Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group

Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group

Industry	Financial Services
Founded	1989
Headquarters	Santa Cruz, California, United States
Area served	32 states and Washington D.C.
Key people	Pamela Davis, Founder, President and CEO
Products	Liability and Property Insurance
Total assets	$415 million USD[1]
Number of employees	90
Website	insurancefornonprofits.org

The Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group is a group of cooperative nonprofit insurance organizations that provide liability insurance to 16,000 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in the United States. The Group is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best and operates in 32 states and Washington D.C.^[2]

Mission and Services

The Nonprofit Insurance Alliance Group's mission is to serve 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organizations by providing a stable source of reasonably priced liability insurance tailored to the specialized needs of the nonprofit sector, and to assist these organizations to develop and implement successful loss control and risk management programs. The slogan for the Group is, “A Head for Insurance, a Heart for Nonprofits.”

The Group's insurance coverages include General Liability, Directors and Officers, Flat Rate D&O, Improper Sexual Conduct, Social Service Professional, Employee Benefits Liability, Business Auto, Non-Owned/Hired Auto, Umbrella Liability, Auto Physical Damage, Employee Dishonesty, Commercial Property, and Participant/Volunteer Accident.^[3]

History

Pamela Davis, the Group's Founder, President and CEO, was a graduate student at UC Berkeley during the liability insurance crisis of the 1980's, when insurance companies raised their premiums drastically, reduced their coverages, and left some segments of the market, including many nonprofits, completely uncovered.^[4] Davis' master's thesis, documented how the insurance crisis was harming nonprofit organizations and in some cases even putting them out of business. In 1987, she testified before the California General Assembly that:

Between 1984 and 1986, general liability insurance premiums increased 200 percent or more for one out of four charitable nonprofit organizations in California. During that same period, insurance companies canceled or refused to renew the general liability policies of one out of five California charitable nonprofits. Some important human service programs, such as childcare, foster care, group homes and health service were forced to dramatically cut services or close because they couldn’t find affordable insurance.^[5]

Based on her research, Davis was convinced that conventional insurers did not fully understand insurance risk in the nonprofit sector, so she set out to create a nonprofit risk pool that could better meet the needs of nonprofits in California.^[6] In 1989, Davis secured $1.3 million in loans from nonprofit partners and foundations to create the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC), the first and largest company in the Group.^[7]

Over the next decade, NIAC grew to serve thousands of nonprofits, but its operations were limited to the state of California. In order to replicate the NIAC model nationwide, Davis secured $5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $5 million from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation to found the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group (ANI).^[8][9]

Companies in the Group

The Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group is composed of four nonprofit organizations:^[10]

• Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC): provides liability insurance to nonprofits in California.
• Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group (ANI): provides liability insurance to nonprofits with operations outside of California.
• National Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance (NANI): provides property reinsurance.
• Alliance Member Services (AMS): provides support to the other companies in the Group and their partner programs.

Press Coverage

Coverage of the Nonprofit Insurance Alliance Group's work includes:

• "Ten Questions for the CEO.” The Nonprofit Times: Exempt Magazine (May 2016)
• "How Insurance for Nonprofits Has Changed for the Better." Insurance Journal (March 2016)
• "Santa Cruz nonprofit insurance provider marks milestone, expansion." Santa Cruz Sentinel (October 2014)
• "Managing Risk: Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California is thriving, despite taking on clients that no one else would." Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter 2004)
• "Calif. Nonprofits Charitable Risk Pool Plans National Expansion." Insurance Journal (August 2000)
• Profiled in the Emmy-nominated documentary series Visionaries in both Season 4 and Season 16.

Further reading

• Official website of the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group
• Nonprofit and Liability Insurance: Problems, Options, and Prospects - Pamela Davis' Master's Thesis on the nonprofit insurance crisis, published by the Conrad Hilton Foundation and the California Community Foundation.

References