The Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI), a nonprofit research institute focused on support for risk management, has launched InsuranceForMyNonprofit.org, an innovative website that helps small and medium sized nonprofit organizations assess their insurance needs and submit requests for insurance quotes to participating insurers. The site includes: A FREE insurance needs self-assessment tool with basic guidance and suggestions based on your responses. FREE educational information about insurance, including material provided by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. A process for submitting requests for insurance quotes to participating insurers. Access to detailed suggestions based on the user’s self-assessment. Educational information can be browsed without registration. Registration is free and provides access to the insurance needs self-assessment tool and basic guidance. A five-year subscription to the site is available for a small fee and offers detailed guidance and suggestions and the ability to use the site to submit requests for insurance quotes to participating insurers. For additional information, visit www.insuranceformynonprofit.org or contact Mary Stewart at or mstewart@riskinstitute.org

Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group
The Nonprofits Insurance Alliance group is comprised of the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group (ANI-RRG), and Nonprofits’ Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC), both 501(c)(3) nonprofit companies that provide liability insurance coverages to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. NIAC currently insures more than 5,500 nonprofits in California. ANI-RRG insures more than 1,900 nonprofits and is currently writing in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington State.
For more information visit www.insurancefornonprofits.org

At Charity First, they help insure nonprofits and in fact that is all they do! Charity First was first established in 1984 and today has provided assistance to insure over 5,000 nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. Combine this experience with their sole focus on the nonprofit community and its easy to see why they have become the nonprofit insurance experts.

All of their products and services are provided by the nation's best known and respected A++ insurance companies. A few of the coverage's they offer include but not limited to: Property, Liability, Director's and Officers, Sexual Abuse/Molestation, Worker's Compensation, Consulting Professional, International and more!

The types of nonprofits covered include: Arts, Civic and Social Clubs, Community Organizations, Social Service Organizations, Residential Programs, Schools, Educational and Training Organizations and much more!

Charity First also provides complimentary access to an extensive online library of safety articles, which can be found in their "Risk Management Resource" section of their website.  Visit their website now by clicking here! 

Other Resources:

Workplace Safety Toolkit -This free online resource from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center is designed to help nonprofits build a safer workplace. The Workplace Safety Toolkit has multiple layers of information and will be helpful to organizations of different sizes and levels of experience. There is a special edition of the toolkit for public entities as well.

Understanding the Volunteer Protection Act - This article from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center discusses the Volunteer Protect Act, which was signed into law in 1997.

Twelve D&O Buying Tips - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on purchasing D&O insurance.

The Role of the Risk Management Committee - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center discusses the five-step risk management process.

Surviving Extreme Events: A Guide to Help Small Businesses and Not-for-Profit Organizations Prepare for and Recover from Extreme Events - This guide, available on CD ROM, focuses on how owners of small businesses and managers of not-for-profit organizations can increase the chances that they and their organizations will financially survive extreme events such as natural hazards, willful acts of destruction, and large accidents.

Steering Clear of Transportation Risks - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on transportation risks faced by nonprofits.

Sound Policies and Timely Investigations Essential Ingredients for Avoiding Sexual Harassment Liability - This article by Melanie L. Herman and Leslie T. White of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on steps nonprofits can take to minimize the risk of sexual harassment suits.

Risk Management Methods and Practices - This collection of briefs from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on risk management methods and practices.

Risk Management Briefs from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center (NRMC)
This collection of briefs from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on risk management methods and practices; loss and risk control; risk financing, retention, and transfer; human resources and employment practices; and volunteers and volunteer management.

Risk Management Basics - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides basic risk management information for nonprofits.

Risk Financing, Retention, and Transfer Resources for Nonprofits -This collection of briefs from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on risk financing, risk retention, and risk transfer.

Reference Checking Do's and Don'ts -This article by John C. Patterson of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice for nonprofits on reference checking.

Reconsidering Reference-Checking and Reference Giving - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on the risks associated with references.

Ready in Defense - A Liability, Litigation and Legal Guide for Nonprofits - This book from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center walks the reader through important legal terms and concepts, offers practical risk management advice, and features more than a dozen sample forms and policies you can adapt immediately for use in your organization.

Protecting Your Nonprofit and the Board - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on risk control; indemnification and volunteer protection; and risk financing.

