AMCSI Board of Directors FAQs

Dear Members of AMCSI,

A big thank you to everyone who was able to attend our public board meeting 3 weeks ago! We cannot make this organization successful without you!

In response to some questions that have arisen since that meeting:

We have posted all the IRS Form 990s for AMCSI dating back to 2011 here. In case you’re not familiar, a 990 is the tax form required of all non-profits. These forms have always been available through the IRS website. However, we recognize that retrieving these from the IRS can be cumbersome, so we made them more easily accessible on our site at: Board of Directors Meetings, Bylaws, & Financials.

There have been questions around the donation made to AMCSI from Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America a couple of years ago. They made a restricted donation of $75,000 to AMCSI: this money may only be used to fund the purchase of Obi feeding devices for AMCSI members in need and to sponsor new families to attend conference. Utilizing these restricted funds, the BOD recently approved the purchase of an Obi device for a child with AMC in California, and 12 families participated as first-time attendees over the past two conferences. See our August Newsletter for one of their stories & to receive our monthly newsletter with these highlights, please sign up at: Join Our Newsletter. We continue to evaluate opportunities to provide future conference scholarships, with the goal of maximizing member benefit from the remaining funds.

A number of members have questioned the decision to hire an Executive Director in 2023, especially considering the large associated expense. It is important to note that Harold van Bosse is the only current member of the Board who was on the board when those decisions were made. There had been a long recognition that the growth of AMCSI represented a challenge for continued fundraising, and that the organization was becoming so large that regulatory responsibilities were becoming much harder to manage. As a fully volunteer organization, AMCSI leadership was concerned that missteps could weaken future financial health and possibly imperil our standing as a 501c organization. In 2021, the BOD hired an outside consultant to help provide direction, and the outcome of that months-long process was the realization that AMCSI would benefit from a salaried executive director. In 2022, the BOD held a first round of interviews of executive directors that was unsuccessful in identifying an appropriate candidate. The result of the second round was the hiring of Maria Cherjovsky, who had extensive experience in the administration of non-profit organizations like AMCSI.

Ms. Cherjovsky was given the directive to assess our organizational structure and to fortify our fundraising. Her initial evaluation of AMCSI found several regulatory vulnerabilities, which, if not addressed, could have put AMCSI’s 501c status at risk. Rectifying these issues consumed most of her time, and she was unable to fully focus on fundraising. Unfortunately, despite the positive results in restructuring and bringing the appropriate entities into play for compliance (e.g., Harbor Compliance), it proved untenable for Ms. Cherjovsky to remain in the position. Please know that the current BOD remains committed to developing strategies for moving forward, creating a strong organization with a reliable financial support structure. The BOD benefits greatly from those who volunteer time, knowledge, and experience.

We are continuing to work diligently with counsel on the governance/bylaw issues discussed in the public meeting. We will include updates on these concerns in the monthly newsletter when there is new information to share.

If you have reached out to us about your willingness to help, please know we are working on following up with you.

Sincerely,

AMCSI Board of Directors
Tracey Schalk, President (de facto)
Matt Cavedon, Vice President (de facto)
Siera Leone, Secretary (de facto)
Mark Indreika, Treasurer (de facto)
Dr. Harold van Bosse, Medical Director
bod@amcsupport.org