Your church is not just a building, it’s a sacred space. It is important that you protect and prepare your ministry and members for potential risks and consequential financial hardships. These are three types of coverage every place of worship should consider after assessing all risks:
Crime Insurance:
Fidelity bonds, also known as “employee dishonesty” or “crime insurance,” are just as important for church organizations as they are for businesses.
These policies can insure your ministry against loss by larceny, theft, embezzlement, forgery, misappropriation, or other dishonest acts by employees.
Hot Tip 1: Ask your agent if a blanket policy that covers both employees and volunteers and doesn’t require listing names or positions of all persons covered is more appropriate for your ministry than the coverage in your current policy.
Hot Tip 2: Don’t forget that the Book of Discipline requires that you obtain a bond for your treasurer. This may be the best way to get the coverage and limits you need as well as coverage for volunteers.
Flood Insurance:
Floods can happen anywhere, and flood insurance can help you recover faster when floodwaters recede.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provides flood insurance to all churches and their parsonages within participating NFPIP communities. Your insurance agent will know whether a community has qualified for this coverage.
Hot Tip: Secure your policy before the floodwaters start to rise! There’s typically a 30-day waiting period for an NFIP policy to go into effect. This can be waived if coverage is mandated by a federally backed lender or is related to a change to a community flood map.
Event Cancellation Insurance:
This insurance protects against lost profits and expenses from cancelled events, such as an outdoor fund-raising event that is rained out. It is essentially a specific form of “business interruption” coverage.
Hot Tip: Purchase this insurance well in advance of the event.
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This content has been prepared by United Methodist Insurance Company (UMI) for informational purposes only. No article or document may accurately contemplate all possible scenarios or church resources. As such, this information is meant to foster discussion by the individual church and its members to develop a plan tailored to its own circumstances. UMI is providing this information with no warranties or guarantees of any kind and it should not be viewed as legal, financial, or other professional advice. All liability is expressly disclaimed. Any claim examples described herein are general in nature, may or may not be based on actual claims, and are for informational purposes only. Any coverage available for a claim is determined from the facts and circumstances of the claim as well as the terms and conditions of any applicable policy, including any exclusions or deductibles. In the event of a conflict with the content herein, the terms and conditions of any issued policy will control. Individual coverage may vary and may not be available in all states.
The commercial insurance coverages for United Methodist Insurance are sold and serviced directly or indirectly by Sovereign Insurance Agency (CA Lic. No. 0B01380) ("Sovereign") and underwritten by various available insurance markets. Sovereign pays United Methodist Insurance a royalty for the use of its intellectual property.