It was a “hosted” organization that was managed by a number of universities and research/educational bodies, which meant that it had to go through these organiz

It was a “hosted” organization that was managed by a number of universities and research/educational bodies, which meant that it had to go through these organizations to make material decisions, such as hiring and investment. They did it this way because when the W3C was founded the goal was getting up and running quickly. But over time, this setup became complex. Now, with this restructuring, it can make its own decisions about who to hire, for example, and can also do its own fundraising.