The Future of United Way

Abstract

The nationwide United Way (UW) movement is widely seen as the quintessence of organized voluntarism in America. The UW's general acceptance and continuing local operation in more than 2,300 communities during the past ninety years seems to be grounded upon several basic values, of which the concept of "One Gift" appears to be the most fundamental. One Gift includes the related goals of maximizing feasible federated fund raising and eventual consolidation and reduction of local philanthropic drives. In the context of a theoretical approach to the UW as a social structure, this paper examines available evidence bearing upon the degree to which these goals were achieved between 1964-76. Forces influencing goal achievement are identified and discussed. Implications are drawn from the results applicable to future prospects for the UW movement, locally and nationally.