strategies, and expected activities and outcomes for that fiscal year in sufficient detail to permit coordination of the group’s specific activities with the appropriate ICANN regional stakeholder engagement teams.
2. Obtain concurrence on the Plan from the appropriate regional GSE Vice-President(s), following review by the community group’s leadership. Each group’s appointed Program Coordinator (PC) will certify, within the template, when these reviews have taken place and communicate those results to CROP staff.
3. Submit all trip requests by the deadlines noted below.
4. Submit all Trip Assessment Reports by the deadlines noted below.

NOTES:

• No CROP trip requests will be entertained prior to the finalization and concurrence of a group’s Outreach Strategic Plan. All eligible community groups are strongly encouraged to collaborate pro-actively with the appropriate regional GSE teams, to ensure that their Outreach Strategic Plans are, as much as is feasible, directly and demonstrably related to ongoing ICANN policy, advisory or technical activities and consistent with the ICANN Organization’s outreach plan for that region.
• All trip requests must be submitted for the requisite concurrence by the relevant regional GSE Vice-President as well as approval by the traveler’s community group (in accordance with any criteria it may have developed for the program) no less than seven (7) weeks before the commencement date of the proposed trip. No exceptions will be allowed - this period is the absolute minimum time and is not to be considered a "best practice". Notice to and planning with the appropriate regional ICANN staff (e.g. members of the relevant GSE team) should therefore take place as much in advance of the trip as possible. To ensure that there is sufficient time for ICANN Constituency Travel to book the trip, the relevant GSE Vice-President concurrence should be received no later than one (1) week following submission of the trip request. This will allow a minimum of six (6) weeks to book and confirm the trip. By way of illustration, if the requested travel date begins on Monday 22 October 2019, the first day of the 6-week travel deadline (and thus the last day for obtaining the necessary concurrences and approvals) will be Monday 10 September 2019 and the last day for submitting the concurrence/approval request will be Friday 7 September 2019.  
• A Trip Assessment Report must be completed for each trip taken and must be submitted within three (3) weeks of the date on which the traveler is noted by Constituency Travel as returning to his/her originating location. The Trip Assessment Report should clearly and specifically include the following details:
  1. If/how the original purpose(s) and outcome(s) were realized;
  2. Details of the traveler’s attendance and activities at the meeting (including sessions attended, written or oral contributions made to specific sessions, etc.); and
  3. Specific plans for follow-up activities to enhance and continue the objectives of the trip for the community structure through which the traveler was approved for the trip.

• ICANN staff will log all Trip Assessment Reports, including the dates that they were filed. If a Trip Assessment Report is not filed, or is filed after the due date, it may impact the allocations available to that community structure in future fiscal years.
• If an approved trip is voided or cancelled for some unanticipated and/or extraordinary reason, a replacement trip may be allocated to the affected organization within the same fiscal year, subject to available funding. Where the cancellation involves a trip for which funds have already been disbursed, it will not be possible to reallocate the trip.
• Trip "compounding" or "splitting" of expenses or any other strategy with a goal of increasing the number of individual trips assigned to a community structure is strictly not permitted.

What are the CROP Roles/Responsibilities?

Program Administrator (Staff)

The role of ICANN's Program Administrator (Staff) will be to:

1. Provide guidance and interpretation to the community consistent with the program's principles;
2. Confirm that all applications meet the established principles/guidelines/criteria and have been properly authorized by the applicable parties;
3. Coordinate with other ICANN departments (e.g., Communications, Meetings, Constituency Planning) as needed to maximize outreach effectiveness; and
4. Manage, track, and report the program's status as requested by ICANN management and/or community leaders.

Program Coordinators (PC)

Each structure/organization is responsible for appointing 1-2 Program Coordinators (PC) whose responsibility will be to:

1. Consult within the applicable structure/organization and assist members, where needed, in completing an Outreach Strategic Plan DRAFT and DRAFT Trip/Event Proposals via the Wiki templates provided within the FY20 Community Workspaces area.
2. Facilitate and manage trip/event approvals within the organization and with the appropriate regional ICANN Stakeholder Engagement Vice-President(s).
3. Within three (3) weeks of the return date (or event termination):
1. Ensure that the participant(s) collect information and collaborate to complete the online DRAFT Trip/Event Assessment form; 
2. After verifying proper form completion, ensure that the assessment meets the approval of the structure/organization's leadership; and
3. Notify the CROP Program Administrators when the form is approved internally.

Stakeholder Engagement Vice-President

1. Review each Trip/Outreach Event Proposal to ensure that it is congruent with and supportive of applicable regional strategies, plans, goals, and objectives.
2. Communicate concurrence to the applicable CROP Pilot Program Coordinator (PPC) and CROP Program Administrator so that the Trip Proposal's "Confirmation Section" can be updated.
3. Collaborate with community representatives and support planning and coordination of Outreach Events as applicable based on Outreach Event/Activity requirements.