Where to Find Help With Year-2000 Problems
December 3, 1998 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Non-profit organizations interested in learning more about how to cope with problems that could arise because of computers that malfunction when handling dates in 2000 and beyond have many places to turn. Among the World-Wide Web sites that offer advice:
ALSO SEE:
Foundations’ Year-2000 Dilemma: Stick With Stocks, or Cash Out of the Market?
Year 2000: a True Emergency for Charities
The Cassandra Project,
created by Paloma O’Riley, a Colorado activist, seeks to raise public awareness about the year-2000 bug, monitor government activities, and serve as a clearinghouse for information about cities and counties that have taken steps to prepare for civil emergencies (http://cassandraproject.org/home.html).
CompuMentor expects by early next month to offer on its Web site a primer to help non-profit organizations determine the readiness of their own computer hardware and software for the next millennium (http://www.compumentor.org).
The Nathan Cummings Foundation has prepared a report on a socially responsible way for non-profit organizations to prepare for disruptions in computer-reliant systems (http://www.ncf.org/ncf/publications/reports/y2k/intro/intro_contents.html). The Cummings Foundation has also helped finance the publication by the magazine Utne Reader of a “Y2K Citizen’s Action Guide.” The publication will be available in bookstores starting this month; an on-line version is available at http://www.utne.com/y2k.
Electronic Data Systems Corporation lists statements from many computer software and hardware companies about whether their products are affected by the year-2000 bug (http://vendor2000.com).
Gifts In Kind International posts the charity’s own plan for dealing with problems caused by the millennium change, which it suggests that other groups might want to adapt for their own use. Visitors to the Web site may also participate in a survey of non-profit groups’ awareness of and preparation for year-2000 problems (http://www.giftsinkind.org).
Independent Sector lists some “Key Questions Every Philanthropic Leader Should Consider,” and provides links to other useful sites (http://www.indepsec.org/y2k.html).
Rx2000 Solutions Institute provides information about how health-care institutions are coping with the problem (http://www.rx2000.org).
United Way of America offers a “Year 2000 Technical Guide” to help local United Ways and other non-profit groups assess their risks and consider various ways to cope with them (http://www.unitedway.org/year2000). An appendix lists whether fund-raising software companies and other corporations that sell equipment or services to non-profit groups say that they have fixed the computer bug.
Year 2000 Information Center for the Cultural Community details the potential impact of the computer bug on arts and cultural organizations (http://www.ramanet.net/index.html).
