When you look at our list of Certified Partner Agencies, you find most of the region’s very best health and human services nonprofits on the roster.

What may not be readily apparent to you is how much work it takes—for the agencies and for us—to compile that list.

We really make agencies jump through hoops to be listed—and they’re willing to do it because being on that list is like having the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

We make them submit their tax returns (IRS Form 990) and their audit reports. They have to give us their board rosters and a list of their board meeting dates.

They have to give us their annual reports so that we can see what services they provide and verify that they really do serve this regional community.

So they have to work hard to fill out their applications, and in turn, we have to work hard to deal with all that paper (sometimes 30 pages or more per agency).

But things have just gotten a lot easier for both the agencies and United Way thanks to a talented group of eight seniors from Sac State’s College of Business Administration, MIS-160 class.

At no cost to United Way, the students made it their senior project to built an online tool that enables the agencies to fill out forms and scan and upload attachments instead of generating piles of paper.

So I want to give a shout out to Ashley Nhan, Bill Her, Brian Hendrickson, Eric Chen, Ruby Chanel, Saleha Hashmat, Tony Chow and Tyler Ha as well as Professor Spiros Velianitis for a great job.

Thanks!