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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, June 3, 2016 | 8 UWO amalgamating with others in Hamilton/Halton by Julia Le Oakville Beaver Staff The Oakville, Milton, Halton Hills, and Burlington & Greater Hamilton United Ways are expected to merge by the end of the summer. In May, each of the boards of directors voted in favour of a plan to create a single United Way that would serve all of Halton and Hamilton. The plan will go before the four organizations' annual general meetings in June for ratification. United Way of Oakville CEO Brad Park said if all goes according to plan, it will become official on paper as of Sept. 1. The four United Ways will then go through a transition phase to prepare for more visible changes in the upcoming year. "For the most part, things will be status quo for our organizations," he told the Oakville Beaver Thursday (June 2). "Campaign 2016, that we're in right now, isn't going to look any different from any past years. It will go forward as any other campaign has and then we'd be looking at creating a united campaign for 2017." The move to merge four United Ways into one is being done in order to be more effective at serving each of the communities, Park explained. "It puts us in a position to have a greater critical mass in order to have a bigger impact in United Way Oakville CEO Brad Park communities," he said. "Right now, resourcing is a huge issue for us. We're really tapped with our resources. We work hard to keep our administrative costs as low as possible, which means we don't have the opportunity to think on a bigger scale. "This new entity would give us the opportunity to have a bigger critical mass, with which we could then really bite into issues in the community because we have the capacity to be able to do it," Park said, noting fundraising teams aren't able to implement some key strategies that could help generate more funds. They don't have the manpower, however, as they move to one entity, a number of positions will become redundant, he explained, and those staff members can be redeployed in other areas where they will be needed. That includes the CEO positions, which he says he and his counterparts will work out to see where each of their skills would best fit in the new organization. "It will give us more opportunity to take staff from just doing an administrative function to being front-facing in the community and work on helping to generate revenue through fundraising or helping with community impact," said Park, adding how more work could be done to properly assess the needs in the community and make sure the organization is meeting those needs. The merger will allow for that to happen. Jeff Vallentin, CEO of United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton, said the organization is excited about finding potential "synergies" amongst the communities. "We have to do some smart work to organize ourselves in such a way that not only can we have the advantage of being a larger, regionwide organization, but that we have all of those deep and meaningful connections locally," he said. Local agencies currently apply separately to each United Way, the largest funder of social service programs in Canada. Vallentin said amalgamation would streamline the workload of Burlington organizations supported by the United Way that operate region-wide. Amalgamation discussions began last year, with support from the national office, said Park, highlighting the United Way Centraide Canada had done its research and found there were benefits in scaling operations to a larger size. He said the idea isn't new. Across North America, United Ways have been joining forces to achieve greater impact in the communities they serve. With each community unique in its own way, Park added dollars raised by each community will continue to stay in that community. Hamilton and Burlington have already been living that mandate as two separate communities operating as one United Way, he noted, and that will be maintained throughout the entire new organization in each community. "I think that's an importance piece for donors and the public to understand," highlighted Park. "This is not going to have any negative impact on the communities. If anything it's going to be a benefit to each community." United Way Milton CEO Kate Holmes echoed Park's sentiments, noting the amalgamation is a positive move. see United on p.13 Open your senses to what others have experienced. Plum'S food ShoP iS now oPen! 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