Activity report Q4 2023-24

Kia ora,
The purpose of this report is to summarise the delivery of our strategic plan as measured through the annual strategic goals, and highlight the key metrics that matter to the ongoing health of our organisation.
The last Quarter for 2023/24 — January to March 2024, set up our work programme for the 2024/25 financial year with a focus on project completion and forward planning. The March Council meeting is always critical as it sees Council consider budget scenarios for the year ahead and identify the budget to be approved, along with annual strategic goals with relevant measures. In this particular year, Council decided to focus on a business growth led scenario of which 2024/25 will be the first year of three. Alongside this approach and as a continuing commitment to InternetNZ’s public impact work, Council determined that 11 million dollars be ring fenced from the balance sheet to form a fund toward more sustainable strategic partnership and grant funding over the long term.
As we enter 2024/25 then, we have annual goals that complete the current strategic plan cycle, a budget that focuses on business-led growth and some key elements of a new strategic plan for further discussion and development over the year. The ‘strategic partnerships and grant fund’ signals a new approach to funding our work and partnering to increase impact. The product strategy signals a multi-year approach for .nz and members can expect to be part of further conversations around both these elements of an emerging strategy for 2025-2027.
There has been significant progress on many elements of our 2023/24 goals over this last quarter. The establishment of a Members group and Māori community group to form the Co-Design Group for our constitutional review is a key part of this. Our Internet governance work programme has been focused on supporting the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance.
InternetNZ has been working with auDA (.au), CIRA (.ca) and Nominet(.uk) to set up an informal coalition of the global technical community to support and work with others to both defend the current multi stakeholder approaches from proposed changes from the UN, and envision a revitalised and more effective multi stakeholder model for the future.
Rei kura: treasured teeth — The focus of our action and mahi
Our plan for 2023–2025 includes nine key strategic goals. The status of our work is summarised below:
Goal 1: A 3–6 year vision is developed for .nz and related registry products, that inform business decisions and future investment
Goal | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||
The vision document for .nz and related registry products, is in place by Dec 2024 |
The 2024–2026 product strategy that was signed off in December 2023, is now in the process of being implemented. It is a product strategy that is focused on building a thriving .nz operation that is resilient and sustainable. In addition to specific .nz initiatives, it introduces an expanded scope of how we commercialise the core capabilities and expertise we have in the domain name industry. The strategy is targeting revenue growth from three distinct activities:
The above are the revenue-related highlights, but the product strategy covers a lot |
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Service Availability |
* ~4 minute monitoring issue |
Goal 2: Grow the volume of registrars in our channel and Revenue growth year on year.
Goals | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Registrar growth |
As at the end of the reporting period:
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Revenue Growth — Domains |
*Domains Under Management |
Goal 3: Engaging in regional ccTLD collaboration and support, including advocating for ccTLD sovereignty for Pacific islands
Goal | Notes |
Two Pacific countries are supported towards ccTLD sovereignty and/or independence in registry management |
Through attending industry events and forums, InternetNZ continues to engage at a general level with our Pacific island ccTLD neighbours. At ICANN79 in San Juan, InternetNZ staff met with ICANN and IANA representatives to update them on the support and engagement InternetNZ has been undertaking in the region. The update and collaboration was well received and will form an ongoing dialogue between the three parties, scheduled to occur at each ICANN meeting. As a result of a formal request made to InternetNZ, from December 2023 InternetNZ temporarily focused its support on one particular Pacific island ccTLD. This support will likely increase in the coming quarters as will the level of detailed information that can be shared in future quarterly reports. |
Goal 4: Make changes within InternetNZ toward ending racism and becoming Te Tiriti o Waitangi centric
Goal | Notes |
Share progress made with the Māori Internet Community, staff and stakeholders on SRR recommendations March 2024. |
On 9 February 2024 there was a Q3 progress report published for the Council.
