Think 30! is the primary Quota South Area goal for 2004 – 2006. In order to expand the support for humanitarian services around the world, for which Quota is noted, we must expand our membership. Why 30? With 30 members, a club can undertake projects of considerable size without unduly taxing it members. It's a number that has been quite successful for many of our clubs. And it's a number that, with work, should be attainable by most of our clubs.

Actually, the number isn't important. What is important is that we do whatever we can to grow our clubs no matter what their current size. Some of the South Area clubs have many more than 30 members, but sixty-five percent of them have fewer.

As of December 1, 2004, the South Area was comprised of 1,028 members in 37 clubs. Twenty four of these clubs have fewer than 30 members. To grow to an average of 30 members per club would require the addition of 82 members, eight percent growth, with 100 percent retention.

But our expectations are higher. We want 30 members per club, an additional 288 members, growth of 28 percent. And we believe we can achieve that by employing new methods of seeking members, including forming branches.

A branch can be made up of people who aren't likely to join our existing clubs because of meeting times, places, interest in a different member demographic – any number of reasons – but they would make good Quotarians. Also, we are looking at new recruitment techniques (marketing strategies) and people we haven't before considered for membership.

Thirty isn't a magic number. It's a goal and, more than that, it's a symbol. Think 30! is our quick reminder to envision the growth we seek and a motivator to take action to achieve it.