I'll preface this post by saying that I used to have sentiments much the same as yours.
I spent 4 months working full time at United Way through a development role at my job a few years back. The CEO of United Way of Calgary makes nowhere near that much. If you don't believe me, you should take a quick read through the CRA report:
https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/haip...30229750RR0001
Also, it's important to note, the United Way of Calgary is it's own entity. It's finance and org structure are not related to the United Way of America.
On a related note, their employees really aren't paid very much (like not much at all), considering how much value they deliver. I have first hand experience with this. The link I posted above will corroborate that as well.
There is a ton of misinformation about how the United Way of Calgary is run, and it's pretty disappointing. They work very hard to be low overhead, and do a good job considering how much money they raise. They have a huge impact in our city and re-evaluate their areas of investment every year to make sure they are directing efforts and money to where it can have the greatest impact.
I obviously could go on, but they get my vote (despite the fact that involvement with them is kind of a circle jerk).