Dear members,
In October, we will publish our Draft Activity Plan and Budget 2024 ahead of the Autumn General Meeting. This document will outline our proposed plans for the coming year and how we intend to pay for and resource those plans. In light of the discussion on our charging scheme back in April, this will not be a ‘business as usual’ activity plan. I therefore want to briefly update you on this work and remind members that giving input on this draft document is the most direct and impactful way you can influence the RIPE NCC’s direction as an organisation.
When planning for 2024, we are taking into account the comments on the members-discuss list during the charging scheme consultation. Both here, and through the vote at the GM, members indicated that they want the RIPE NCC to continue with the same charging scheme next year rather than raise fees to offset the loss of income due to LIR consolidation and increased costs due to inflation. Members also asked us to bring our operational costs down and focus on core activities that support the mission of the RIPE NCC.
We are also using feedback from the RIPE NCC Survey 2023. Nearly 4,000 members completed the survey and the results indicate that members value our services across the board, including community engagement and events, our training services, and Internet measurement tools such as RIPE Atlas and RIPEstat. Many comments also echoed what members told us during the charging scheme discussion (we will publish the full survey report in October).
Based on your input, we are planning to reduce our budget to remain within our projected income for 2024, making this a year of cost savings and efficiency. However, balancing the feedback from both the charging scheme consultation and the survey is difficult, since we are working to cut costs while also being mindful that the services we provide outside of our Registry function are valued by many. In this context, we are first and foremost seeking to cut operational budgets and streamline our work without impacting the quality of our services.
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How to Provide Feedback
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Recognising both the number of comments received during the charging scheme discussion as well as the frustration of some members that this is separate from our activity planning process, we think it is especially important to be transparent this year and make sure members know how to comment.
Alongside the Draft Activity Plan and Budget 2024, we will publish a summary that outlines the main budget changes, which I hope members will read. We will also include information on how we see our budget developing over the next couple of years, with a view towards ensuring the sustainability of the organisation over the longer term.
Once the draft document is published, we will invite members to comment on the members-discuss mailing list. We will also hold an open house for members to ask questions and discuss our plans and budget with myself and members of the Executive Board. The document will then be discussed at the General Meeting (GM) alongside RIPE 87 on 29 November 2023. The Executive Board will consider all feedback from the membership on our budget and activities before publishing the final version in December 2023.
Kind regards,
Hans Petter Holen
RIPE NCC Managing Director and CEO