Is your organization planning on making a difference in the community in 2010? The United Way certainly is and may be able to help.

United Way of the River Cities, an organization that impacts thousands of lives in the Tri-State in a myriad of ways, will conduct an applicant workshop on Friday from 9 to 11 a.m. at the United Way office, 820 Madison Ave.

All applicants must be human service non-profit organizations, in good standing with federal and state law, that operate in Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln and Mason counties in W.Va. and Lawrence County in Ohio.

Agencies that are not currently funded partners may apply for United Way support but must do so collaboratively with a current United Way funded partner.

Anyone interested in attending must register in advance by contacting Laura Gilliam at laura.gilliam@unitedwayrivercities.org or calling 304-523-8929 ext. 1.

Do you want to know where the United Way spends its money? Just look around.

The United Way provides funding to countless local projects including the Boy Scouts, Special Olympics, the Ironton City Welfare Mission and the Chesapeake Community Center, just to name a few.

This is a great opportunity for service organizations who are looking to do more good in the community to potentially get the funding to make that possible.

For those already funded by the United Way, this workshop can help provide a refresher course on the requirements needed. For those not funded, it will be important to find a partner organization that is so that by working together everyone can make a difference and make the Tri-State a better place to live.

Part of the organization’s mission statement is simple: “United Way garners resources — human and financial — and directs them to the organization, initiative or collaborative partnership that best addresses our area’s most pressing problems.”

Many organizations work hard on this. All of them need to work smart together.