Insurance for organisations that exist to help people.
Societies, charities, community groups and the volunteers who run them. Your board members are personally exposed for the decisions they make, and most boards do not find that out until something goes wrong.
Talk to a broker See what’s coveredLiability, directors’ cover, property, abuse and event cover
Charities, societies, community groups and volunteer boards
What programs you run, who they serve, and any funder requirements
What insurance does a non-profit society need in BC?
Three things carry most of the risk. General liability covers anyone hurt at your premises, your events or your programs. Directors and officers cover protects the people on your board, who can be named personally in a claim. Property cover looks after whatever you own or occupy. If you run programs involving children, vulnerable adults or physical activity, abuse and participant liability need to be looked at deliberately rather than assumed.
A single liability claim can end a small society outright. The organisation has no reserves to absorb it, and the directors who volunteered their time can be named personally in the same action.
Being a volunteer does not reduce the exposure. It only means the person carrying it is not being paid.
Cover shaped around how you actually operate.
General liability
Injury or damage arising from your premises, your programs and your events, including the ones you run off-site.
Directors & officers
Personal liability for your board. Employment decisions are the most common source of claims, and defence costs start immediately.
Property and contents
Your building or unit, equipment, donated goods and anything stored for a program.
Abuse liability
For organisations working with children, youth or vulnerable adults. Frequently excluded elsewhere and specifically underwritten.
Volunteer and participant cover
People helping you are not employees, and the way they are covered has to be arranged rather than assumed.
Events and fundraisers
Galas, markets, runs and street festivals, including the certificate the venue or the city will demand.
Three things boards get wrong.
None of these are unusual. All three turn up in claims against small societies every year.
Assuming volunteers are covered
Volunteers are not employees, so WorkSafeBC and your liability policy treat them differently. It needs checking, not assuming.
No directors’ cover at all
The most common gap on small societies, and the one with personal consequences for the people giving you their time.
Grant conditions nobody read
Funders and municipalities often require specific limits and to be named. Send us the agreement rather than guessing.
Yes, budget is the constraint. Here is how we handle that.
We would rather tell you what to cut than sell you everything.
Most societies are working with money raised a hundred dollars at a time, and every premium dollar is a dollar not spent on the work. So we start from what would actually end the organisation, usually a liability claim or a board claim, and we build outward from there.
Where a cover is nice to have rather than necessary for your situation, we will say so. That is a better long-term relationship than a policy you resent every year.
A situation we see.
A volunteer at a community event trips a guest carrying hot drinks. The society has no liability cover because the budget went to programs. One claim ends an organisation that took fifteen years to build.
Organisations across the Lower Mainland.
We also arrange cover for supportive and social housing operators, a class many insurers will not quote at all.
What boards and executive directors ask us.
Do volunteer board members really need insurance?
Yes. Directors can be named personally in claims about decisions the board made, and serving without pay does not change that. For a small society the cover is usually modest relative to what it protects.
Are our volunteers covered if they are injured?
Not automatically, and not in the same way employees are. Volunteers sit outside WorkSafeBC coverage in most cases, so how they are protected needs to be arranged deliberately.
Our funder requires specific insurance. Can you match it?
Send us the funding agreement. Grants and municipal agreements usually specify limits and require the funder to be named, and the wording is more precise than people expect.
We work with children. What do we need?
Abuse liability needs to be addressed specifically, and insurers will ask about your screening, supervision and two-adult policies. Those questions are worth answering well. They improve both your terms and your practice.
We only run two events a year. Is an annual policy worth it?
Sometimes not, event-by-event cover can be the better answer for an occasional organisation. We will tell you which is cheaper for your situation rather than defaulting to the bigger policy.
Can you help a society that has been declined?
Yes. Habitational and social-service organisations are among the hardest classes to place, and it is work we do. Send us the letter.
Tell us what your organisation does.
What you run, who it serves, and what any funder or landlord requires of you.
WE WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU CAN SAFELY GO WITHOUT
Running a fundraiser or gala? event insurance covers the certificate the venue will ask for.
Societies handling donations and grants are exposed here. crime & employee theft.