Private, Keep Out! Meeting Your Clients' Expectations of Privacy Online - This brief by Dennis M. Kirschbaum, ARM of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on protecting privacy over the Internet.

Preventing Fraud - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on fraud and internal controls nonprofits can use to prevent fraud.

Preventing Child Abuse in Nonprofit Organizations -This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides information on child abuse and child neglect.

Predicting Organizational Crisis Readiness: Perspectives and Practices toward a Pathway to Preparedness - This report on organizational crisis readiness from New York University’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response (CCPR) was supported with funding from PERI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Morgan Stanley, and the Prudential Corporation.

Practical Risk Management - The Handbook for Risk and Financial Professionals - This reference manual, published by the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI), covers a broad range of risk management subjects including Risk Management & Self Insurance, Loss Control/Claims Management, Property Risks & Insurance, Liability Risks & Insurance, and Risk Manager’s Resources. 

Playground Liability - This training program is a must for anyone involved in the design and/or renovation of playgrounds and those involved in purchasing, installing, and/or maintaining playground equipment.

Pillars of Accountability: A Risk Management Guide for Nonprofit Boards -This book offers advice and action steps to build and strengthen nonprofit organizations. The book published by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center explores five pillars of accountability.

Organizations at Risk: What Happens When Small Businesses and Not-for-Profits Encounter Natural Disasters - This report, written by Daniel J. Alesch, James N. Holly, Elliott Mittler, and Robert Nagy from the Center for Organizational Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, examines what sets apart small businesses that recover and those that fail after being affected by a disaster.

Nonprofit Computer Assisted Risk Evaluation System (CARES) - This CD-ROM program developed by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center (NRMC) offers self-guided, custom risk assessment and practical risk management advice to nonprofit organizations.

Myths About Nonprofit Liability and Risk Management -This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on misconceptions about nonprofit liability that may jeopardize the success of nonprofits that fail to take appropriate steps to protect themselves and their stakeholders from harm.

Managing the Risks of Child Maltreatment - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on the risks of child maltreatment.

Managing Fundraising Risks -This collection of Issues and Ideas Papers from a June 2000 PERI Symposium looks at aspects of risk management that nonprofits should practice while engaged in fundraising activities.

Managing Donated Property Exposures - This paper by George L. Head, Director Emeritus, American Institute for CPCU/Insurance Institute of America, was presented during a June 2000 PERI Symposium entitled "Managing Fundraising Risks."

Looking Beyond the Obvious Risks: How Small Localities, Businesses, and Nonprofit Organizations Can Assess and Manage the Ripple Effects of Disasters - This article by John C. Pine, Associate Professor, Institute for Environmental Studies and the Management Department, Louisiana State University was presented during an October 1999 PERI Symposium entitled "Dealing with Disaster."

Liability Basics for Nonprofit Organizations - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides an overview of key concepts in nonprofit liability.

Knee-Jerk Risk Management? - This brief by John C. Patterson of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on criminal history record checks.

Insuring Volunteers - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center focuses on insuring volunteers against accidents and injuries.

Accident Preparation and Response Tutorial - This accident preparation and response tutorial developed by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center and the Nonprofits' Insurance Alliance of California, with funding from PERI, is a free, web-based tutorial designed to teach nonprofit organizations how to respond effectively to accidents.

Aggression Management: A Paradigm of Prevention - This training program presents information on the ways to identify the emergence of aggression in the workplace, foresee the possibility of conflict, and engage and prevent conflict from occurring.

Are Written Employment Policies Always a Good Idea? - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on written employment policies.

Checking Criminal Histories: Considerations Before You Begin - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on screening applicants.

Compassion Fatigue: The Professional Liability for Caring Too Much - This paper by Dr. Rosemary A. Thompson, Ed.D., LPC, NCC, NCSC, Supervisor of Guidance and Counseling, Chesapeake Public Schools, Chesapeake, VA, was presented during a February 2003 PERI Symposium entitled "The Human Side of School Crises".

Components of a Screening Process - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on screening applicants for volunteer or paid positions.

Conducting Interviews - This brief from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides advice on conducting interviews.

Disaster Volunteer Liability Issues - This is a presentation on volunteer liability given by PERI Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel Claire Lee Reiss, J.D., ARM, CPCU, at the 2008 CAJPA Fall Conference.

