Administrative Structure
Ak’ Tenamit is registered in Guatemala as a nonprofit association – Asociación Ak’ Tenamit – and has an office in Guatemala City that includes store rooms and dorms where volunteers, staff, and students sleep when in the city. It receives funding and logistical help from the Guatemalan Tomorrow Fund, in Jupiter, Florida, USA.

Ak’ Tenamit belongs to the villagers it serves, who must donate four days of labor per family per year, mostly for construction brigades, maintenance, and kitchen help. Villages that fulfill this requirement can elect one man and one woman to represent them at annual General Assemblies, when they elect Ak’ Tenamit’s Board of Directors from a list of village representatives, staff, and students – the statutes require that the board be 100% indigenous, half male and half female. The Board hires and oversees an operations (site) manager, an administrative (financial) manager, and various program managers, who are assisted by international volunteers. The board is guided by a five-year strategic plan that was drafted, and is modified annually by a 26-member strategic planning committee composed of board members, staff, and students. Project founder Steve Dudenhoefer serves as Chief Technical Adviser, assisting managers and the board, but concentrating on fundraising and networking.

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