APPLICATION FOR INITIAL CHARTER OF THE NON-COMMERCIAL DOMAIN NAME HOLDERS CONSTITUENCY 
16 August 1999
Revision 28 August 2000

I. Goals of the Non‑Commercial Constituency

The Non‑Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency has a special place in the DNSO. The NCDNHC is intended to be independent of commercial interests. Its members will be those organizations whose uses and applications of the Internet are primarily non‑commercial. Its purpose is to support non‑commercial speech and activity on the Internet, to protect the rights of non‑commercial domain name holders, and to forge together the interests of non‑commercial domain name holders.

NCDNHC must provide the voice and representation for organizations that serve non‑commercial interests and provide services such as community organizing, promotion of the arts, children's welfare, religion, education, scientific research, human rights and the advancement of the Internet as a global communications system available to all segments of society. The interests of such organizations are not necessarily represented by the other constituencies of the DNSO and deserve to be represented in the NCDNHC.

II. Membership Criteria

The NCDNHC proposes that the following organizations shall be eligible for membership in the NCDNHC:   a) organizations holding at least one domain name, b) and which are incorporated as a non‑commercial entity (in countries that have such a provision in their commercial code), or if unincorporated or operating in a country without provisions for non‑commercial incorporation, operate on a not‑for‑profit basis primarily for non‑commercial purposes, and c) which are  engaged in activities that are primarily non‑commercial, including, e.g. political, educational, religious, charitable, scientific and artistic. 

The membership of the NCDNHC shall specifically exclude commercial entities and associations of or for the benefit of commercial entities (even if they are non‑commercial in form), and also shall exclude organizations which use the Internet primarily for commercial activity, even if their other activities are non‑commercial. 
Political organizations that are non-governmental are eligible for voting
status. A political organization shall be considered "non-governmental" if
its primary purpose is to influence governmental or public policy, but not
to hold governmental offices or to elect government officials. Ineligible
political organizations are those whose primary purpose is to hold
government offices and/or elect government officials. In unclear or
borderline cases, the voting status of a political organization will be
decided by the constituency membership after review of the application on
its merits.

Further, membership is limited to organizations that are not also members of other DNSO constituencies. We recognize that some organizations that are non‑profit and engage in non‑commercial activities may be eligible for other DNSO constituencies, but in order to focus the efforts of the NCDNHC, such organizations are eligible for voting membership in the NCDNHC only if they elect not to join other constituencies. They may, however, join the NCDNHC as observer members.

We understand that many subgroups have separate interests and a separate voice from their parent organizations.  Those subgroups are welcome to participate fully and actively in the Constituency as non-voting members. 

III. Organizational Principles

In order to foster full and fair representation of both large and small organizations, the NCDNHC proposes to divide the membership of the Non‑Commercial Constituency into two subgroups:

Large Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria and goals for promoting non‑commercial activity on the Internet as set out in Section I above, incorporated as a not‑for‑profit entity, and, for membership organizations, having a current membership over 1000 or more people or, for non‑membership organizations, having 200 or more employees (such as a
not‑for‑profit university).

Small Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria and goals for promoting non‑commercial activity on the Internet as set out in Section I above, operating on a not‑for‑profit basis for the benefit of more than one individual or family, and whose membership is under 1000 or, for non‑membership organizations, having less than 200 employees.

IV.   Voting Principles, Proposals and Overall Organization

A.     DNSO Names Council and NCDNHC Administrative Committee     

Per ICANN Bylaws, members of the NCDNHC are entitled to vote for three members of the DNSO Names Council.  NCDNHC will also elect two other persons who, together with the Names Council members, shall form an Administrative Committee. The Administrative Committee is intended to represent all five geographic regions. It will advise members of the NCDNHC of the Names Council proposals and will assist Names Council representatives by providing input and information from NCDNHC members. 

B. 	Voting Principles

In order to assure geographic distribution, (i) no two Names Council representatives shall reside in the same geographic area, as defined in the ICANN bylaws, (ii) no two Names Council representatives shall represent the same organization, and (iii) no single Names Council representative shall represent more than one organization.

C.	Voting Proposals

In order to balance the size of the large organizations with the potential of the small organizations to join in much greater numbers, voting will be weighted by giving two votes to each large organization and one vote to each small organization.

