- Application for the .org Top-Level Domain - The .ORG Foundation

- APPENDIX A - The .Org Foundation, Inc. -

The .Org Foundation, Inc. Governance Plan We recognize that the community of nonprofit organizations has a significant stake in The .Org Foundation's activities and should have the opportunity to fully participate in The .Org Foundation policy and decision-making. We propose that a .Org At-Large Supporting Organization (.Org ALSO), patterned after the recommendations of the ICANN At-Large Membership Study Committee's final report, be created as a regionally-based framework for informed participation of any interested individual, institution or organization for At-Large involvement in The .Org Foundation policy and decision-making (including mechanisms to foster discussion among individuals and with The .Org Foundation's decision-making bodies). The .Org ALSO will be chartered to foster At-Large participation and representation. The .Org ALSO will have "participants" comprised of anyone interested in participating in open discussion forums, and "members" comprised of a verifiable, vested community of users to elect .Org ALSO leadership and At-Large Directors every three years. The .Org ALSO will greatly facilitate the articulation of wider issues in The .Org Foundation process and promote sustained involvement, thus strengthening the role of the At-Large members between the elections. We propose a system with voting rights based on .org domain names, and we have proposed the creation of a system in which those domain name holders wishing to be part of the process also become part of the process of setting up the .Org At-Large Supporting Organization (.Org ALSO). We propose that the .Org ALSO has the authority to elect ten At-Large Directors in a fifteen member Board. These Directors would be elected two per year for each of the first five years of The .Org Foundation's existence. To ensure that changes in the governance structure of The .Org Foundation, after an At-Large structure is established, would require a three-quarters (3/4) vote of Directors voting of the Board's members to approve.

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