We protect the people who lead and serve the congregation with coverage for board decisions, employment matters, counseling, clergy, and sensitive liability claims.
They are sometimes packaged together and are not interchangeable.
Board decisions challenged by members, employees, donors, or regulators — how funds were spent, how a membership matter was handled, how an election was run. Volunteer board members can be named personally, and D&O is frequently what allows a congregation to recruit capable people to serve. Entity coverage matters alongside individual coverage.
Congregations are employers. Terminations, harassment and discrimination allegations, wage-and-hour questions for part-time and seasonal staff. Religious employers have some statutory latitude in specific circumstances, but that latitude is narrower and more fact-dependent than most boards assume, and defense costs arrive regardless.
Claims arising from pastoral counseling, spiritual guidance, and the professional duties of clergy. General liability does not respond to allegations of professional failure in a counseling relationship.
The coverage no board wants to discuss and none should be without. Many general liability forms exclude or severely sub-limit it. Coverage terms, limits, and whether defense sits inside the limit vary enormously between carriers, and the presence of screening, training, and two-adult policies affects both eligibility and pricing.
Structure matters here more than price.
The findings that come up in nearly every review.
Boards assuming the general liability policy protects them personally. It does not, and directors' personal assets are what is at stake.
Buried in a general liability form at a limit far below the exposure, or excluded outright. This should be an explicit board decision, reviewed annually.
Congregations employ clergy, educators, administrators, and seasonal staff. Employment claims are among the most frequent they face.
These are claims-made policies. A new retroactive date can quietly erase years of prior coverage.
Committees, youth leaders, and event volunteers acting for the congregation should be covered. Many forms require that to be confirmed rather than assumed.
Often for the first time when a new board member arrives from a company.
Yes. State volunteer-protection statutes offer some immunity but are narrower than most people assume and do not prevent being named, which means defense costs regardless. D&O is what stands between a volunteer director and personal exposure.
Sometimes, often at a small sub-limit, and sometimes not at all. This is the first thing we look for on a congregation's policy. Limits, defense treatment, and the screening practices the carrier expects should all be reviewed with the board rather than assumed.
Yes. Claim frequency does not scale down neatly with headcount, and defense costs on a single allegation can exceed years of premium. Congregations with part-time educators and seasonal staff have more employment exposure than they realize.
Coverage for claims arising from pastoral counseling and professional religious duties — distinct from general liability, which addresses physical injury, and from D&O, which addresses governance. Congregations generally need all three.
These are decisions a board should make together, with the actual limits in front of them.
