Nonprofits Insurance Alliance (NIA) is a group of cooperative 501(c)(3) nonprofit insurance organizations that provide liability and property insurance exclusively to other 501(c)(3) nonprofits. The group is rated A (Excellent) VIII by A.M. Best and currently provides coverage to 18,000 nonprofits in 32 states and Washington D.C.[2]
| Industry | Financial Services |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Headquarters | Santa Cruz, California, United States |
Area served | 32 states and Washington D.C. |
Key people | Pamela Davis, Founder, President and CEO |
| Products | Liability and Property Insurance |
| Total assets | $479.1 million USD[1] |
Number of employees | 108 |
| Website | insurancefornonprofits.org |
Mission and Services
NIA's mission is to provide a stable source of reasonably priced liability and property insurance tailored to the specialized needs of the nonprofit sector, and to assist these organizations in developing and implementing successful loss control and risk management programs. The motto for the group is, “A head for insurance. A heart for nonprofits.”[3]
The group's insurance coverages include General Liability, Directors and Officers, Flat Rate D&O, Improper Sexual Conduct, Social Service Professional, Employee Benefits Liability, Business Auto, Non-Owned/Hired Auto, Umbrella Liability, Auto Physical Damage, Employee Dishonesty, Commercial Property, and Participant/Volunteer Accident.[3]
History
Pamela Davis, NIA's Founder, President and CEO, was a graduate student at UC Berkeley during the liability insurance crisis of the 1980s, when insurance companies raised their premiums drastically, reduced their coverages, and left some segments of the market, including many nonprofits, completely uncovered.[4] Davis' master's thesis, documented how the insurance crisis was harming nonprofit organizations and in some cases even putting them out of business. In 1987, she testified before the California General Assembly that:
Between 1984 and 1986, general liability insurance premiums increased 200 percent or more for one out of four charitable nonprofit organizations in California. During that same period, insurance companies canceled or refused to renew the general liability policies of one out of five California charitable nonprofits. Some important human service programs, such as childcare, foster care, group homes and health service were forced to dramatically cut services or close because they couldn’t find affordable insurance.[5]
Based on her research, Davis was convinced that conventional insurers did not fully understand insurance risk in the nonprofit sector, so she set out to create a nonprofit risk pool that could better meet the needs of nonprofits in California. In 1989, Davis secured $1.3 million in loans from nonprofit partners and foundations to create the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC), the first and largest company in NIA.[citation needed]
Over the next decade, NIAC grew to serve thousands of nonprofits, but its operations were limited to the state of California. In order to replicate the NIAC model nationwide, Davis secured $5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $5 million from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation to found the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group (ANI).[citation needed]
Companies in the group
Nonprofits Insurance Alliance is an insurance cooperative composed of four distinct 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations:
- Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC): provides liability and property insurance to nonprofits in California.
- Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group (ANI): provides liability insurance to nonprofits with operations outside of California.
- National Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance (NANI): provides property reinsurance.
- Alliance Member Services (AMS): provides support to the other companies in the group and their partner programs.
Press Coverage
Coverage of the Nonprofit Insurance Alliance's work includes:
- “Pamela Davis named one of the Elite Women of 2017 in Insurance Business America.” Insurance Business America (2017)
- “A.M. Best Affirms Credit Ratings of the Members of Nonprofits Insurance Alliance.” Business Wire (December 2016)
- "Ten Questions for the CEO.” The Nonprofit Times: Exempt Magazine (May 2016)
- "How Insurance for Nonprofits Has Changed for the Better." Insurance Journal (March 2016)
- "Santa Cruz nonprofit insurance provider marks milestone, expansion." Santa Cruz Sentinel (October 2014)
- "Managing Risk: Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California is thriving, despite taking on clients that no one else would." Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter 2004)
- "Calif. Nonprofits Charitable Risk Pool Plans National Expansion." Insurance Journal (August 2000)
- Profiled in the Emmy-nominated documentary series Visionaries in both Season 4 and Season 16.
Further reading
- Official website of the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance
- Nonprofit and Liability Insurance: Problems, Options, and Prospects - Pamela Davis' Master's Thesis on the nonprofit insurance crisis, published by the Conrad Hilton Foundation and the California Community Foundation.
References
- ^ "2017 Annual Report". Nonprofits Insurance Alliance.
- ^ "A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of the Members of Nonprofits Insurance Alliance". A.M. Best.
- ^ "A Head for Insurance... A Heart for Nonprofits" (PDF). Society for Nonprofits. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
- ^ Lawrence A. Berger; J. David Cummins; Sharon Tennyson (1992). "Reinsurance and the liability insurance crisis". Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. 5 (3): 253–272. doi:10.1007/BF00057882.
- ^ "Mission & History". Nonprofits Insurance Alliance.