New InternetNZ chief executive Vivien Maidaborn. Photo / Supplied
Internet NZ and Tohatoha have patched over a funding row that spilled onto social media.
The spat occurred against the background of a broader, extended funding review driven by new InternetNZ chief executive Vivien Maidaborn that has caused nose-out-of-joint chatter from the current recipients of InternetNZ grants, and their supporters.
Maidaborn told the Herald that InternetNZ reviews its grants every year, but conceded the current process, for the 2023/24 financial year, “Is delayed by a few months as we look to confirm our strategic priorities and budget.”
On Monday, Tohatoha policy lead Dr Sarah Hendrica Bickerton tweeted: “With great sadness we at @TohatohaNZ need to let you know we will hold a Council vote on commencing wind-up of operations by April 1 unless we are able to secure funding before the end of the month.”
InternetNZ’s official Twitter account replied, “We’ve been in discussion with Tohatoha for over a year, about our role as a funding partner. Late last week, we were discussing the level of funding required to bridge Tohatoha’s needs to help it align with InternetNZ’s timeline on funding decisions for the 2023/24 FY [financial year]. We are dismayed that part of the conversation has been made public.”
Tohatoha, whose activities include data collection, community support and policy work to counter misinformation and hate speech, has received its core funding for the past eight years from InternetNZ.
Tohatoha CEO Mandy Henk declined to comment earlier this week, while negotiations were still “open in the air”, but overnight forwarded a joint statement from the two groups saying “InternetNZ and Tohatoha Aotearoa Commons are delighted to announce additional funding in this financial year to ensure Tohatoha can continue to operate while it looks to secure sustainable long-term funding.”
A spreadsheet forwarded to the Herald showed Tohatoha receiving a $75,000 top-up for total funding of $185,000 for FY2202/23.
InternetNZ is the non-profit that administers the .nz domain. In the year to March 31, 2022, it reported a $155,000 deficit (from a $1.6m deficit in the previous year) on revenue that rose 15 per cent to $12.9m.
Its income comes primarily from wholesaling domains (website and email addresses) to the likes of internet service providers and other retailers, who onsell them to the public, organisations and businesses.
InternetNZ uses its funds for administration, education and policy work, as well as offering grants to various non-profit advocacy, community and research groups, including SeniorNet. It also has “funded partnerships” with a number of organisations.
Figures on funded partnerships InternetNZ supplied to the Herald (above) show that some organisations, including digital inclusion advocate the 20/20 Trust, open data outfit FigureNZ, consumer advocacy group the Technology Users Association of NZ (or Tuanz, formerly the Telecommunications Users Association) have taken haircuts over the past couple of years - although Tohatoha received $75,000 in additional funding for FY2022/23 and Brainbox appears as a new recipient for FY2022/23. Brainbox’s CV includes work, commissioned by the Super Fund on its investment in Facebook and efforts to push for governance reform at the social network, and a Law Foundation-funded study on whether New Zealand needs new legislation to deal with “deep fakes” online (its conclusion: no).
“Each year we give around $1m in funding to organisations and individuals who do work that aligns with the values and strategy of InternetNZ,” Maidaborn told the Herald.
Part of this money is allocated via grants and part of supporting partnerships.
“All our funded partnerships are reviewed each year or as the contracts come to a close. This year is no different. However, the timeframe for confirming our allocation is delayed by a few months as we look to confirm our strategic priorities and budget,” Maidaborn said.
“We have not made any decisions on funding allocation for partners for the 2023/24 financial year yet.
“We are keeping the door open to all our current partners and continue speaking with them directly.”
Maidaborn, a former executive director of Unicef NZ who has also worked in social entrepreneurship roles, was named InternetNZ’s new chief executive last year, replacing Jordan Carter who had spent close to a decade in the role.