Community & Volunteer-Related Liability Loss Exposures

You should consider the following risk management recommendations:

• Confirm the organization’s appropriate Directors and Officers (D&O) coverage is in force.
• Verify that the organization’s by-laws include an indemnity agreement requiring reimbursement of costs of defense and settlement or judgment amounts due to your personal liability arising from your actions on behalf of the organization or the organization’s actions.
• Accounting audits may rarely be performed for not-for-profit organizations. As a result, you should ask and verify that audits are implemented for these organizations. Otherwise, your loss exposure is more significant.
• If your community service involves no remuneration or slight remuneration (e.g., under $2,000 annually), your homeowners policy may provide coverage, although the liability limits may be inadequate. To broaden this liability coverage to include more perils, consider adding personal injury (HO 24 82) or similar endorsement to your homeowners policy to provide some protection from allegations such as libel, slander, and wrongful eviction.
• In addition, personal umbrella coverage is warranted; an umbrella policy with broad protection arising from these types of activities should be selected.

Source:  International Risk Management Institute