Insurance and Policies

When starting an organization, there are many policies to craft and organizational decisions to be made such as what types of insurance to carry. On this page, you will find anecdotes and tips from others who have been in your situation.

Liability Insurance

• Our liability insurance is through a group and specific for nonprofits. You can access their website here which also includes other helpful links.

• Our organization just received a 501(c)(3) status in March and we elected to purchase Directors and Officers insurance immediately. However, our insurance agent did not think it was necessary until we actually began spending the organization’s money. As it turned out we immediately received a donation to fund a research project so in our case we were glad we took the route we did. Our policy is through Traveler’s Insurance and it cost about $900 a year.

Examples of Liability Insurance Companies for Non-Profits

There are many places where non-profits can find insurance:

• Nonprofits' Insurance Alliance of California - One of the major liability insurance providers for California-based non-profits

Do you know of volunteer service efforts being cut or limited due to insurance demands?

Are you aware of any self-help group that has been hurt or possibly destroyed by insurance demands being placed on their community volunteer efforts? While traditional volunteer service programs are uneffected because hospitals and agencies provide insurance for their volunteers, we sense an increasing number of volunteer-run self-help support groups are now being blocked from using public, government or church/temple meeting room space, or doing volunteer work at such sites because they are being told they must produce proof of their having their own insurance coverage.

If you know of instances where volunteer service efforts (including running self-help support groups) are being cut back or eliminated because of insurance or related demands, kindly consider adding your story about how insurance demands are harming volunteer intiatives at: http://www.energizeinc.com/hot/2010/10aug.html From www.selfhelpgroups.org

D & O Insurance

With limited budgets and perhaps all volunteer staff, groups sometimes wonder if D & O insurance is a necessary expense. Many groups have shared that it seems like a necessary expense regardless of the size of the organization and number of people on staff. Some individuals won't join a board unless the organization carries this insurance. For organizations that operate in a state that is different from where they incorporated, they've been able to purchase D & O insurance from a local insurance company.