MiddletownJournal.com

The many agencies and organizations in southwest Ohio that receive funding from United Way are watching with great interest as talks continue on a possible merger of four existing United Way organizations. How a merger would affect their annual allocations from United Way is a foremost concern.

But we're pleased to see that the talks are continuing between the United Way organizations of Butler and Warren counties, greater Cincinnati (which includes Middletown) and greater Dayton. Until all agreed to continue negotiations last week, it was possible that the discussions could have ended and each gone its separate way.

Instead, representatives of the four United Way organizations agreed to continue talks and Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage was appointed facilitator and spokesman for the task force studying a merger. The group will meet again on May 22.

Opponents of the merger fear a loss of identity and local control, and we can appreciate those concerns. However, we believe that well-planned regionalism will benefit the residents and various jurisdictions in this quadrant of the state, as the inevitable and inexorable conflation of the Cincinnati and Dayton metro areas continues. The same is true for United Way.

The benefits are obvious — less administrative overhead, more clout, more consistency, fewer duplicated efforts, more potential for corporate donations, and more operational efficiencies, thus providing more available money for the worthy agencies funded by United Way. For donors, it could mean a greater share of their contributions going to these worthwhile organizations, rather than for overhead. And fewer donors — such as those who might live in Warren County and work in Cincinnati — would be torn between making contributions where they live vs. where they work.

Other United Way organizations in the nation also are seeing the benefit of merging. As staff writer Margo Rutledge Kissell reported recently, United Way mergers have become more frequent among the more than 1,300 locally governed United Way agencies, with 84 since 2004.

A merger here would create one of the largest and most influential United Way organizations in the nation. It would serve at least 12 counties in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky. The current individual organizations now have combined annual fundraising campaigns of about $78 million.

Despite the potential benefits, we appreciate the concerns of those who fear becoming lost in a larger organization. But we have confidence that Sage and the task force will satisfactorily answer the operational questions they have been asked to resolve.

"Our ultimate goal or the end result of anything we do has to be in the best interest of the communities we serve and not in what's best for any individual United Way," Sage said recently.

If those wise words guide this endeavor, we are confident that the United Way organizations will find the best course for the future here while preserving their important community service mission.

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