No. Internet2 dues and participation fees will continue at current levels through 2012. In fact, member dues and fees have been held flat—or lowered—since 2009.

Internet2's Board of Trustees hires Ernst and Young, LLP, a prominent, independent auditing firm, to review Internet2 financial records and report on the accuracy of the information provided by Internet2 management. Ernst and Young, LLP, audits the information according to "Generally Accepted Accounting Principles" (GAAP), and according to Federal Government A-133 standards. Ernst and Young, LLP, found Internet2's financial records to be both complete and accurate, providing a fair and representative picture of the financial health of the organization.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Commerce Department of the Federal Government, established a grant program in 2009 called the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), for the purpose of expanding broadband capacity in the United States to unserved or underserved areas and for enhancing broadband capacity. The NTIA and some other agencies distributed $7.1 billion to broadband projects across the country, based on a set of rigorous guidelines.

Internet2, on June 30, 2010, was awarded $62.5 million to upgrade and extend the national backbone network it operates. The overall project is about $96 million and Internet2, as the primary award winner on this project, must arrange for the contribution of private matching funds and equipment to make up the difference between the project amount and the grant amount—about $33.5 million. Though there are other organizations contributing private funds to Internet2 for the purpose of making up this difference, Internet2 must also generate and contribute funds to the project. Internet2 committed a specific amount of cash to be generated from operations over a three-year period, and is on track to generate and reserve the targeted cash amount.

Internet2 has identified seven strategic objectives (see list above) for the next two to three years, beginning in 2011. The objectives are aligned with the appropriate functional programmatic areas within the Internet2 organization. Each of these functional areas reflects increased investment in 2011. To learn more, see the 2011 Budget Presentation (PDF, 1.1 MB).

The amount will vary over the next couple of years. The Internet2 community has been actively involved with community anchor institutions (CAI's) for several years through the K-20 and Health Services programs, to name just two. CAI's are also the entities to be served through U.S. UCAN. Internet2 is dedicating effort from these existing programs and others to support the U.S. UCAN startup, as well as investing new funds to the effort, as circumstances warrant. Eventually, U.S. UCAN will need to be self-supporting and will expand subject to resources raised. For more information, please see usucan.org.

The future looks bright for Internet2 and the mission of the Internet2 community. Internet2 has been holding member dues and fees flat—or has lowered them—since 2009, and will continue to keep dues and fees low into 2012. Internet2 has been able to accomplish this because of the savings provided by programs and services developed over the years and offered to members. Delivering value to members has allowed the various programs and services to grow, providing more internal support to strategic community objectives.

In addition, Internet2 works hard to keep overall administrative costs low, dedicating as many resources as possible to the community's programs. See the 2011 Budget Presentation (PDF, 1.1 MB), page 7.