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Increase the percentage of funding given to partners who work within a ‘by Māori, for Māori’ approach by 10% year on year over next 3 years. |
We have distributed $1,199,925.98 in public impact funding in the 2023/24 financial year, with 35.97% of the overall pool, or $431,645 going to Māori individuals or organisations. In Q4 we entered into a place-based partnership with Tāiki E! in Tairāwhiti, and have co-designed a funding model that supports tino rangatiratanga (independence) and mana motuhake (self-determination), starting with their own local community. This approach enables us to explore community-led models of innovation, collaboration and support. Over time, this type of model will enable InternetNZ to tap into community insights, collaborate for better impact and collectively share learnings with the wider philanthropic community.
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Goal 5: Maintaining the Domain Name Commission
Goal | Notes |
The Domain Name Commission carries out its functions under the Operating Agreement | Link to DNC Q4 Report |
Goal 6: Design and implement an approach to collaboration, and partnering toward an internet that benefits everyone
Goal | Notes |
Protocol to guide collaboration and partnering is consulted and published by October 2023. | A Membership Engagement Plan has been completed and has been sent to the Fellows for their feedback. As part of the Plan, we agreed to upgrade the current membership platform (CiviCRM) to improve the functionality, security, and ability to capture demographic information (see Goal 7). Implementation will occur later this year. |
Membership Plan is consulted and published by 1st April 2024. | The planning stage for the conflicted names survey of affected parties was completed in Q4. The survey, which seeks the views of around 2,600 interested domain name holders, will be sent out in batches across 4 June, 1 July and 5 August. For more information on the review of the management of conflicted domain names, see Conflicted domain names policy review » InternetNZ. |
.nz rules development has input from members and the wider community. | Some insights on Māori priorities for the .nz rules have been collected, and continue to be collected, through engagements with Māori. Minor changes required to the .nz rules have been identified. They will be published for comment in April. |
Internet Governance Strategy and approach is in place for InternetNZ Group by Quarter 4 23/24 |
Our approach to Internet governance has been collated across the various InternetNZ functions. An Internet Governance approach was articulated to and discussed with Council in December 2023, and a Council paper for the August meeting will further outline our approach and measures.
Our Internet governance work programme is focused on supporting the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance in the context of global dialogues |
Goal 7: Modernise the InternetNZ Constitution to reflect legal requirements and being Te Tiriti centric organisation
Goal | Notes |
Project Plan is documented and milestones reported on over the next two years. |
In the last quarter, 24+ engagements were undertaken with individuals and groups across diverse communities to explore their thoughts on the constitution. Most of these were about establishing relationships and interest in the kaupapa. We also hosted Te Ao Matihiko at the INZ offices for an afternoon tea which was a great opportunity to strengthen our relationship with the rōpū. The co-design process is underway and more targeted engagements are being set up |
Members have multiple opportunities to be involved in the process and development of proposed constitutional changes. |
Members were invited to express their interest in joining the co-design group. Through this process we had 7 submissions, with 6 being accepted (one was conflicted out of participating due to their work). Note that 5 of the Māori participants are also members of InternetNZ of a group of 8. |
Legal requirements are met | Work has begun on the writing process. Focus will start on the technical changes required by law. |
Membership demographics are reported on.
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Membership demographics are unable to be collected currently, but will be implemented as part of upgrading CiviCRM membership platform (see Goal 8) |
Goal 8: Diversify the membership base
Goal | Notes |
Targets are reported on including increasing the number of Māori members by 50 individual and 5 organisational members per year over the next 2 years |
The membership platform CiviCRM will be upgraded later in 2024, and will allow increased functionality including ethnicity data from new membership applications. (see Goals 4 & 7) |
Goal 9: Mana Whakahaere processes are developed to achieve codesign with Māori for SRR recommendations 5&6 with Te Komiti Whakauru Māori (TKWM) and external parties
Goal | Notes |
Mana Whakahaere process through Te Komiti Whakauru Māori (TKWM) recommends to Council changes to the Constitution that support Māori members equal right to stand and be elected to Council |
This has been achieved through the ongoing engagement with Iwi and Māori digital community connections as well as the establishment of the Māori Co Design Group to work with Members on the draft/proposed constitutional review. |