Andy Falender Case Summary

In March of 1988, AMC's second Executive Director resigned, leaving the organization to struggle with the prospect of having to hire a new Executive Director (ED) and the long-lasting financial difficulty. At that time, AMC’s Council searched for an Executive Director who had the skills and the vision to lead the organizations to success. In 1989, Andy Falender, a Harvard MBA and former Peace Corps volunteer, was hired as the Executive Director of the club. In addition to his skills in nonprofit management, Falender had a long-standing passion for the outdoors and conservation issues. After he was hired, Falender immediately began to institute a reform of the organization’s financial structure, created more conservation programs, and brought …show more content…
Falender also hired a new auditor and brought in skilled board treasurer as the Chair of the Finance Committee, and focused on shaping the staff and members' perceptions of their Club's wellbeing. He also added new board members who demonstrated knowledge in finance, fundraising, conservation and natural resource backgrounds, and showed an allegiance to organization as a whole, not just to one of its chapters. By setting sight on innovation, planning, and execution, Falender was able to pay off AMC’s debt, restructure the organization, and increase memberships. In order to pull the organization together, Falender established Club-wide planning process that was extended over a number of years and was finally completed in 1992. While some members were skeptical about the value of Falender’s plan, it seemed that it worked very well and it became the foundation for the Club’s future successes. However, Falender’s plan did not help in opening communications within the …show more content…
For example, Nonprofits might encounter fiscal risk caused by the difficulty of finding enough resources and funds to subsidize their mission and objectives. Throughout history, fiscal distress has been a way of life in the nonprofit sector as many organizations are competing to access needed resources and raising money to fund their programs. Nonprofits also might encounter the risk of losing market shares due to the uneven opportunity in accessing the required resources to establish new facilities or new programs and services in response to the rapid increase of demand. Accordingly, nonprofits are required to maintain effectiveness and reliability by constantly reexamining their mission, goals and objectives. While most nonprofits are dependent on volunteers to run their programs, raise funds for their activities, and sometimes fulfill the role of board members, they might impose a serious risk if they are not given the appropriate tools and education. Despite the fact that most volunteers are passionate about the organization’s mission and reliable as regards to their duties, understaffed and overworked organizations who hire large numbers of volunteers might encounter serious risk if there is no process to ensure that volunteers meet certain criteria. Moreover, it is important for nonprofits to keep up with the constant changes and accept new ideas that promote growth in their competitive