Title: I
Author: Avri Doria
Company: Syracuse University

I.	Membership
A.	Eligible organizations. Organizations meeting the following criteria are eligible for membership in the Constituency: 
1.	Organizations incorporated as a non-commercial entity (in countries that have such a provision in their commercial code) or, if unincorporated, or if operating in a country without provisions for non-commercial incorporation, operate on a not-for-profit basis primarily for non-commercial purposes, and 
2.	Be the exclusive user of at least one domain name. This can be verified by its listing as the registrant and/or administrative contact in the WHOIS data of the domain name, by the name resolving to a website controlled by and representing the organization, or other indications that prove to Executive committee that the prospective Member Organization is the primary user of a domain name. 
3.	Are engaged in activities that are primarily non-commercial, including, e.g., advocacy, educational, religious, charitable, scientific and artistic. 
4.	In the case of a membership based organization have a membership that is primarily non-commercial.
B.	Ineligible organizations. The membership of the NCSG specifically excludes: 
1.	Political organizations whose primary purpose is to hold government office and/or elect government officials 
2.	Commercial organizations and associations that advocate for the benefit of commercial entities (even if they are non-profit in form) 
3.	Organizations that provide services under contract or MoU with ICANN, or are represented in ICANN through another Supporting Organization 
4.	Government organizations whether local, regional or national.
5.	Intergovernmental organizations whose membership primarily includes nation states.
C.	New members shall take the following steps to notify the Stakeholder Group of their desire to join: 
1.	Complete an application form, which can be downloaded from the Stakeholder Group website. 
2.	Submit the filled out form and fee, if a fee is required, to the Executive Committee of the Stakeholder Group. Where appropriate, the form may be accompanied by a request for fee waiver or reduction. 
3.	Designate an Official Representative and any Additional Representatives to the Stakeholder Group. 
4.	Membership shall become complete upon notification of acceptance by the Stakeholder Group Chair, or other officer acting with the consent of the Executive Committee. 
D.	Each Member, in its application, shall appoint an individual to serve as the Official Representative to the Stakeholder Group. Such individual will hold the powers of voting and speaking publicly for the Member within votes and discussions of the Stakeholder Group. The Official Representative must be formally authorized to represent the Member Organization by a responsible official of that organization. 
The Executive Committee is authorized to make inquiries to the Member Organization to verify their selection. Members can change their Official Representative in two ways: 1) the Director of the Member Organization can notify the Executive committee of the change; or 2) the existing Official Representative can resign and submit to the Executive Committee the name of the new Official Representative (the new Official Representative must also be authorized and verified). If an Official Representative holds an elective office in the NCSG, that office does not become the responsibility of the new representative but must be reselected by the NCSG..
E.	Each Member may also designate additional individuals to serve as Additional Representatives to the Stakeholder Group. Such Additional Representatives may not vote, but otherwise may participate in Stakeholder Group listserves, discussions and meetings. The Executive Committee shall, at its discretion, determine limits to the total number of Additional Representative may appoint (provided the limit shall apply to all Stakeholder Group Members equally). 
F.	Eligible Individuals.  Individual persons who meet the following criteria are eligible for membership in the Stakeholder Group as an “Individual Member”. 
Individual persons who agree to advocate for a noncommercial public-interest position within the Stakeholder group and who fall within one of the following three categories are eligible to join:
i)   An Individual who has registered domain name(s) for personal, family or noncommercial use; 
ii)   An Individual Internet user who is primarily concerned with the non-commercial public-interest aspects of domain name policy, and is not represented in ICANN through membership in another Supporting Organization or GNSO Stakeholder Group; 
iii) An Individual who is employed by or a member of a large noncommercial organization (universities, colleges, large NGOs) and it is too complicated or the Individual lacks the standing to get his/her organization to join on an organizational basis can join in his or her individual capacity.
G.	The Executive Committee shall create procedural rules for existing members to maintain their good standing. 
H.	The Membership shall have the following participation rights in regard to the administration and policy development processes of the Stakeholder Group: 
1.	Elect the SG leadership positions as determined by the charter, including GNSO Council representatives; nominate Members to positions elected by the general membership and by the Executive Committee, with timely notification of all elections and public posting of all names nominated to the membership email list. 
2.	Initiate a policy development process within the Stakeholder Group by proposing a set of terms of reference and obtaining expressions of support for it on the public discuss list from a minimum of eight (8) Members, including the proposer. 
3.	Be given timely notice of all position papers developed by the Stakeholder Group on the public list and afforded an opportunity to comment on them 
4.	Submit agenda items to Stakeholder Group meetings and Executive Committee meetings. The submission must be made at least ten days before the meeting and be seconded by two other Members. 
5.	Propose charter amendments. A petition of five (5) percent of the then- current members shall be sufficient for putting a charter amendment on the ballot for consideration at the next regular election. 

I.	Transition: All current NCUC members as well as any 2009 Board appointed council members who are not currently members of the NCUC are deemed to be NCSG members.