In 1997, the American Heart Association (AHA), Western States Affiliate reorganized in order to increase fundraising revenues for the nonprofit. Rather than a wide range of fundraising and programmatic duties, all staff were now defined by key fundraising and programmatic activities. Some staff had been dissatisfied with the new scope and reporting structure of their positions. Roman Bowser, the executive vice president and CEO or the Affiliate, made several adjustments to the organizational structure to deal with problems that arose with the organization, and had other issues to consider now in 2002 related to staff and local community volunteers, the lifeblood of the organization. Furthermore, a national AHS task force was recommending a reorganization of the AHA along the same lines that Bowser had used for his Western States Affiliate. Bowser was not certain that the national center and other affiliates could learn and benefit from his model, which he had tailored for a particular staff and geographical territory. He wondered how and if the AHA could leverage his organizational model across disparate communities nationally, and what the impact might be on the long-term viability of the AHA.
