Our Merger

Team Members missing from the photo: Ronald Bianchi, David Kennedy, Carlos Mello, Matthew Miklave, Esq., and Tom Williams.

In March 2007, the boards of the United Way of Westport-Weston and the United Way of Eastern Fairfield County each voted to authorize the Chairman of the Board and the Chief Professional Officer of both organizations to sign a letter of intent to merge the two organizations and to form a steering committee to initiate the merger process.

In May 2007, a Memorandum of Understanding was ratified and signed by both boards. The Memorandum of Understanding stated:   “The United Way of EasternFairfieldCounty and the United Way of Westport - Weston agree that it is in the interest of their respective service areas to combine efforts to broaden the impact of the organizations to better serve the communities of Bridgeport, Fairfield, Monroe, Trumbull, Stratford, Easton, Westport and Weston.”
A joint Transition Team was formed, with representation from both organizations, to accomplish the following objectives:

• We must create an environment of collaboration, respect, and trust
• We must develop a common vision
• We must create a transition plan and timeline

The role of the Transition Team was to make recommendations relating to strategic goals, governance, mission, vision, timeline, and to coordinate all subcommittees to ensure that everything fits together.

Several subcommittees were identified. These committees were to study and bring recommendations to the Transition Team relating to the creation of a new United Way. Subcommittees included: Governance, Community Impact, Finance, Human Resources, and Legal.

The Transition Team met every two weeks to create the recommendations relating to the merger. The meetings were facilitated by Brian Baxendale, whose guidance and wisdom have been invaluable during this process. All those involved are extremely grateful for his contribution.