United Way of Howard County volunteers have started their busiest weeks of the year, the organization’s president said.

A little more than halfway through the nonprofit’s Live United fundraising campaign, which annually runs from September to November, volunteers will have to close a 30 percent gap to catch up.

But that gap should close within the next two or three weeks, said Lori Tate, president of the local chapter.

As of last week, the United Way’s loaned associates — employees of Howard County businesses and union members who have been loaned to the nonprofit during the campaign — had collected about 20 percent of the $1.5 million goal.

Almost half the money raised so far came from the campaign’s 16 Pacesetters, which pledged money in August.

“We’re still optimistic the goal we’ve set was pretty reasonable,” Tate said.

The United Way lowered its goal after last year when the fundraiser fell short, collecting $1.75 million of its $2 million mark.

The campaign should be back on track once the loaned associates finish accounts with the campaign’s three largest contributors, which the United Way expects to account for more than half the total donations, Tate said. The fundraisers begin working today with Chrysler Group LLC, Delphi Automotive LLP and Haynes International Inc.

Last year, the three companies donated a total of a little more than $1 million, which accounted for about 57 percent of the campaign’s total earnings. At $531,000, Chrysler donated the most.

“With the larger accounts starting a little bit later than usual, that obviously has impacted [the current total],” Tate said.

The collections start slow every year because the loaned associates spend the first weeks setting up accounts before they go in and start making presentations and gathering pledges, she said.

Whether Chrysler, Delphi and Haynes donate as much as previous years will depend largely on their own financial forecasts, Tate said.

“I wish I had a crystal ball,” she said, adding on it is too early to tell how much United Way will receive from the three businesses.

She would not comment on which companies United Way expected to donate more than last year and which would, at best, break even.

About the time the three accounts close, the United Way’s allocations committee will begin hearings with its 15 agencies to determine how much each of them will receive for 2010.

“If we make goal, if we’re over goal, if we’re under goal, they’ll make contingencies,” Tate said.

If allocations decrease, the news would come in a year where the agencies have already had a 34 percent cut in United Way funding, but they have seen about a 30 percent increase in demand for their services.

Jamey Henderson, executive director for Samaritan Caregivers, a United Way agency, said the organization has planned a “conservative” budget to compensate for a shortfall. United Way funding accounts for about 25 percent of Samaritan Caregivers’ budget, she said.

The organization, which provides free services to the elderly, ill and disabled, has become more conscious about how it spends its money, Henderson said. But it will wait to see if the United Way campaign falls short before it cuts anything.

“It would certainly depend on the severity of the reduction,” she said. “... We are such a small organization. So many of our staff wear so many different hats already. For us, it would be using some of our financial resources we [have set aside for this.] We had made provisions for investments that have been working for us and will help to offset that shortfall.”

A shortfall with the United Way campaign could affect old and young alike.

Ed Caldwell, the executive director for the Kokomo office of the Boy Scouts of America, said the United Way funds about 15 percent of the organization’s budget. But there is a “plea for help” to keep the Boy Scouts from cutting services to an estimated 2,000 children, he said.

“Everybody is tightening their belts,” Caldwell said. “Earlier this year, we cut a staff position.”

Henderson said Samaritan Caregivers would not have been able to operate without the United Way’s funding.

“There were days in the past for this organization that our doors would certainly have swung closed had it not been for the generosity of the people of Howard County through the United Way,” she said.

• Daniel Human is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He can be reached at 765-454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com.