CEO Randy Rogers on merger and future of United Way of South Central Indiana

Olivia Franklin
·3 min read

The United Way of Monroe County merged with the United Way of South Central Indiana in September of last year. The two organizations are now operating as United Way of South Central Indiana and will impact Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Orange and Owen counties.

President and CEO of the former United Way of Monroe County, Randy Rogers, continues to be the president and CEO for United Way of South Central Indiana.

Rogers was a student at Indiana University Bloomington in the late 1980s and came back to the Bloomington community in 1995. He then left for Tucson, Arizona, in 2017 for another job. He returned to Bloomington again in mid 2022, excited for his next adventure.

Randy Rogers, president and CEO of United Way of South Central Indiana, talks about merging the Monroe County United Way with others in the region to have one organization serving Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Orange and Owen counties.
Randy Rogers, president and CEO of United Way of South Central Indiana, talks about merging the Monroe County United Way with others in the region to have one organization serving Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Orange and Owen counties.

“I came back to take care of my mother and was like ‘alright what's next?’” Rogers said. “I have a love of community, a love of local and I have a love of serving those who are probably thought of as the underserved because I grew up in that way.”

Rogers took over from Efrat Rosser in October 2022.

“It just so happened that the president and CEO position was open so it was just a great fit,” Rogers said. “Efrat is fantastic and did a great job; she is now a Bloomington Township Trustee so she is still one of our close partners.”

Rogers said growing up he didn't get the newest tennis shoes, but he was never worried that he wouldn’t have shoes. He said it is amazing the little things that can make a huge difference to a family.

“These are families where their kids might have holes in their shoes and they have to make the decision on whether to pay the light bill, feed their kids or buy them new shoes and that's hard on a family,” Rogers said. “If we can figure out ways, collectively with the people in our community, to raise people up, what kind of power would we have in that? It's a pretty cool place to be.”

Rogers said the merger creates a more efficient model for the organization. He said having one organization focused on one area was a challenge.

The office for the United Way of South Central Indiana in Bloomington.
The office for the United Way of South Central Indiana in Bloomington.

“Many of our partner agencies out there were already covering a multi-county region,” Rogers said. “You put all of those pieces together and it just made the right sense at the right time.”

Rogers said one of the things that was important was focusing on the different needs that vary between the counties. He said a question they got a lot from their donors was where their donations would go.

“They have different needs in another county than they might have here,” Rogers said. “There is not a donor that goes by that we can’t easily say ‘your dollars are being impactful where you want your dollars to go.’”

Rogers said he wants the organization to continue to do the good work it has done for years.

“Once the merger was completed we tried looking at big things we could tackle,” Rogers said. “There are so many needs and we can’t tackle them all, but we are in the midst of zeroing in on the ‘poverty to possibly’ mindset.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: CEO shares why merger made sense for United Way of South Central Indiana