IETF LLC Board Retreat 2025

In many ways this was a new board coming together for the first time as two of the five directors were recently seated, replacing the longest-serving board members, and the Chair and Treasurer only recently took on those roles.

Finances

The board spent much of the first day on a review of company finances, with a particular focus on fundraising, investment management, and the long-term outlook.  This began with a comprehensive presentation from the Director of Finance on the organization’s finances, including an in-depth analysis of meeting finances and administrative expenditure.

Fundraising  

The board reviewed its fundraising strategy and priorities, and how these fit with the current fundraising landscape.  In particular, it looked at how donors choose whom to support, what they expect for their donations, and how that relates to the many aspects of IETF work and financial structure.  To support this review, the board met with Sally Wentworth, President and CEO of the Internet Society (ISOC), and Chris Locke, EVP and Managing Director of the ISOC Foundation, discussing the financial relationship between the IETF and ISOC, and ISOC’s fundraising strategy. 

The board received strong reassurance from Sally that ISOC is pleased to continue funding the IETF as it has always done, that they are interested in funding joint activities, and would welcome opportunities for ISOC and IETF to co-present for mutual benefit, seeking external funds. 

Later in the day, the board reviewed its current fundraising priorities, considering its current financial position, and reset the priorities for fundraising more towards current operational needs than long-term risk.

The board further discussed the need for strong messaging to support fundraising activities, and particularly the need to capture success stories and then—when sharing those with potential sponsors or donors—to tailor those to a specific set of  stakeholders.  The board noted that some work had started along these lines, such as messaging specific to the domain name industry. They now wanted this effort stepped up.

Investments

The board met with Goldman Sachs (GS), the organization’s designated investment advisor, to discuss the IETF’s investment strategy.  GS made some recommendations to simplify the investment strategy, which were agreed to, but otherwise the board was reassured that the current strategy remains sound and no significant changes are required.

Meetings

The board spent some time discussing priorities for IETF meetings and the specific topic of IETF 127 San Francisco.  

Examining the trends around registration numbers, costs, and sponsorship for IETF Meetings highlighted that a structural change has occurred post-COVID, and reinforced the need to adapt to this by lowering space requirements in order to book smaller venues, continuing to drive down costs, and increasing the priority of sponsorship activities.  The board reiterated its commitment to IETF meetings being financially neutral over the long-term while noting that with meetings booked so far ahead, it will take time for this position to be reached.

The board discussed the community interest in the IETF Network, including the relatively high cost compared to other organisations, and heard from the Executive Director (ED) on his plans for addressing this.  The board supported these plans and the sensitivity being shown towards the wants of the community and the long-term support provided by volunteers.

The board reviewed its decision around IETF 127 San Francisco and, as already announced, resolved to continue with this meeting as planned.

Key services

The board reviewed the key services of tools development and maintenance, the Secretariat and the RFC Production Center.  The board noted that a number of functions have migrated over the years from being community-provided to staff-provided, such as tools development, and examined the risk that the connection to community priorities could get lost as a result of this migration. The board will continue to watch for this and adjust strategy accordingly.

The Secretariat contract expires at the end of 2025, having been renewed twice since its original award in 2019. The board discussed the nature of this service, the requirements of the IETF, and how the contract needs to adapt to meet those.  The board expects one or more RFPs to be issued later this year.

Governance

The board reviewed its own governance practices and generally agreed that the organization has moved from a startup phase into a steady state of operations, which requires more formalism around its practices.  This is to include a new style of minute taking, different recording of resolutions, and new summaries of resolutions published. 

Strategy

The board received a presentation from the ED and conducted a SWOT/PESTL analysis as preparation for a review of its strategic plan.  The board tasked the ED with splitting the current strategy into two separate documents.  The first of these is to be a relatively stable document detailing the mission, values, and working principles of the IETF LLC, including the working principles specified in RFC 8711. The second document is to be a 3-5 year strategy, clearly documenting what outcomes the board would like to see accomplished with timelines, targets, and measurables.  The board particularly wanted to see a shorter document than the current strategy with higher-level strategies, accepting that many may take longer to complete than the terms of current directors.

Summary

This was a useful and productive board retreat that brought together a new board, established the working practices of the board and their management of the ED, and tweaked the strategy for the key areas of the IETF LLC’s responsibilities.