The foundation of any nonprofit insurance program is General Liability cover- age. General Liability protects your organization if the actions of your employees or volunteers cause an injury to someone or cause damage someone’s property, and you become legally responsible for paying for those injuries or damages.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. Gaps in the Volunteer Protection Laws: Volunteer protection laws can be invalid if you do not have a general liability policy at a specific limit.

2. You have grants or rent venues for events: Most grantors and most venues will require that you have General Liability insurance and name them as an additional insured.

3. People make mistakes: Any one of your employees or volunteers could make a simple mistake that could cause injury or damage for which your organization might be held responsible.

Umbrella insurance provides increased coverage limits over other types of nonprofit liability insurance. It is primarily meant to supplement the limit of your general liability coverage but can also go over your auto liability, directors and officer’s liability, professional liability, or improper sexual conduct liability.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. Required by Funders or Municipalities: Often, third parties will require limits of liability that are more than your basic limits.

2. High Net Worth Board Members: If you have wealthy board mem- bers, they may require that you have increased liability limits so that they can be adequately protected for their service to your organization.

3. Significant Organizational Assets: If your organization has assets more than $1,000,000 (the basic general liability limit), then you need to consider umbrella coverage to protect 100% of your assets.

Nonprofit professional liability insurance provides coverage for claims and lawsuits associated with errors in performing different charitable, professional activities. This would include activities such as teaching, counseling, consulting, and related activities. It is typically not meant to replace errors and omissions coverage for professionals like accountants, lawyers, doctors, or media organizations.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. Professional Services are not black and white: While you might think you are providing the correct professional services most profes- sionally, others may not, and this conflict can cause a claim or lawsuit.

2. People don’t share everything: Counseling or consulting with others on what to do or how to behave can backfire if you are not given all the facts of a particular situation upfront.

3. Teaching is subjective: What and how you teach or provide informa- tion can be misinterpreted, especially by sensitive parents or special needs groups.

Property insurance provides coverage for the loss of or damage to the proper- ty you own. This property can include your building and your organization’s personal property (furniture, equipment, electronics, inventory, etc.), among other things. When considering this coverage, it is vital to have a list of all phys- ical assets, and then make sure the property is accurately valued at the cost to replacement it. Then make sure that you insure your property for its replace- ment cost value. Note that your property coverage can include loss from dis- honest acts of employees or loss from destroyed records.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. You own stuff: If your organization owns any property such as office furniture, computers, tools, and equipment, etc. you want property insurance to replace it in case of theft or fire.

2. Other people own stuff: If your employees regularly use their own property, such as computers, to do business on your behalf you will want to protect their belongings as well, and most property policies provide a sub-limit of coverage for property or others.

3. You own a building: If you own a building, it’s a significant asset and needs to be adequately insured in case of fire or water damage or other covered loss.

Nonprofit volunteer accident insurance provides coverage to volunteers if they are injured, disabled, or die during their service to your organization. The coverage is in addition to the volunteer’s health insurance and covers out-of-pocket expenses such as deductibles and co-payments. Volunteer accident coverage may become the primary coverage if the volunteer does not have health insurance coverage. It can also include coverage for loss of limbs or loss of life.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. Volunteers are not covered by Workers Compensation: Since volunteers aren’t paid they are not usually included on the Workers Comp coverage, but you may still want to provide some help to them if they are hurt (or worse) while working for your organization.

2. Volunteers are a valuable resource: Providing Volunteers with accident coverage shows that you value their contribution to your organization.

3. Not everyone has medical insurance: If an injured volunteer does not have medical insurance, then the accident coverage will pay the medical bills up to a certain amount.

Workers’ Compensation provides coverage for employees in the event of injury, illness, or death. The benefits include medical costs, disability income, death benefits, and job retraining.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. Required by law in most states: Most states have strict workers' compensation laws that require any organization with employees to have Workers Comp coverage.

2. Duty to take care of your employees: If your nonprofit has employees, then you will want to make sure they are taken care of if they are injured or become ill while working for you.

3. Large Claim Amounts: Workers comp claims can be quite large, and direct payment of these claims would put an unnecessary burden on your budget.

Employment practices liability (EPL) insurance covers claims and lawsuits related to harassment, discrimination, wrongful terminations, etc. EPL is not limited to claims just by employees, it usually includes some, if not full, coverage for volunteers and third-party claims as well. This coverage is generally included as part of the nonprofit D&O liability.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. You can’t know everything: Employment law is complicated and tricky. However, part of what you get with Employment Practices Liability is assistance with your employee handbook as well as access to legal help on employment matters.

2. People get mad: Even alleged wrongdoing of discrimination or harassment, etc. can cause a lot of problems within your organization and you want to have a place to turn for immediate help to deal with these situations.

3. Sexual harassment Claims on the rise: Even a mere suggestion of sexual harassment can ruin the reputation of your organization and if this happens you want to be able to respond quickly and with the best legal advice available.

If your organization owns vehicles, then you need Commercial Auto coverage which is essentially the same as what we all buy for our own cars. It may provide coverage for liability only or could also include physical damage (comprehensive and collision) coverage. The liability portion covers damage to other vehicles or property and injury to others for accidents where you are at fault. The physical damage pays for the repair of damage to vehicles owned by your organization.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. You own a vehicle: State laws and lenders mandate coverage on vehi- cles that you own.

2. There will be a claim: Vehicle accidents account for a large number of insurance claims in the United States so, it’s likely that if your organiza- tion owns a vehicle, you will at some point use your auto insurance coverage.

3. Other Services: Your organization might want to take advantage of other services such as driver training and vehicle monitoring programs often provided as part of your commercial auto insurance program.

If your employees or volunteers use their own vehicles on business associated with your organization, this coverage is critical. If someone is driving on behalf of your nonprofit, and they cause an accident, the other people involved may come after your organization for damages to their property or for the cost of medical treatment. Note that the auto coverage that already exists on the employee’s or volunteer’s vehicle will always pay first. And then, if they don’t have enough coverage the organizations Nonowned Auto Liability will kick in.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. Simple Errands: You may not have employees or volunteers driving regularly, but they do probably run errands to the bank or drive to meetings sometimes. If employees or volunteers drive anytime for any reason on behalf of the organization, you are at risk.

2. Excluded from Volunteer Protection Laws: The state and federal volunteer protection laws exclude any claims that deal with vehicles.

3. You need these drivers and their cars: If your organization relies on employees and volunteers using their own vehicles to deliver your ser- vices or transport clients, then this is the only way to be fully protected.

International insurance provides coverage for your operations outside of the United States. The policies usually include a variety of coverages to anticipate a variety of claim circumstances. The coverages can consist of general liability, auto liability, volunteer protection, medical costs, repatriation and kidnap, ransom, and more.

Three reasons  why your Nonprofit needs this coverage:

1. You travel overseas to fulfill your mission: Your general liability may have limited coverage for any claims that arise from your travel to meetings or projects in other countries, so you need International coverage to provide protection.

2. You have permanent operations in another country: If you have continuous operations overseas (e.g., animal sanctuary, clean water project, medical services, etc.) then you need to have a policy that will protect those operations.

3. You have employees stationed in another country: Any American citizens stationed overseas for your nonprofit need to be protected with medical insurance and repatriation options in case they are injured.