Niagara’s United Way agencies to merge

Niagara’s three United Way agencies will be doing it the united way.

On Thursday, United Ways of St. Catharines and District, South Niagara and Niagara Falls and Greater Fort Erie announced they intend to merge into a single agency.

Merger talks began in March, said Peter Partridge, president of the St. Catharines United Way.

“Our goal is to create a single, strong United Way that will enhance local relevance throughout the entire Niagara region,” he said in an emailed statement Thursday.

The agencies believe the merger will enhance their fundraising capability across the region.

“Poverty does not know boundaries,” Partridge said.

“A broader vision of a single United Way in the Niagara region will result in ensuring that funding goes to those most in need.”

In an emailed statement, Karen Zanuto, president of United Way Niagara South, said the merged agency would not reduce the size of its collective workforce.

The three agencies also say that amalgamation “will provide stronger, more focused fundraising efforts and a more efficient manner of requesting funding, managing the fund allocation process, and generally managing their relationship with the United Way.”

The merger is not expected to impact any funding commitments each agency has already made, Jeff Klassen, president of the United Way of Niagara Falls and Greater Fort Erie said in a statement.

The annual fundraising campaigns for all three agencies are underway and will not be impacted by the merger, said a United Way release.

Each year, United Ways raise money that is then distributed to local agencies to help people in need. Last year, the three agencies raised more than $5.2 million.

Until the amalgamation is complete, the day-to-day operations of the agencies will continue as normal.

The merger is expected to be completed sometime in the spring of 2018. glafleche@postmedia.com twitter.com/grantrants