After serving on several boards over the years, I will no longer serve on any that don’t provide D&O coverage. An organization doesn’t have to pay for this; however, I hate to think about what I would do if I was personally named in a lawsuit against my organization.  There is some interesting data in this article: www.boardeffect.com/blog/do-insurance-nonprofit-boards<http://www.boardeffect.com/blog/do-insurance-nonprofit-boards>. All you have to do is read the news to see an array of crazy (and legitimate) lawsuits.



I work as a consultant to cultural heritage organizations throughout my state and have advised all the boards I work with to try to get to a point where they can add this to their budget. Some of them have asked their board members to chip in to cover the expense themselves until they can work it into their budget. Most of them still don’t carry it (boards of mostly volunteer/lay people).   See if you can touch base with someone who represents your state’s Professional Insurance Agents association (PIA).  They often have someone (typically for a fee) who can come and speak to a group about insurance as an educational/outreach effort—as opposed to someone giving you a hard sell for specific products. They can give you a more neutral overview of insurance options without you having to actually buy something from them. I also would check around for additional quotes on this as $1,000 a year seems high for an organization without paid staff.



--To identify, preserve, interpret, and promote the heritage of North Dakota and its people.



Danielle “Dani” Stuckle

Educational Programs and Outreach Coordinator

State Historical Society of North Dakota

North Dakota Heritage Center

612 East Boulevard Avenue

Bismarck, North Dakota 58505-0830

701-328-2794

www.history.nd.gov<http://www.history.nd.gov/>











From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathie Gow

Sent: Monday, October 22, 2018 7:30 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Directors & Officers Insurance?





CAUTION: This email originated from an outside source. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know they are safe.

Hi Listers. We have a conundrum. Our nonprofit serves as a resource for local history organizations in our region and we’ve been debating whether or not we need to purchase Directors & Officers Insurance, which would protect individual board members (of which I am one) in the event we were sued (say, by someone who slips and falls while attending an event we have sponsored).  We put on workshops, conferences, outings and provide resources, but we have neither a building nor collections. In spite of that, we’ve been told we could still be sued.

The quote we’ve gotten for this coverage is $1,000/year, which is roughly half of our annual budget! If we purchase it, we will have to do fundraising to support it, and it won’t even provide programming to our community. Do we really need this?

Does YOUR organization have it? Why did you decide yes or no? Ways to pay less? Any anecdotes to help us decide? Please help!

--Perplexed in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts

--Kathie Gow





Curator, Hatfield Historical Museum     hatfieldhistory.weebly.com<http://hatfieldhistory.weebly.com>



Oral History Producer     wordspicturesstories.com<http://wordspicturesstories.com>



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