The United Way of Butler County is feeling upbeat about having been able to re-establish a fundraising campaign cabinet whose members will concentrate on different segments of potential giving such as manufacturing, health care and the education and legal professions.

The United Way had such a cabinet years ago, but that fundraising component fell apart as people left it and United Way was unable to find replacements.

The new cabinet currently boasts about 35 members, some of whom already have begun work in their targeted areas.

The annual campaign that began in September will continue until June. The effort seeks to raise $1.5 million, $200,000 more than the $1.3 million raised in last year’s campaign.

It’s good that the local united giving agency has been able to resurrect an asset that campaigns in many other places regard as indispensable. However, the local agency also should look at — and seriously evaluate the workability of — other opportunities that have worked in other United Way campaigns.

One of them is the timing of the local fundraising effort.

Lackwanna County’s United Way campaign starts in May and ends at Thanksgiving. Could a similar campaign schedule in Butler County help the local campaign meet or exceed its goal — an accomplishment that has not happened here for about a decade?

Regardless of the success of this year’s campaign, local United Way officials should consider a different campaign calendar for next year, even if it’s only pegged as a one-, two- or three-year experiment initially.

Keeping the united giving effort outside the window of the end-of-year holidays would avoid interruptions, distractions and financial obligations that have the potential to send the campaign off-track for weeks, or even a couple of months.

At this time of the year, most people direct their spending toward the holidays. Meanwhile, in the first month or two of the new year, many people concentrate on paying holiday bills — so there might be reluctance or an inability to contribute to United Way at that time.

Therefore, keeping the annual fundraising effort outside the three or four months’ impact of the holidays, when various other worthy charities, including the Salvation Army, are seeking support for their good works, might be a benefit to the United Way.

It’s worth an experiment.

Meanwhile, the local United Way always should be looking for previously untried ways to raise additional money. Could Monroe County’s example of a roast of a local personality, business owner or elected official work to the local United Way’s fundraising advantage?

United Way and the good work that it supports should be visible all year long.

It’s troubling that United Way of Butler County has failed to hit a campaign goal for so long — especially considering the county’s significant growth during the same time period.

Based on that growth, this county should be able to generate $2 million easily for the United Way and, in fact, should not view a $3 million goal as being beyond reach.

But the United Way effort here hasn’t mustered the kind of concerted effort capable of reaching such goals. Perhaps the resurrection of the fundraising cabinet is a first step in that direction.

— J.R.K.