Michael K. Durkin, president and CEO of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, told a gathering of community bankers Wednesday that efforts should be made to find homes for the poor and disadvantaged.

Durkin delivered the keynote speech at Banker & Tradesman’s first annual Community Bank Heroes awards dinner at the Hyatt in downtown Boston.

He told the bankers, their families, friends and colleagues, that shuttling the homeless from shelter to shelter was counterproductive. The United Way, he said, is researching ways to find permanent homes for people who would otherwise move four or five times a year, tearing out whatever fragile roots their children may have put down in local schools.

Durkin also said, to the mild astonishment to those in attendance, that there are currently about 40,000 nonprofit agencies in Massachusetts. There should be fewer, he said. Agencies with very specific or niche missions should be rolled into broader organizations with greater resources anytime their missions overlap.

Durkin recognized the role community banks play in funding, supporting and participating in social service and other civic activities.

The awards event honored 16 community bankers nominated by their peers for the civic work they do outside their banks.