G'day Adam and all,

Having administered an NTN grant of nearly half-a million dollars for a
small group of volunteers located in rural Australia, unfortunately I have
to point out that you are simply incorrect about funding only being
available to the 'big honchos' or that funding is not renewable - for
further info on some of the approved groups and projects please check out:

http://www.dcita.gov.au/nsapi-text/?MIval=dca_dispdoc&ID=5527

(This may also help answer the second part of your question about grant
purposes and amounts)

Some corporate entities do seek a payback for NFP sponsorship, however there
are also a lot who do not. In my experience the 'trick' is to gain
sponsorship from a non-affiliated sponsor - in our case, this would be a
corporation not affiliated with the IT industry - they are far more likely
to make contributions on the basis of good corporate citizenship, than on
any desire to simply create a cheap marketing mechanism. One example that
comes to mind is BP Petroleum who are donating many thousands of dollars
worth of computers to Australian volunteer groups without any demands for
payback, and very little in the way of promotions on their part. These
companies are 'out there' but you do have to look to find them.

With respect to your closing comment, I am quite prepared to accept that
there may be issues of which we are unaware. One that comes to mind is the
funding of auDA itself (and in truth I have no idea of how this works, but
the following is a likely scenario). If auDA itself is funded, then it's
highly likely the original funding application and submitted business plans
contained a 'sustainability clause' outlining the ways by which auDA would
sustain it's existence beyond the funding period. If this is the case, auDA
is limited to deviations from the plan without a formal Government
redirection approval - and whilst these can be obtained (perhaps for the
purpose of waiving charges on asn.au domains), the process is time-consuming
and won't happen overnight.

(We could create philosophical arguments for the next ten years as to why
this might be the case, however for the point of the exercise).

If this is a true scenario, then perhaps a redirection can be obtained...
perhaps the sustainability options (in this case) can be waived on the basis
of supporting the knowledge economy and community development (Governments
usually quite like to support initiatives of this type). However we would
need to put a proper case forward. What I find difficult to accept is the
mindset that there are no other options, or that options should be ignored
on the basis of individual wants and beliefs. I found this to be evident in
some of the postings suggesting that volunteers not be used for domain
administration - there is simply no evidence to support these calls.

I guess what I am saying is that I would rather find the door... than to try
and break down the wall with my forehead - we just need to look a little
further and work together towards an equitable outcome.

Cheers, Don Cameron

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