By JOHN CARLSON
jcarlson@muncie.gannett.com
Don’t think of giving money to the United Way as a donation.
“That’s not what it is anymore,” said Brent Webster. “It’s an investment.”
As he spoke, the 52-year-old chairman of the 2009 UW campaign was behind the desk in his neatly kept office at First Merchants Insurance Group, where he is a senior vice president.
It’s not news to anyone that these are tough economic times, and that has had an effect on UW’s mission, as well.
“The United Way’s path has become very clearly defined,” Webster said, noting it now aims to address three core issues regarding the needs of the community: health, education and income.
Programs aiding the first two include literacy-building services for students, and the FamilyWize prescription drug discount program, both of which are somewhat self-explanatory.
But income?
The UW’s diligent efforts to help affected families apply for the earned income tax credit puts money in their pockets, money that comes to individuals and is then spent in Muncie and Delaware County. Because of those efforts, refunds from the 2007 tax-year returns that were prepared here at volunteer tax-prep sites totaled $1,460,437 — a $387,979 increase over the 2006 tax year, the chairman noted.
It’s meat-and-potatoes stuff.
“I mean, these are basic needs,” Webster said. “The bar is set at a different level now.”
A Muncie native and Northside High School graduate, Webster earned a degree with majors in history and political science from Ball State University in 1979. He and his wife, Leslie, have two children, Suzanne, a student at IUPUI, and Sean, a student at Purdue.
That the family now calls Muncie home is the result of another level of investment they chose to make.
Early on, the couple lived in Connecticut, where Webster joined the slowly-commuting hordes to New York City, first to work for the Lord & Taylor department store chain and then to Aetna, where he became involved in an insurance underwriting program.
Later he shortened his commute, going to work for underwriting giant Marsh and McLennan in Stamford.
He was living and working in the heart of his industry when a call from the local Morrison Galliher agency offered him a chance to move his family home, where his roots go back to 1832.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to make this lifestyle change,” Webster said, adding that wasn’t their only consideration. “You’re hoping that you’re bringing something back into the community, based on your experience.”
It was 2006 when he was recruited by First Merchants, and 2008 when he filled a vacancy as first vice chairman of the UW campaign. That was a tough year to raise money, and the natural progression through UW’s ranks meant he’d be the chairman of the equally-tough 2009 campaign, but that was fine with him.
“When else would you do it?” Webster asked, calling his fellow volunteers a cadre of “top-notch” individuals. “There’s a need, and if you believe in coming home and giving something back, then you shouldn’t step away from the challenge.”
As he expected, this campaign hasn’t been easy.
Still, when the results are officially reported on Dec. 1, he thinks it will have reached its $2.1 million goal.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said, noting that new and increased contributions this year are being matched dollar-for-dollar up to $304,000 with funds from the Community Foundation of Muncie & Delaware County and the Indiana Association of United Ways.
“This is a little bonus, in addition to the normal campaign,” explained Webster, whose interests away from work and the UW include golf, photography and practicing the Korean martial art known as tae-kwon-do.
The fate of those funds is set.
“They’ll go to those partner agencies that have the greatest impact,” the chairman said. “We’re trying to affect change within the community to those who need it most.”
These days, he added, folks might be surprised by the people UW helps.
“They themselves, or people they know, might have to go to one of the partner agencies that we fund,” he said.
He also likened UW’s assistance to the improvements resulting from federal stimulus funds.

“We’re trying to make a change in the social infrastructure, in the human infrastructure.” Webster said.