UW talks on back burner again

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11:54 AM Thursday, November 12, 2009

It should have come as no surprise to anyone that this month’s meeting to further discuss a merger of area United Way organizations has been postponed until next year, but we applaud the frank comments of Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage, who has been facilitating the negotiations.

Discussions have been ongoing between the United Ways representing Cincinnati, Dayton, Warren County and Butler County for more than three years — about a possible merger that would create one of the largest and most influential United Way organizations in the country. However, the momentum for a merger stalled when the United Way of the Greater Dayton Area withdrew from the talks in early August, and the Warren County United Way did the same in early September.

That left the Butler County United Way and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati (which includes Middletown) at the bargaining table. Warren County United Way officials had earlier agreed to a Nov. 23 meeting to reassess the process, but notified their counterparts in Butler County and Cincinnati recently that they would not be attending.

So the Nov. 23 meeting has been shelved, and further discussions will reportedly be put off until early 2010.

That’s disappointing for those of us who believe that a regional United Way is likely inevitable and that there are organizational efficiencies to be gained by eliminating redundant services and overhead. Those efficiencies could mean more money being directed to the worthy agencies and needy people that United Way assists.

“My biggest concern is the people who were engaging in conversations forgot the reason they were engaging in conversations in the first place, which is to do what is the best thing for the people they serve,” Sage told staff writer Tiffany Latta earlier this week. “A lot of the conversation has moved toward selfish motives.” Sage said the merger talks stalled when agencies began worrying about protecting their territory. Fears over loss of identity and local control — two factors we’ve identified in the past — may have prevailed for now.

We continue to believe that the inexorable fusion of the communities along the Interstate 75 corridor between Dayton and Cincinnati will eventually bring these United Way agencies (as well as many other organizations) together. A merger now would have eliminated that awkward choice — Sage calls it “ridiculous” — that many highly mobile donors must make, between giving at work in one county or at home in another county. “I think people who give to the United Way will make their voice heard and then discussions will probably resume,” Sage said.

Although this setback may be disappointing in the short term, we believe strongly in the mission of United Way. We recommend that donors do make their voices heard on this important topic, as Sage suggests, but we hope they will also continue to financially support the United Way’s important work.

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