What Insurance is Needed for Churches, Synagogues and Mosques
Places of worship need to protect themselves and their worshippers from unexpected accidents and claims.
Churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other places of worship need a customized insurance package for protection.
What kind of insurance package do I need for my church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or other place of worship?
Places of worship require the protection of an insurance package so they can confidently operate in the community and be a welcoming place.
Insurance can be customized to the needs of your place of worship.
How does a places of worship insurance package provide protection?
You will need an insurance package for your church, synagogue, mosque, or temple in the case of accidents, lawsuits, property damage, theft, fire, claims of abuse, or employee injuries.
Here’s your insurance check list:
- Do you have the best business insurance rate for your place of worship?
Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for your business?
- Is your number of employees up to date?
- Do you know the value of any equipment and is it properly insured?
- Have you thought about the consequences of your place of worship being forced to close down temporarily due to a flood or fire?
What’s in an insurance package for a place of worship?
Commercial General Liability Insurance (CGL): This type of insurance is a liability insurance that protects your place of worship from third-party property damage or claims of bodily injury, such as a worshipper who slips and falls on the property and is injured.
Commercial general liability insurance covers:
- Medical bills if someone is injured on the property
- Property damage
- Settlements
- Legal expenses
- Damage to property that your place of worship is renting
- Libel, defamation, slander, and false advertising
Without CGL insurance, you would need to pay any claims against your business out of your own pocket.
Even if you aren’t sued, CGL coverage provides reimbursement for medical or funeral expenses due to bodily injury or death sustained by an accident under the conditions specified in the policy.
Professional Liability Insurance. This type of insurance is also called Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance. It provides financial protection for claims against your church allegations of negligence, misconduct, or failing to deliver a service as promised, such as counselling.
If your place of worship provides counselling, this type of insurance should be considered. Ask your Western business insurance expert for more details.
Abuse Liability Insurance: Your place of worship could face allegations of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
Abuse liability insurance helps your place of worship defend itself against these allegations.
Employee Practices Liability Insurance: This type of coverage protects you as an employer if an employee claims your church, synagogue, mosque, or temple has discrimination practices, poor practices at your place of worship, wrongful termination, harassment, or engages in sexual misconduct, and other employment-related issues.
Commercial Property Insurance: It’s designed to protect your place of worship and its contents from unexpected events, such as damage or loss due to fire, windstorms, theft, or vandalism.
It insures your building, its contents and inventory, fixtures and furnishings, and any electronic devices on the premises.
Directors and Officers (D&O) Insurance: If your place of worship is a registered non-profit or charity with a board of directors, you may require D&O coverage to protect board members from lawsuits related to poor decisions, mistakes, or allegations of defamation that leads to a financial loss for your institution.
This type of insurance provides your board members with financial support for legal expenses if they are sued.
Commercial Crime Insurance: If your place of worship handles financial donations or has valuable items, consider adding commercial crime coverage to insurance package to protect it from internal theft, forgery, and fraud.
Terrorism insurance: This type of coverage protects your church, synagogue, mosque, or temple if it’s damaged by an act of domestic terrorism. Terrorism insurance includes coverage for an attack on or near your place of worship that results in bodily injuries, business interruption, relocation costs, and reputational damage.
How much church, synagogue, mosque, or temple insurance do I need? How much will it cost?
It’s unlikely that all places of worship would pay the same monthly or annually for their coverage.
Here are some of the factors taken into consideration:
- Size of building and its age and condition
- Location
- Average occupancy rate during services
- How often is the building unoccupied?
- Years of experience as a religious leader or administrator of the property
- Other uses such as using the place of worship as a rental hall
- Claims history
What do I do if there is an insurance claim?
- Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
- Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
- Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
- Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
- Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
- Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Ask your Western business insurance expert to help you get the right coverage at the right value to protect your church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or other place of worship.
Western Insurance has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get your place of worship the right insurance package. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect your place of worship.
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