Formation of QRC International

Brief History

QRC North America (QRC NA) is an alumni (or Old Boys) association that formed in the 80’s in New York City. The mission was to give back to the school and build a support system for alumni living or studying at Colleges in the NYC area.

In 2002, QRC alumni living in the Washington DC metro area organized and partnered with QRC NA to form a chapter based in Washington, DC. The Washington DC chapter elected officers (Gerard Davidson, President, Kwesi Ames, Vice President, Victor Gamaldo, Treasurer and Sekou Mark, Secretary. Sekou Mark moved away from the area a few years later and was replaced by Richard Squires), and decided that an annual dance fundraiser would be an ideal vehicle to get together socially while raising funds for the school. We leveraged the QRC NA EIN to open local bank accounts to manage our funds.

Over that time, we have purchased goods (electronic equipment, sporting gear, musical instruments, etc) and services (airfare, lodging, conferences, etc) to support the students with their academic, leadership, sporting, scouting and musical endeavors.

QRC North America Today

In late 2021, Gerard Davidson and Victor Gamaldo stepped down from their positions and a new board was elected. I was elected President, Keiron Forde, the new Vice President, Nigel Linton Treasurer, and Richard Squires stayed on as Secretary.

In my new role, I drafted a Vision and strategic plan. This plan was presented to the alumni body on Nov 5, 2022 at our General Body meeting at the Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in Washington, DC. The most significant changes championed were, i) rebranding the organization as QRC International to support alumni anywhere outside of Trinidad & Tobago and b) innovating how we fundraised. I saw the need for us to diversify our sources and make our ability to fundraise more resilient.

So in April 2023, I wrote Magnum Est In Aeternum: The Strategy to Secure the Future of Queen’s Royal College, which outlined a plan to establish an Endowment Fund for QRC.

In order to achieve this and the various other goals set forth we needed to become a formal non-profit. Especially so, since the group in NYC had become less active over the years and with the passing of their Treasurer, stopped filing the required tax returns to maintain the EIN number (according to the IRS website it was revoked on May 15, 2019).