Maryland County Wants to Cut Ties to United Way

A Maryland county executive, dissatisfied with the United Way’s recent policy changes, wants to break ties with the organization and create a competing fund-raising organization, reports The Sun, in Baltimore.

The United Way of Central Maryland — which runs a campaign to seek money from the county’s workers — has begun focusing on solving specific problems, rather than supporting the wide range of groups it used to finance, says Ken Ulman, Howard County executive.

“There’s just a huge disconnect” between what the United Way wants to support and what local groups say they need, says Mr. Ulman. He suggests that a government charity-drive organization “could have a strong message to the community.”

A spokeswoman for United Way of America told the newspaper that she did not know of another local government that had stopped allowing it to solicit workers. The Maryland United Way affiliate says that group wants to try to work out the disagreement.

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