Western Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Inc.
Job Description
Job Title: Western Quarterly Meeting Office Secretary / Newsletter Editor
Reports To: Clerk of Western Quarter
FLSA Status: Independent Contractor
Location: Western Quarter Office (Kennett Friends Meetinghouse) and offsite
PRIMARY PURPOSE:
Performs routine typing, clerical, and public contact work in support of the Western Quarterly Meeting sessions and the Western Quarter (WQ) Steering Committee.
Performs paraprofessional writing and design work in the creation of a quarterly newsletter that is mailed to members and attenders of the eleven monthly meetings comprising Western Quarterly Meeting and to regional Quaker organizations (800 recipients).
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Provides leadership and direction in the development of efficient and effective processes for completing the tasks that support the primary purposes.
Office Secretary
In preparation for the WQ Steering Committee Meeting, obtains agenda from the Clerk, Minutes from the past meeting from the Recording Clerk, and any other materials the Clerk indicates and mails them to the members of the Steering Committee (Western Quarter Officers and Clerks of Monthly Meetings), At-Large Board members, and Clerks of WQ Committees as deemed pertinent. Following the Steering Committee Meeting, places the final corrected minutes that have been forwarded from the Recording Clerk in the record book.
In support of the Western Quarterly Meeting, interfaces between the Clerk of the hosting meeting and Clerk of WQ to assure that the most accurate schedule appears in the ?Friendly News?; mails the finalized schedule to all Monthly Meeting Clerks with a request to post the schedule for its members; ensures that a sign-up sheet and name tags are available on-site at the host meeting.
Following the Quarterly Meeting, places a final corrected copy of the preceding session?s minutes, obtained from the Recording Clerk in the official Minute Book; collects the sign-up sheet, obtains draft minutes from the Recording Clerk, mails them to all attenders with a request that they provide corrections to the Recording Clerk prior to the next QM.
Ensures that childcare for ages five and under is arranged for the QM session by either working with the host meeting to locate care-givers or arranging from a list of care-providers maintained by this position; provides the care-giver?s name, mailing address, and dollar amount to the Treasurer.
Retrieves WQ mail from the P.O. Box at the Kennett Square post office at least once a week, being sensitive to quarter-end (Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec) deadlines of Treasurer; sorts mail leaving Clerk?s and Treasurer?s mail in their slots at the WQM office; checks for and responds to WQ phone messages at least twice a week (can be retrieved off-site).
Organizes and maintains a variety of records in both electronic and paper format, including the WQ newsletter mailing list on a spreadsheet document (not word), a directory of WQM Committees and mailing/electronic addresses of Committee members, and monthly meeting Treasurers. Forwards WQ mailing list (Excel) to printer for imprinting of addresses onto newsletter.
Performs periodic reconciliation of monthly meeting member and attender lists against WQM mailing list and PYM member/mailing lists to ensure that the latter two reflect the monthly meeting information and that former is up-to-date; obtains monthly meetings? committee lists at the start of their respective year (January or July).
Types, copies, and performs mailings as requested by the WQ Clerk and clerks of WQ committees.
Orders and maintains office supplies (extra copier toner cartridge and postage stamps) and arranges for equipment maintenance.
Organizes, maintains, and files correspondence and other records at the Western Quarter office; follows the retention policy, and works with the Record Committee to sort and label materials that should be archived at Swarthmore College.
Newsletter Editor
Performs the Editor duties in support of the newsletter?s primary purpose: to create a sense of community among the 11 Monthly Meetings? members and attenders, to inform this community of upcoming and past Quarterly Meeting sessions, and to promote the testimonies and values of the Religious Society of Friends.
Actively solicits from each WQ monthly meeting activities (future or past) to report; develops, researches, and writes articles; reports on the past Western Quarterly session and features the agenda for the upcoming WQ session.
Sends draft newsletter to WQ Assistant Clerk for review before finalizing and sending to printer.
Oversees the production of the newsletter and assembles it for bulk mailing by working with the printer and the post office; makes process improvements in the areas of production and distribution; researches cost savings measures and discusses findings with Treasurer, and implements, after approval.
Provides the webmaster with .pdf of newsletter for posting to the localquakers.org website.
The duties listed above are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.
Peripheral Duties:
Creates written job aids documenting the activities and timelines for completing the tasks that support the primary purpose.
Maintains inventory of outreach materials and their prices; develops and maintains process for storing, identifying, and tracking materials.
Sells and distributes Outreach material in response to individual and organizational requests or as part of Quaker events (Quaker Fair, Inactive Meetings summer schedule).
Replenishes Quaker Roots and Trackless Trail books at the Chester County Tourist Bureau (Longwood Progressive Meeting), Kennett Public Library, and Chester County Historical Society (225 North High Street, West Chester). These orders are paid in advance usually in allotments of five or ten.
Fills and mails orders for bumpersticks, pamphlets, and other material requests; files copy of order in the ?Outreach Billed? file; when payment is received, marks the order sheet; files in the ?Outreach Paid? file, places payment in Treasurer?s mail slot indicating what items were sold.