The United Ways in the eight county region of greater Tampa Bay began meeting together informally several years ago to share experiences and look for opportunities to work together. After several gatherings, the United Way of Sarasota and United Way of Tampa Bay expressed a desire to formalize the conversations. Two years ago, we formed a Regional Task Force to explore the potential for a new regional structure.

Effective July 1, 2012, United Way of Sarasota County and United Way of Tampa Bay will merge to form a new United Way - United Way Suncoast – serving DeSoto, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and north Sarasota Counties. The new model centralizes the infrastructure functions of United Way, and preserves local program and resource development oversight.

Yes. United Way of South Sarasota County and United Way of Manatee County were also invited to participate in the exploration and design of a United Way model that would work for the region south of Tampa Bay. United Way of Manatee County made a significant investment of time to consider the opportunity, but decided not to be part of the consolidation at this time. Other United Ways in the region have been aware of the regional discussions, but were not active participants in the discussions that led to this merger.

Each United Way has to make that decision for its own community and organization. The operating model being implemented does have the flexibility to accommodate additional business units in the future if there is interest.

We made the decision to merge because we believe we can better advance our mission by working together across county boundaries on a day-to-day basis. We know the things we have in common far outweigh our differences – our shared business base; the live/work/play patterns of our citizens; and media and economic development markets that draw us together. Our goal is to help more people, deliver high quality programs, and leverage all available resources to address the education, income and health priorities of our communities. We think we can do that best, together.

1. Increased effectiveness – more capacity to deliver on the mission.
2. Demonstrate leadership – present a shared vision that goes beyond county boundaries.
3. Increased policy impact – working together to influence local, state, and national policy with a larger voice.
4. Mobilize regional response – in the event of a natural disaster/emergency.
5. Reduce duplication/confusion for donors – provide a consistent and seamless experience; acknowledge live/work patterns of individuals and larger footprint of corporate partners.
6. Maximize revenue – increase ability to generate more money by sharing expertise in critical areas of fundraising, and leverage all resources from all donor groups.
7. Increase efficiency – consolidate back office functions to direct more resources to the mission.
8. Promote the brand – elevate a consistent United Way brand across media markets.
9. Advance presence – position United Way in size and scale with other regional partners to advance the mission.
10. Build staff capacity – greater opportunities for career development/advancement and other benefits for the professionals who serve our organizations.

Suncoast is a common general reference to the west central coast of Florida. Our communities are different, but we wanted a name that could bring us together with focus on the new identity of a new United Way. We think Suncoast does that.

United Way of Sarasota County currently has 7 employees, funds 28 Partner Agencies, and raises approximately $3M annually. United Way of Tampa Bay currently has 53 employees, funds 65 Partner Agencies, and raises approximately $23M annually. Together, we are a United Way of 60 employees, funding almost 100 Partner Agencies, and raising more than $26M annually – positioning us as one of the top 40 United Ways across the country.

Both United Ways have aligned with the United Way Worldwide priorities for Education, Income and Health. It is our intention to develop strategic plans for the region in all functional areas, and then to implement, as appropriate, in the local community.

No. Current staff will all be part of the initial integration. Some job responsibilities may change, but layoffs are not expected.

Partner Agencies, and the funding decisions related to them, will continue to be made at the local level. Over time, there may be some process and priority changes as we work across the region to identify common issues and the best strategies to address them. Partner Agencies will be asked to provide input to that planning and will know what to expect all along the way.

Volunteer officers of the United Way Suncoast Board of Directors are:

Gary Sasso (Carlton Fields), Chair

William Merrill (Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timms, Furen & Ginsberg), Vice Chair

Robert Dutkowsky (Tech Data), Secretary

Robert Lane, (Kerkering Barberio), Treasurer

Diana Baker will serve as President/CEO of United Way Suncoast. Leadership will be provided in Sarasota/DeSoto by Katie Knight, Sarasota Area President, and in Hillsborough/Pinellas by Emery Ivery, Tampa Bay Area President.

Brian Deming, Family First
Rae Dowling, Florida Power
Mark Fernandez, Tampa Bay Rays
Kimberly Hopper, Regions Bank
Michael Lewis, Progress Energy
Stephen Mason, BayCare Health Systems
Gwen Mitchell, Deloitte
Peter Norden, Clear Channel Radio
Paul Reilly, Raymond James Financial
Stuart Rogel, Tampa Bay Partnership
Joe Taylor, Publix Super Markets
Daniel Vigne, Sabadell Bank
David Walker, Community Volunteer

The operating model we have implemented requires a strong local presence and the active engagement of local leadership. Each business unit will maintain an office, staff, and a local Area Board to ensure the full and active participation and representation of the communities we serve.

Area Boards can have up to 25 members and their primary responsibilities will be to lead the development of community impact initiatives/partnerships/programs and the resource development strategies to support that work. Local Area Board members will continue to be the champions for United Way in the local communities, participate fully in the development of regional strategic planning, and ensure the effective implementation of those plans at the local level. There will be 17 members of the United Way Suncoast Board of Directors who will have legal governance and fiscal responsibilities on behalf of the entire organization. Each Area Board appoints three representatives to serve on the Board of Directors, to ensure effective communication between the Board of Directors and the Area Boards.

United Way Suncoast will operate with a “funds raised here, stays here” philosophy. Funds coming in and going out from each business unit will be accounted for and reported regularly to the Board of Directors and Area Boards. Unless otherwise directly by the donor, resources will be used to benefit the community of origin. Area Boards will set revenue targets, recruit campaign and other fund raising leadership, conduct fundraising events, and report fund raising results for their respective areas.

The current United Ways have different revenue generating strengths. We expect that the sharing of experience, best practices, and staff/volunteer support across the region will have a positive impact on several areas, including: grants development, major gift/planned giving, and residential/individual gifts.

Yes. All donor intent (past, present, and future) will be honored. United Way Suncoast will also work to generate funds for use, as needed, across the region, but never in opposition to donor intent or interest.

There will be some obvious savings resulting from the elimination of duplication of systems or services (i.e. audit), but unlike some for-profit mergers, our primary interest is to reduce expenses where we can and redeploy those resources into community initiatives/programs. We may not spend less money, but we will invest our limited resources differently.

No. There may be some immediate and one-time expenses related to the integration of systems, etc., but administrative costs are not expected to change any more than they would for any local United Way.

There is a strong commitment to maintain the local presence, local leadership, and local perspective in the operating model we have designed. As long as the community wants and supports the local aspects of the model, we don’t see that going away. The Board of Directors will always be open to the changing needs of the organization and the communities being served and respond accordingly.