Does the United Way have too much influence?

I know that it is an umbrella organization that has ties to a lot of local charitable organizations and from the little I know about them, they do a lot of good work. I went to their Web site and without paying anything or signing up for anything, I got a list of local charities.

The problem is that in many ways they seem to be treated like the only game in town. There are a lot of companies that offer their employees automatic paycheck deductions for donations to the United Way. I worked for a time as civil servant for the Federal government and was surprised that they worked with the United Way, particularly since the Salvation Army was listed among the charities covered.

Any concentration of power has to be looked at with skepticism. Is the United Way too powerful? Are there ever problems with them not sponsoring a particular charitable organization? If you donate through the United Way, how much of a cut do they get?