In order to assure diversity, Names Council Representatives and Administrative Committee members will be elected by the following process:

- the person with the most votes is the first NCDNHC Administrative Committee member and Names Council Representative.

- the person with the second highest number of votes -- from a different 
geographic region than the first Names Council Representative -- is elected 
as the second NCDNHC Administrative Committee member and Names Council Representative.

- the person with the third highest number of votes -- from a different 
geographic region than the first and second Names Council Representatives -- 
is elected as the third NCDNHC Administrative Committee member and Names Council Representative.

- the person with the fourth highest number of votes -- from a different 
geographic region than the 3 Names Council Representatives -- is elected as 
the fourth NCDNHC Administrative Committee member.

- the person with the fifth highest number of votes -- from a different 
geographic region than the Names Council Representatives and the other 
non-Names Council Administrative Committee member -- is also elected as the fifth
NCDNHC Administrative Committee member.

D.	 Membership Required To Run; Nominations Require a Second

To run for the Names Council, a candidate must be affiliated with an organization that is a member of the NCDNHC, and have the approval of that organization to run. Any organization may nominate a candidate, and every nomination must be seconded by another organization.

E. 	Voting Results Shall Be Publicly Announced

In the interest of openness, results of voting for Administrative Committee members and Names Council representatives shall be public.  After the period allowed for voting closes, the votes shall be listed by organization on the NCDNHC website so that they can be inspected and counted by members and the public. 

F. 	Duration of mandate

Following the initial mandate period, all elected Administrative Committee members will be elected for a two year term

G. Replacement 

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Option 1
Each candidate may select a "running mate" that will replace him/her in case of resignation or impeachment. The replacement must be from the same region and must be the NCDNHC representative of a member organization.

The name of the running mate is included on the ballot with the main candidate.

The replacement is not considered an Administrative Committee member/Names Council member until or unless the elected candidate resigns or is otherwise impeached.

No new election is held until the original two-year term is finished, at which point all five Administrative Committee member and Names Council positions are elected at the same time.

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Option 2
If an Administrative Committee member or Names Council member resigns or is impeached, the Administrative Committee member from a different region who ranked fourth in votes in the original election replaces him/her temporarily, until a new election is held. Such a new election should be completed within two months of the resignation/impeachment.

In case of election for a Names Council position, the Administrative Committee members who represent the two regions that were not represented on the Names Council must run as candidates from that region. Other members from regions already represented on the Administrative Committee cannot run in this election.

Any number of candidates from the region not represented in the Administrative Committee can run.

In case of election for a Names Council position, the candidate from one of the three regions not already represented on the Names Council who gets the largest vote total is the new Names Council representative.

The two candidates from the three regions not already included in the Names Council with the 2nd and 3rd highest vote totals are Administrative Committee members for those regions.

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Option 1/2
In case of a candidate chooses to run without "running mate", rules of option 2 applies in case of replacement.

H. Sign up for Membership and Communication via Website and List

H-A. Sign up for Membership

The NCDNHC represents a large and heterogeneous group of organizations, many of whom are not yet aware of the ICANN, its processes, and their impact.  It is crucial to the success of the constituency that it be operated in an open manner which will encourage new organizations meeting the membership criteria to join and participate.

It is also important that those within the constituency have the opportunity to learn about a member, any possible conflicts the member might have, and the position and title of the person designated to represent the member.

In this charter phase of the NCDNHC, membership should be by self-nomination based on disclosure.  The NCDNHC website will have a form which all prospective members will fill out, to include:  the individual seeking to work with the NCDNHC on behalf of the organization, her/his title and position with the organization, full contact information, whether he/she is formally authorized to represent the organization, whether the organization is non-commercial and how the organization engages in non-commercial speech and activity on the Internet, whether the organization or the individual have any conflicts that the groups should be aware of, the domain name of the organization and any website URL it may have.

All organizations must fill out this form, and circulate it to the others seeking to form the NCDNHC.  As new organizations seek to enter the Constituency, they too will circulate the form to the other members via the NCDNHC list. Other members may challenge the application for failure to meet the stated membership criteria of the constituency. 

Copies of the forms for all organizations will also be kept on the NCDNHC website, with a facility to search the forms by organization’s name and representative’s name. 

H-B.  List

The NCDNHC shall have a listserv for members to introduce themselves and discuss constituency matters.

End of Formal Proposal