ICANN has found another use for its Reserve funds. It has accumulated more than $200 million in auction proceeds from the first phase of the new generic top-level domain program. It was previously reported that ICANN has opened a grant program, and next year will allocate $10 million from this fund to projects that meet the strategic goals of the corporation.
Now it has become known that ICANN intends to create an Applicant Support Program fund. Its size will be $10 million. Half of this amount is budgeted for the next stage of the new domains program; another $5 million will be added from ICANN’s reserve fund, Domain Incite reports. According to the corporation's experts, this amount will be enough to “significantly support” up to 45 applications for new generic top-level domains.
It should be remembered that ICANN had previously announced that, as part of the same Applicant Support Program, it could provide discounts of up to 85% on applications for new domains. All this together should become a very serious incentive for non-profit organizations of small and medium-sized businesses - they are the recipients of the Support Program. With regard to geography, support is expected to be provided to applicants from countries with underdeveloped or developing economies or economies in transition. However, almost 180 countries and territories fit these very vague criteria, including, for example, Russia, India, China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and South Korea.
