[frogandtoad]

Leaving aside all political or political correctness issues, why would anyone want to give to United Way in the first place. They collect a cut from all donations to finance their operations and high payroll. So, if say, you give $100.00 thru United Way to the red Cross, United Way keeps about 15 to 20 percent, and the red cross only gets 80 to 85 dollars. If you give directly to the Red Cross, not using United Way, the Red cross get the full 100 dollars.

[FreePaul]

In the scenario you mention almost none of your money would go to the Red Cross. The percent of contributions to each recipient is determined ahead of time. If 100% of the contributors designated one agency it wouldn't make any difference. The UF says that they give your contribution to the designee but they don't tell you that they just give more of other's contributions to the rest. They will lie about this if you let them.