<font color="blue"> but do you think the United Way is too much of a bureaucacy?</font>
In my opinion, the two major items with a charity are;
1. Do you approve/agree with the service they are providing.
2. How much of every dollar you give, gets to the recipient.
The amount a charity employee makes isn't as important to me as Item 2. If the charity's 'pass thru' drops below 80 - 85%, I begin to look elsewhere. I used to think 85 - 90%, but many charities are involved in labor intensive activities, e.g., counseling, which can drive the administrative overhead up. Additionally, many charities are responsible for dealing with a lot of money, i.e., six to seven figure (or more) annual budget, which requires someone with the right skills to lead. In many localities, you are not going to find the right people to do this for a $50,000 - $100,000 salary.
And as Mossroad mentioned, local UWs can vary both in administrative overhead as well as which local charities they direct your donations to. They may be directing money to local charities that you wouldn't give to directly. It pays to investigate.