Two of the Pittsburgh region’s largest United Way chapters have merged and have a new name, but they do not serve Butler County.

On July 1 the United Way of Allegheny County announced its merger with the United Way of Westmoreland County. The unified organization is the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The new organization will serve Westmoreland, Allegheny and Fayette counties, and communities in southern Armstrong County including Freeport, Apollo, Leechburg and Parks Township.

Bobbi Watt Geer, the head of the Westmoreland chapter, and the new organization’s regional vice president, said the move would allow the organizations to “achieve greater impact in each local community.”

The chapters said local donations will remain in their respective communities, and community volunteers will continue to make decisions about how to best direct local funds.

Allegheny County’s United Way chapter said in June that it had raised nearly $34.7 million. The Westmoreland chapter reported raising nearly $3.7 million last year.

The Butler chapter reported raising about $1 million in its 2015 campaign.

The organizations said the process of merging their operations would continue throughout the year, and that the chapters’ county names would continue to be used during that period.

The Butler and Washington county chapters of the United Way appealed the unified chapters’ name choice, but they were denied by United Way Worldwide.

Kierston Hobaugh, the executive director of the Butler chapter, declined to comment on the appeal. Washington County United Way President Barbara Murphy did not return messages.

Eileen Lin, a spokesman for United Way Worldwide, said in an e-mail that the merging organizations were required to solicit feedback from neighboring United Way chapters during the name change process. The United Way licensing agreement requires that organizations’ names include a geographic qualifier.

She said the new organization would be required to include information on the counties it serves in “all communications likely to extend beyond its territory of service.”

Lin did not respond to questions about the appeals process or why the Butler and Washington chapters’ appeal was denied.

Geer declined to comment on the concerns of other United Way chapters in the region. She said the newly unified chapter would focus on being clear about whom it serves.

“We’re the United Way, and we want everyone to be successful,” she said.