United Way officials again talk of bridging the bay

Pinellas and Hillsborough branches will look at how cooperation can improve service efficiency.

By JOUNICE L. NEALY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 6, 2001

They paint houses on the same day, clean up yards on the same day and even recognize big donors in the same way.

Maybe one day, the United Way in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties will do everything together.

Regularly, the two sides talk philosophically about merging. Within the past couple of months such discussions have arisen again.

"I think bottom line is it's always going to come down to what's best for the communities," said Kim Scheeler, president of the United Way of Hillsborough County. "Our charge is to make the greatest impact we can on our communities, so anything we can do to give more money and (provide) more opportunities" the agencies will do it, he said.

One of the things that the possible merger focuses on is operating efficiently. Would it be easier for one agency to manage mammoth fundraising efforts across the Tampa Bay area? Would businesses with locations on both sides of the bay be better served by one operation?

Past talks about merging, which date back to at least 1990, have led to collaborating on several events.

For example, with the two United Ways having their Day of Caring on the same day, it cuts down on publicizing two different days' events and asking companies to dispatch volunteers on different days.

The two groups also have joined to publish a yearbook, with names and photographs, of contributors who give at least $1,000. They share the printing costs and get wider distribution than if either does it alone. Pasco County has even asked to join on that project.

Along those lines of collaboration, Scheeler said, the two sides are exploring whether they can fuse "back office operations," such as administrative work, pledge processing and computer systems.

"We've been talking to Pinellas about ways to work on this stuff. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. We haven't really gotten into specific conversations," Scheeler said.

United Way mergers happen around the country, and "and normally the driving forces are proximity and efficiency," said Ted Granger, president of United Way of Florida.

But "the thing that keeps United Ways from merging is the uniqueness of the communities that they're in. There's a difference in the communities that makes them unique with a need for different strategies and approaches," Granger said.

Should Pinellas and Hillsborough counties ever merge, they would follow several other Florida counties that merged in the 1990s.

Volusia and Flagler counties teamed up in 1996. For years, Volusia County was providing administrative support for the smaller Flagler County operations for a fee. Flagler was spending a good part of its fundraising to pay Volusia for the work, according to Susan Moore, vice president of the United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties.

"So our merger was also talked about for many many years and probably in the early days (it was) very emotional for the United Way of Flagler to give up what they thought might be their autonomy," Moore said. "In the broader sense, the economies of scale and relationships were the same," she said, meaning they had many of the same donors and social service agency providers.

In 1990, Okaloosa added Walton County, where there was no United Way previously, said Bill Robinson, president of the United Way of Okaloosa and Walton Counties.

"It has helped us fund our agencies better," Robinson said. "Our agencies are better able to provide services knowing there is a geographic link between the two counties. It might not (work) for others. It's going to depend on the willingness of the citizens and what their desires were."

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