NWAnews.com :: Northwest Arkansas' News Source

NWAnews.com :: Northwest Arkansas' News Source: "The United Way of Northwest Arkansas formed July 1, combining the 14 employees from the United Way of Washington County and United Way of Benton County. The group’s $ 4. 5 million fundraising goal, announced earlier this month, is $ 100, 000 less than the separate bodies collected last year. “There is uncertainty at first, but after two or three years, it goes back up,” Darling said. “I’m hopeful that we won’t see that dip, but we aren’t going to raise a lot more money just because we’ve merged together, either.” The United Way of America has never researched the shortterm impact of mergers on contributions, but the national organization is interested in the topic because of the growing number of consolidations among agencies. United Way organizations across the nation are merging in search of the efficiencies found when private companies streamline. United Way of America Vice President Margaux Bergen said 81 agencies have merged since Jan. 1, 2004. Some mergers pulled three or four groups in major metropolitan areas under one umbrella, while others joined two small ones in close proximity."