ICANN’s Budget
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ted-cruz-kinda-sorta-something-091500132.html.
“This obscure organization has enjoyed revenues of nearly $600 million in the last three years, with one of the highest-paid executive teams in the non-profit world. They’ve spent over $400 million on salaries, consulting and lobbying fees and travel expenses over that three-year period, an incredible burn rate. That includes consulting firms run by Condi Rice and Madeleine Albright, $17.8 million annually for its auditor Ernst & Young and another $6 million for external legal advice.”
Condi Rice and Madam Albright both run consultant firms that assisted the lobby effort.
In-depth research on ICANN’s lobbying that include both Condi Rice and Albright ...
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20160301_how_much_has_icann_spent_on_the_iana_transition
Not so the $1.35m spent on “professional services” which is almost entirely made up of the lobbying firms ICANN has hired in Washington: Albright Stonebridge Group, Rice Hadley Gates, Summit Strategies International, WBC Global and Wiley Rein.
That $1.35m is on top of the $946,000 spent on registered lobbying groups. The $800,000 that ICANN spends on its in-house lobbyist is not mentioned.
Also “language services” is very high at $1.7m. Why? Because for some reason “meeting support” has been added to that sub-group. What does this cover? Probably flights, accommodation and dinners. But again, the figures are not broken out to any useful degree.
Also why is ICANN paying $1m for “secretarial support” when most of that support is provided by staff already on salary?
The reports are specifically designed to hide expenses that the community may have questions about. They are also broken out in 18-month chunks for some inexplicable reason, rather than by fiscal year as it common practice.