property insurance

The Sky is Falling!

The National Weather Service announced that the loud boom and shaking ground reported Saturday, January 1, 2022, by people across suburban Pittsburgh was probably caused by an exploding meteor.

Experts suggest that the meteor event happened while falling through the atmosphere. Exploding meteors, also called airbursts, are a kind of cosmic traffic accident when a larger piece of space rock collides with the Earth’s atmosphere and explodes.

Every year, the Earth is hit by about 6100 meteors large enough to reach the ground. That’s about 17 every day. The vast majority fall unnoticed, in uninhabited areas.

However, there are roughly 180 known impact craters (caused by meteors, asteroids and comets) worldwide and a third of them—including some of the biggest—are located in North America.

The earth is pelted with 40 tons of space debris a year. Most of that is in teeny dust particles. To do real damage, a meteor usually has to be bigger than a Volkswagen when it enters the atmosphere.

So what happens if your business or personal property is hit by a meteor, asteroid of comet?

Falling objects, including satellites, asteroids, meteors and space debris are covered by standard homeowners and business insurance policies. These policies would cover the damage that the falling object causes to your home or business. If your property, equipment or other objects are damaged, your policy should cover that too.

What about your personal or company car? If a meteor damages your vehicle, you will be covered under the optional comprehensive portion of an auto insurance policy. If space debris causes an auto accident, the liability portion of the policy would cover medical expenses or related lawsuits.

But what if a meteor hits one of your employees, at your place of business? Medical expenses would be paid for under health insurance. And in the very unlikely event of a death, a life insurance policy would ensure you’re covered.

The likelihood of getting hit (or killed) by a meteor is about 1 in 250,000. For context, the chances of you being struck by lightning is estimated at 1 in 135,000. The odds are in your favor.

Now you know.

Are your ready to review your policy or are you in need of new or additional coverage? Let our team go to work for you.

Enscoe Long Specializes In Nonprofit Insurance – Part 3

Enscoe Long Insurance Group specializes in providing customized insurance for nonprofits. In fact, we provide insurance to over 200 nonprofit agencies. There are a variety of insurance products, which nonprofits should carry.

This week we are focusing on specialized insurance products.

Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (D&O)

D&O insurance policies are common and necessary to cover the actions and decisions of the board directors and officers in your nonprofit. Regardless of your organization’s size and board experience, Enscoe Long usually recommends that all nonprofit organizations purchase D&O insurance protection. Why?

Nonprofit board members and officers should be protected if they’re named in a lawsuit alleging fraud or financial mismanagement. Creditors may pursue a board member, if their investment decisions cause their nonprofit to fail to meet its financial obligations.

D&O insurance can protect directors and officers against the legal costs of a lawsuit and any damages, if the court rules in the plaintiff’s favor.

Policies may exclude coverage for criminal or fraudulent behavior, claims between directors or other situations. Since D&O insurance only applies to officers and the board of directors, your nonprofit still needs general liability insurance to address other risks.

D&O liability insurance will not provide coverage for what many would consider the worst acts of the directors or officers, including but not limited to dishonesty, fraud, criminal or malicious acts committed deliberately. D&O insurance will not provide coverage for bodily or personal injury of a person or physical damage to a third person’s property.

Sexual Misconduct Liability

Nonprofit improper sexual conduct and abuse coverage provides protection for actual and alleged claims of various types of abuse, by your employees and volunteers to third parties.

Sexual misconduct liability pays for defense and settlement, if the plaintiff wins their case in court. Claims may include client lawsuits against an employee, volunteer, or contractor due to abuse or from negligent supervision resulting in abuse or molestation.

General and professional liability policies exclude these risks, so organizations that serve at-risk populations such as seniors, youth, or the disabled should consider this coverage.

For non-profit organizations that are able and willing to take steps to control and minimize their abuse / molestation exposure, insurance coverage is available through Enscoe Long Insurance Group. Nonprofits can also take basic anticipatory measures such as background/drug checks, diversity training, how to respect others in the workplace training and enforcing rules that prevent one-on-one isolated contact with vulnerable persons.

Cyber Liability Insurance

Nonprofits are just as vulnerable to data breaches as any other for-profit company. Nonprofits often retain and manage very sensitive data. Confidential client, donor, and employee data are all at risk, especially if your organization uses mobile technologies, such as laptops and cellphones.

Does your nonprofit:

Conduct e-commerce on its website, such as processing donations or event registrations?
Store and transfer (such as by sending to the cloud) “personally identifiable information,” about anyone, including donors? (Common examples of personally identifiable information include: clients’ medical information; employee records, including drivers’ licenses, addresses, and social security numbers.)
Collect information on donors, patrons, newsletter subscribers?

If your nonprofit engages in any of the above, you may want to take steps to address cybersecurity threats.

Cyber liability insurance covers expenses associated with data breaches, such as costs to defend claims by state regulators, fines and penalties, credit monitoring, and identity theft losses. Your Enscoe Long insurance agent can walk you through your options.

Interested in learning more? Check out our previous blog posts on liability and property insurance for nonprofits.

Ready to get started? Visit us at our website or drop us an email today!

Enscoe Long Specializes In Nonprofit Insurance – Part 2

Last week, the Enscoe Long team brought you information about liability insurance for nonprofits. This week we are focusing on nonprofit property insurance. So what’s the difference? Liability insurance and property insurance provide different types of coverage. Both types of policies are necessary to protect a nonprofit. For more on liability insurance for nonprofits, check out the previous post by clicking here.

Whether you own or rent the space, your nonprofit should probably contemplate what your organization might lose in the event of a natural disaster such as a hail, fire, earthquake, tornado, severe storm, etc. Also, will you be protected if someone breaks into your nonprofit and destroys or vandalizes your property? Property insurance, which covers such events, is designed to cover not only the building (if your organization owns it) but any:

fixtures (such as lighting systems or carpeting)
equipment and machinery
office furniture
computers and accessories (and)
inventory and supplies

Most basic policies will cover these items — but at what dollar amount? Let your Enscoe Long insurance agent help walk you through how to evaluate and report the dollar amounts associated with the contents of your nonprofit.

Tip 1: Remember that your nonprofit needs property insurance even if the organization doesn’t own its buildings. All the things inside those buildings are still vulnerable to unpredictable disasters. In fact, your lease and/or rental agreement might require your organization to carry property insurance.

Tip 2: Make sure the policy covers the cost to replace the property, instead of paying its market value, as a “used good” immediately before the damage.

Tip 3: Ask your Enscoe Long agent to carefully explain your deductible (how much your organization will be “out of pocket” before the insurance kicks in) and what types of losses or property damage will not be covered under the policy. For example, flood insurance is usually sold separately. And your organization may have to pay extra to have theft coverage included.

Do you want to learn more about specialized insurance products for nonprofits? Click here.

Are you a ready to talk about your nonprofit property insurance needs with an Enscoe Long insurance broker? Get started by visiting www.enscoelong.com or drop us an email by clicking here.