United Ways Are More Than Twins In Minnesota.

The United Ways in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minn., are combining to form a new organization, the Greater Twin Cities United Way. If the two organizations had been combined last year, their $88 million would place them fifth among all United Ways, though their population served ranks much lower.

It is believed to be the largest combination of United Ways in the system's history. In their 2000 campaigns, the Minneapolis UW raised approximately $62.5 million; the St. Paul UW raised roughly $25.7 million. Of the 226 agencies the organizations serve, 39 of them were funded by both.

The staffs of both organizations will be combined, along with the administrative services staff that served both and handled the back office work. That will bring the total staff to approximately 175, who will be located in the existing buildings. The new organization may decide to open new office fronts as well, though such ideas are still in nascent stages.

The new board will not be a straight combination of the old boards, which would have numbered more than 100. The new board will number 60-65 people, at least for the first year.

James Colville, the current president of the Minneapolis UW will be the chief executive officer of the new organization. St. Paul UW president, Lauren Segal, will be president and chief operating officer.

The new organization will cover Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Rammsey, Scott, and Washington counties.

Colville said the organizations' leaders had been talking over the past few years about how their communities have been changing, but the volunteer task force was only formed last spring. It was only in the past three to four months the model of a new organization came into play.

The organizations identified a changing environment within the regions they served, not only with their donors often living in one region and working in another but also funded agencies working regionally.

Technology issues and media coverage also played a role in the decision to combine resources. With a single media market covering the region and the way the Internet has effectively eliminated geographic boundaries, Segal said the level of donor involvement and message awareness needed the combined format.

Both Colville and Segal emphasized that this was not a merger, rather a new organization. "It's very important in this community that neither one of us be looked at as a surviving organization," Colville said. "We've got a new structure for our board and executive committees.... It's two equal organizations who were successful beforehand."

The organizations were already trying to be more efficient through shared back office operations, which included its share of challenges as well. Segal characterized the latest move as an effort to be more effective. "All you have to do is sit along the highway and you can see there was donor overlap," she said, noting the tendency of people to not live near where they work. "As they crossed that boundary, we made them choose (which community to support). ... It became difficult to do."

However it is defined, though, combining the entire staffs of two organizations will pose challenges when it comes to developing an organizational culture. The new culture may be challenged slightly by having more than one office, though Segal was hopeful the challenges could be overcome. "Staff has historically traveled between the two for meetings, etc.," she said. "Office space is being provided for staff to work out of when they are in the building that is not their primary location."