Written by Beris Pritchard, SPA Liaison
Meeting Minutes – the responsibility of the secretary, to provide the historical reference for all organizations.
In 1919, the first secretary of Quota’s founding group was Jean Ware Redpath – one of the original five. After receiving its Certificate of Incorporation, the first meeting of Quota Clubs International was held and officers were elected. Florence M. Snowdon was elected secretary and the International Headquarters was subsequently located at 122 Chamber of Commerce, Buffalo New York.
Quota Creates the ‘General Secretary’ Position
At the first annual convention held in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1920, Florence Snowden, a member of the Scranton Club was appointed the first General Secretary. The Headquarters was at the home of the President until 1928. However, at the 1926 Convention when the Quota Club of Winnipeg received its charter, Quota received congratulations on its international status from President Calvin Coolidge who invited the organization to make its Headquarters in Washington D.C. When, at the 1928 Convention a request was made for every club to donate U.S.$50 for a permanent Headquarters to be established in Washington DC,U.S. $1,700 was pledged and the first permanent Headquarters was established at 812 17th Street, N.W., Washington D.C.
On January 1, 1929, President Elizabeth White Emens resigned as International President and took over the responsibilities of General Secretary from Florence Snowdon. The Worcester, Massachusetts Convention in 1929 marked the tenth anniversary with a General Secretary, a permanent office, and 2,500 members. Elizabeth made her last General Secretary’s Report to the Convention in 1936 and was given much credit for her fine work and the sincere appreciation of the Board for her devotion to Quota.
On September 15, 1936, Gwladys Jones was appointed General Secretary. Gwladys was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, a Women’s College in Pennsylvania, originally founded as a Quaker Institution in 1885. She taught for three years before entering administrative and editorial fields. During Gwladys’ tenure as General Secretary, in a filed letter dated 1944 from the Commissioner of Internal Revenues, she was advised that Quota International and affiliated clubs were entitled to exemption from Federal tax under the provisions of section 101(8) of the Internal Revenue Code. However, Quota was required annually, to provide the IRS with lists in quadruplicate showing the name sand addresses of any newly chartered clubs and of those which had ceased to exist.
Gwladys was a long and faithful employee, travelling to Australia in 1959 to represent the Board of Directors at the Second Combined Conference of Australian Clubs held in Canberra. Gwladys retired as General Secretary in 1960 and was chosen for Honorary Membership in 1961 at the Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in recognition of her many years of service. She died in 1968, shortly after the passing of Quota Founder, Wanda Frey Joiner.
Changing with the Times
In 1955, Quota’s Headquarters office was moved to 1145 19th Street, N.W., Washington D.C., at which time several studies were conducted by Board Members on headquarters equipment, personnel, policies, organization, obligations, expansion, workflow and finances. One procedure that resulted was that of requesting clubs to submit rosters to headquarters each year, to help headquarters do a better job of classification. Maintaining current data on club member classifications was a time-consuming problem.
Following Gwladys Jones, Quota was then fortunate in appointing Dora Lee (Allen) Haynes, as the new General Secretary who assumed office on January 1, 1961. Later, Dora Lee’s title was changed to Executive Secretary, and further on to Executive Director, more in keeping with the responsibilities of administering Quota International, Incorporated. This was also the year for incorporation in the District of Colombia under the new name of Quota International, Incorporated. The new incorporation papers were signed by Wanda Frey Joiner, Anne G. Stillings, Minnie H. Byers, Katherine Tancill, and Claire Oglesby. The previous incorporations of Quota Clubs International were dissolved in 1961. (The 1961 Articles of Incorporation, also known as Quota International’s Charter, can be viewed online.)
At the convention in 1963, the flag of Quota International, Inc., was presented to President Helen Agnew and has been carried at every Quota International Convention since then, although the original has been replaced in recent years. Quota also filed papers with the United States Patent Office to secure the trademark and copyright of its name, design, emblem, and the name of its magazine. Filing in Canada and Australia followed after the papers were granted in the USA. 1961 also saw a new design for the membership pin with the official emblem for Quota International, Inc. At the same time, a jeweled pin for Quota International Past International Presidents was designed.
A New Approach to New Clubs
In 1965, after many years, Quota once again employed a professional field representative, but after one year, the decision was made that club organization is best and most economically accomplished by individual Quotarians and clubs.
During the Sixties, the Membership Classification Guide was completely revised; a Quota Activities and Membership brochure was developed, the Organizer’s Manual was written to help establish new clubs; and the Governor’s Guidebook and the President’s Handbook were produced to help officers with their duties and procedures. Growth slowed with a membership of 400 clubs.
The Golden Jubilee Convention in 1969 was held in Washington, D.C., at which Quotarians resolved to create the Wanda Frey Joiner Memorial Fund in her honor and as a perpetual living memorial to carry out Wanda’s wish that her estate be used to organize new Quota Clubs and strengthen existing clubs. The Wanda Frey Joiner Award and Pin, established in 1998 by President Verna Stewart, continues to perpetuate her memory today – and the Probate document of Quota’s Founder filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles on June 27, 1968 is still held at the Quota International Office.
A New Home
Kathleen W. Thomas followed and brought to her Executive Director position experience as an association executive with a strong background in association management and education. Her job responsibilities at Quota were to include serving as Director of the headquarters office and staff, manager of Quota’s Conventions, and editor of The Quotarian magazine. She assumed the responsibilities of the Shatter Silence co-ordinator position as well.
The Quota Headquarters office had moved to seven different locations since it had arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1928, all leased spaces. In 1984, Convention delegates voted to begin a fund-raising campaign to purchase a Quota World Headquarters site in the city, and in June 1985 office space in a building located at 1420 21st Street, N.W., was purchased for U.S.$546,675.00. It seemed fitting that Quota’s new home would be located in a stately building that was built when Quota was founded in 1919. Shortly after moving into the new office, Quota purchased an IBM-36 computer, thus bringing Quota International into the computer age.
After 29 years as Quota’s dedicated Executive, Kathleen (Thomas) Treiber retired having brought Quota into a completely new digital and electronic age.
In April 2013, Barbara Schreiber, formerly a fund-raiser for a non-profit charity, was appointed to the position of Executive Director. Barbara served for five years, resigning in September 2018.
Nancy Fitzpatrick, who previously served Quota as Director of Membership and Deputy Executive Director from 1994 to 2013, became Quota International’s seventh Executive Director in September 2018. Nancy’s extensive non-profit experience is supplemented with a Master’s degree in Business with a specialization in non-profit management. She returned to Quota with a strong commitment to the organization, its members, and its ideals at a time when the need for restructuring had emerged due to financial concerns, diminishing membership, and a world far different than a century ago when Quota was founded. As a result, Quota’s leadership is reaching out to its members to help define the Quota of the future in the century to come.
July ……. Quota goes Global
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