United Way History

The organization we know today as United Way began as an effort to coordinate activities among local charitable organizations. The first such activity of which we are aware was held in Denver, Colorado, in 1887 when a priest, two ministers, and a rabbi recognized the need for cooperative action to address their city’s welfare problems. They created the Charity Organizations Society, the first "United Way" organization, to serve as an agent to collect funds for local health and welfare agencies, as well as to coordinate relief services, counsel and refer clients to cooperating agencies, and make emergency assistance grants in cases which could not be referred.

In its first effort, the new organization raised $21,700 in a consolidated fund-raising campaign for 22 agencies operating in Denver.

The idea of a coordinated fund drive for local charities soon spread to other communities. Eventually separate organizations were created in each community to handle the fund raising for the local charitable organizations. These individual organizations would become United Way.

However, United Way is about more than just raising money. Another important aspect is the distribution of the funds. The first program for distributing funds among all charities that participated in a joint fund drive was developed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1913. Similar programs were soon established in other communities. As these early programs grew, they also began setting standards and monitoring the performance of the local charities. Local councils were established to prevent overlapping services and to prohibit multiple solicitations by non-profit organizations.

In 1918, leaders of 12 local fund-raising federations from communities across the nation met in Chicago and formed the first national organization linking these local groups. In 1919, Rochester, New York, first used the name Community Chest, a name then widely adopted by similar organizations in other communities and used until the early 1950s. 

This was followed by great growth in the number of Community Chests. From 39 such organizations in 1919, the number grew to 353 in 1929. By 1948 more than 1,000 communities had established similar organizations. These organizations had different names (including Community Chest and United Fund) before most adopted the name United Way in 1973.

The first social service organization that dealt with human problems in Broome County grew out of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which was first organized in 1891. It was not immediately successful, however, and became inactive after a few years as it did not achieve strong financial support from the community.

After the turn of the century, it was common to see many worn-out horses, which had been used to pull streetcars before the days of electrification, on the streets of Binghamton. Area citizens concerned with the suffering of these animals reinvigorated the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1901.

The members of the society soon noticed that there were also many neglected children in the area, so the Broome County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed in 1902, with the same officers as the animal society. 

It soon became apparent that a merger of the two organizations would be advantageous, so they were consolidated as the Broome County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Animals in 1906.  The work of the society continued to grow and in 1916 its name was changed to the Broome County Humane Society and Relief Association.

By 1918 the Binghamton United Relief Organization had been formed to coordinate fund-raising activities among several local health and human service organizations. The name of the organization was changed to the Character Chest in 1933 and then to the Community Chest in 1939. Five organizations were charter members in 1933. They were Boys Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, and YWCA. Catholic Charities was added to membership in 1938, and Day Nurseries, Girls' Club, and Inter-Racial Association came aboard in 1939. American Civic Association and Family & Children's Service Society joined in 1940.

The change from Character Chest to Community Chest was more than a change in name. The entire organization was changed. The Community Chest membership included the directors of all the member agencies (about 200 people) matched by 200 citizens from the community at large. There were 18 members of the new organization's Board of Directors, six chosen from the member agencies, three chosen from the Council of Social Agencies (a local organization of non-profit organizations, schools, and governmental agencies involved in social work), three members of the campaign committee of the new organization, and six members at large. Care was taken to have a balanced board, with both women and men, as well as religious representation.

New, permanent offices were established for the Community Chest at 63 Court Street (second floor),  Binghamton, in 1939. The office was moved to the tenth floor of the Security Mutual Building about four years later, and then to 32 Henry Street in the early 1950s. 

The first permanent executive secretary, Frank E. Gugelman, was hired in 1941. He served until his death in 1947. William W. Blodgett Jr. was then hired as executive director. He was succeeded by Donald M. Chase as executive secretary in 1949.

Similar Community Chest organizations soon were established in Endicott and Johnson City. The community chests were responsible for fund raising and fund distribution. In 1954, the three community chests were combined into a single countywide organization, Broome County United Fund, and another organization, the Social Planning Council, was established to be responsible for issue assessment, service coordination, and trend analysis. Both organizations shared offices in the American Legion Hall in Johnson City. In April 1959 a new facility, called the Broome United Community Services Center, was opened on Vestal Parkway at Jensen Road in Vestal. This building continues as the offices of United Way today.

In 1973, the United Fund and the Social Planning Council merged and the new name United Way of Broome County was adopted. Donald M. Chase served as executive director of the Broome County United Fund until 1970. F. Arthur Grambling served as executive director from 1971 to 1986, when he was succeeded by John G. Spencer, who served until July 2007. Mark F. Freeh held the executive director position from July 2007 through January 2008. Alan G. Hertel began his duties as executive director in July 2008.

United Way Annual Reports:

Financial Statements, Form 990s, and Other Historical Information

Updated: January 27, 2011