The CENTR Board of Directors met on 3-4 May 2017 in Ghent, Belgium for a strategic offsite meeting with the goals to review the progress on implementation of the 2017 strategic plan and budget, to review the basic elements of CENTR’s strategic planning in the light of its mission statement and to assess the Board’s planning process.
The Board reviewed progress on actions and status of the budget and concluded that all expectations are met and in line with the strategic plan as agreed by the 56th CENTR General Assembly in October 2016 in Belgrade.
During the strategic session, the Board reviewed the current strategic goals and discussed potential strategic goals for 2020. The following goals were identified:
- CENTR should be a driving force behind active partnerships
- CENTR should enhance cooperation among members
- CENTR should be an innovation platform for members
- CENTR should be an efficient organisation facilitating member engagement
- CENTR should be a strong and sustainable organisation
- CENTR should be the CENTR of intelligence on the DNS industry
These goals are in line with CENTR’s mission statement and build on past strategic priorities, and the Board believes there are opportunities to bring our current services and membership collaboration to the next level. More specifically, joint development projects might provide opportunities to strengthen the DNS industry and CENTR as an organisation.
The Board invites members to provide input in this discussion during calls in July and August, and looks forward to confirm three mid-term priorities at the 58th CENTR General Assembly in October 2017 in Brussels.
The Board believes that it will be possible to present a balanced budget for 2018, but this will not allow for additional projects. The Board advises the General Assembly to start an open discussion on budget expectations for 2019 and beyond. It is unlikely that future services nor the current service level can be maintained unless membership fees are reviewed, or alternative sources of income are successfully explored. This review will be required if CENTR wants to bring some of its services to the next level, to keep pace with the increasing professionalization of the industry and to respond to external factors that threaten it.
This budget discussion needs completion by October 2018. The secretariat has been instructed to research the different options and provide a briefing document to the membership by February 2018 in preparation of a discussion at the following General Assembly.
The Board noted that members are starting to collaborate in parallel to CENTR on very specific issues (such as community investment programme work, registrar data and privacy) and has tasked the Secretariat to start an open dialogue with the members to understand their rationale and see if or how CENTR can better support these initiatives within the CENTR framework/community.
The Board discussed the possibility of providing more access to services to Associate Members and tasked the secretariat to find alternative ways to allow Associate Members to contribute more to CENTR.
The Board wishes to thank the active contributors – in particular the Working Group Chairs and Vice-Chairs – for their input and wishes to underline the importance of their contribution to the community.
This year’s summer calls will be reformatted to provide members with a better opportunity to provide input.
2017 CENTR Board of Directors offsite conclusions (PDF)
