Training Manual | General
Information | Information About Insurance
You just wanted to provide food and jobs... why all this talk of
insurance?? Here's what the experts have learned about when you need
insurance, why you need insurance, and how to get it
Submitted by
Kelley Barrett on
02/15/2001 When we started our facility, we sought out traditional
insurance companies and found that the premiums were outrageous
because of the assumed risk. A year into it we found a solution to our
insurance woes. we joined a group that was started by a large
coalition of non profits that got together with a foundation and they
started their own insurance company. The rates were very competitive
and we have now had them for over a year and recently we had a
accident at the facility and they were great! they took great care of
the injured party and our premiums only went up slightly, they also
made sure that our interests were protected. There are several of
these non profit insurance coalitions around now and most brokers know
about them.
Submitted by
Jane Tally on 09/14/2000 Since
we are an on site feeding program, we already had insurance and were
not required to obtain additional insurance for the students.
Submitted by
Cynthia Rowland on
09/27/2000 You'll want to investigate the applicability of a variety
of types of insurance: general liability, auto, property, workers
compensation (if you have paid staff), directors and officers (if you
are governed by a board), etc. Buying insurance is always a tough
call. How much is enough? Quiz your directors to guage how
conservative your organization is. Some organizations buy as much
insurance as they can afford because they are very risk adverse.
Others are comfortable taking some calculated risk. In either case,
some insurance minimums are dictated by law. You can work directly
with an insurance company or use a broker. D. C. Central Kitchen uses
a couple of different brokers who each specialize in one or more of
the areas listed above. An insurance broker gets paid by the insurance
company but works for you. I know that sounds counter to the law of
incentives, but it does seem to work. A good broker will shop the
policies for you with different insurance carriers in order to get you
the most effective coverage at the lowest cost. Because insurance is a
complicated body of knowledge, a broker can also serve as an
interpreter of sorts. On the general liabillity front, an in-depth
discussion with your insurance underwriter or broker is the place to
start. Tell her or him everything you can think of regarding how your
program will run, who will participate (such as employees, volunteers,
interns, students in your job training program), a tour of the
physical facility, whether or not any services happen at any other
location - bring up everything. Provide copies of program descriptions
or brochures. DCCK has a package that covers general liability, auto,
and property. Regarding workers compensation, the rate you have to pay
depends on the employee's job classification into some standard
categories. We have to pay more for drivers versus office staff and
people who work in the kitchen cost even more. If you have a small
staff and people wear multiple hats, you'll want to discuss this with
the agent to determine how people have to be categorized. Payment
terms are negotiable. If you don't have office staff and your premiums
are small, you may want to pay up front in a lump sum to save yourself
some paperwork. For most of us, though, cash flow is an issue. On D.
C. Central Kitchen's policies, we pay 20% - 25% up front and the
remainder in installments stretched out as far as possible. For
example, on the umbrella policy, we pay monthly for 10 installments.
The workers comp remainder is 5 installments paid every other month.
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