Members of the United Way Ottawa vote on a review at a general meeting Tuesday evening. CBC

The United Way of Ottawa said it will review how it funds community agencies, after several groups complained of changes in the funding process.

About 400 people crowded the charitable foundation's annual general meeting on Tuesday evening, with many in the room calling for more clarity on how the United Way makes its decisions about who gets money.

The United Way announced in April it would spend close to $6 million this year on 116 agencies. Since that announcement, the agency has faced criticism for changes in its approach that cut funding to dozens of groups, including Big Brother Big Sisters Ottawa, Citizen Advocacy and Planned Parenthood.

The United Way shifted to a system that required agencies submit competitive request-for-proposals and moved towards more measurable results.

"I think that the narrowing of focus around priorities, is something that has resulted in some challenges for many agencies who are providing needed services," said Marion Wright with the Alliance to End Homelessness.

Dick Stewart, speaking on behalf of a group of United Way members calling themselves Ottawa Community Action, said his group wanted the United Way to explain itself.

"There's quite a bit of money, $5.5 million that is in the United Way's own budget, and we want some transparency in how those funds are allocated," said Stewart.

Stewart's group had called for a full review of internal spending and the funding process, but members instead chose a review that looked only at the funding process.

Though it stops short of what Stewart's group wanted, board member Lawrence Greenspon said the review would be a step towards becoming more transparent.

"We don't want to go to square one and review how we came to all of these priority goals, but we do want to look at the process and look at how we can enhance it," said Greenspon.

"People who have been adversely affected by the United Way funding process hopefully will be brought in under the tent with us," he said.

"We want to work with these agencies and with the various services and programs that they provide we want to be able to assist them and we want to be able to do our work in a way that makes our community better," he said.