Doing Well, Doing Good: Managing Risk in Corporate Volunteer Programs - This booklet provides a starting point for establishing or improving a corporate volunteer program. Through effective risk management, one can ensure that a company is able to meet its goals for community involvement and service.

Examining Approaches for Small Public Entities, Nonprofit Organizations, and Businesses to Reduce Losses and Overcome the Effects of Extreme Events - This article by Laurie Johnson and Felix Kloman was presented in the October 1999 PERI Symposium "Dealing with Disaster."

Fortune Cookies - This paper by Dennis M. Kirschbaum, ARM, and Melanie L. Herman, Nonprofit Risk Management Center, Washington, D.C. was presented during a June 2000 PERI Symposium entitled "Managing Fundraising Risks."

FPIF Nonprofit Institute: Outreach Opportunities For Risk Management Success - This report is part of a PERI-funded project by the Florida Public Interest Foundation (FPIF) to help a diverse group of Florida nonprofit organizations (identified as public interest groups, professional and trade associations, and other nonprofit entities) develop risk management programs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Directors' and Officer's Liability Insurance - This publication from the National Academies Press assesses the current state of social science hazards and disaster research and provides a set of recommendations that reflect opportunities and challenges in the field.

Glossary of Insurance and Risk Management Terms, 11th Edition - This guide from the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI) that defines 2,800 key insurance and risk management terms in plain English.

Human Resources and Employment Practices Resources for Nonprofits - This collection of briefs from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center addresses issues related to human resources and employment practices.

Compassion Fatigue: The Professional Liability for Caring Too Much - This paper by Dr. Rosemary A. Thompson, Ed.D., LPC, NCC, NCSC, Supervisor of Guidance and Counseling, Chesapeake Public Schools, Chesapeake, VA, was presented during a February 2003 PERI Symposium entitled "The Human Side of School Crises".

Surviving Extreme Events: A Guide to Help Small Businesses and Not-for-Profit Organizations Prepare for and Recover from Extreme Events - This guide, available on CD ROM, focuses on how owners of small businesses and managers of not-for-profit organizations can increase the chances that they and their organizations will financially survive extreme events such as natural hazards, willful acts of destruction, and large accidents.

Volunteerism and the Disaster Resource Gap: How Volunteer Liability Protection Can Enable Better Disaster Response - This training program addresses how the laws currently protect – and fail to protect – disaster volunteers, and the efforts underway to expand this protection.

Accident Preparation and Response Tutorial -This accident preparation and response tutorial developed by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center and the Nonprofits' Insurance Alliance of California, with funding from PERI, is a free, web-based tutorial designed to teach nonprofit organizations how to respond effectively to accidents.

Workplace Safety Toolkit - This free online resource from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center is designed to help nonprofits build a safer workplace. The Workplace Safety Toolkit has multiple layers of information and will be helpful to organizations of different sizes and levels of experience. There is a special edition of the toolkit for public entities as well.

Practical Risk Management - The Handbook for Risk and Financial Professionals
This reference manual, published by the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI), covers a broad range of risk management subjects including Risk Management & Self Insurance, Loss Control/Claims Management, Property Risks & Insurance, Liability Risks & Insurance, and Risk Manager’s Resources.

Additional articles you might want to read are as follows:

Additional tips on making sure you have the right insurance for your non profit can be found by clicking here!

As a general rule nonprofit boards of directors should seriously consider purchasing  "Director and Officers Insurance" to protect the board of directors from liability in case the nonprofit is sued.  D&O: What You Need to Know  You may also want to look into bonding the executive director or the persons handling any money, i.e., purchase a  "Dishonesty Bond". Further, it is important to have additional  "Event Insurance" to cover your fundraising events in case someone slips and falls and permanently injures themselves.

Understanding Business Insurance   http://www.mapnp.org/library/insurnce/insurnce.htm

Insurance Information Institute is a non-profit, educational and communications organization sponsored by the auto, home and business insurance industry. http://www.iii.org/

Consumer World has gathered over 1,500 of the most useful consumer resources on the Internet, and categorized them here for easy access. Loads of useful consumer information. http://www.consumerworld.org/

If you are trying to decide what type of policy to buy you can get quickly confused! All states have a "department of insurance" that can help direct you to free resources so you can make the right decision. The following links provide a good overview provided by the California Department of Insurance. These information guides are available in English and Spanish.  Please place the cursor on the subject title to view the description of the guide, then click once to access the guide.