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Insurance (updated January 2007)AIS INSURANCE INFORMATION OBTAINING CERTIFICATES OF INSURANCE First of all, I want to thank everyone who provided me with the information regarding your individual clubs use of the insurance provided by AIS. In speaking to various persons, I was made aware of the difficulty many people seem to be having when they need a certificate of insurance. As a reminder, the certificate is only needed when the venue being used for the event requires proof of insurance or that they be named as an additional insured under the AIS policy. Certificates of insurance may be required during any AIS sanctioned event such as a show, sale, club meeting, regional meeting or trek, the national convention, fall board meeting, separate section meeting or trek, etc.; For those of you who do not already know, our Liability Insurance is now with a new insurance company. If Certificates of Insurance are needed, I have made it much easier to obtain the needed documents. To obtain a Certificate of Insurance
please click on this link: Download the form, complete it as necessary and fax it to the number shown. There is a statement that says “Is Certificate Holder requested to be named as an additional insured?” If you only need to show proof of insurance, circle No. If the venue needs to be named as an additional insured, circle Yes. Please remember, I do not obtain the Certificate of Insurance for the individual clubs. If you want to have the certificate mailed to the venue, fill in that area. If you want it faxed, fill in that area and be sure to include the persons name that you want the certificate faxed to. If there are any questions you can always call me at 928-282-5867 or email me at aisinsurance@irises.org *The above file is provided as a
downloadable Adobe Acrobat PDF type file. You will need Adobe Acrobat
Reader to view this file. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free
software for viewing and printing Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)
files on all major hardware and operating system platforms. It is a very
useful add on program that many people already have installed on their
computer. IMPORTANT INSURANCE MESSAGE
(January 2005) For that reason you, your club, your AIS Region, and the AIS need to be protected, and general liability insurance is the obvious answer. However, the escalating cost of being able to purchase general liability insurance is creating a crisis that has effected the entire nation, and the AIS has not been spared. Notable and widely respected groups, including the National Garden Clubs, have dropped general liability insurance coverage that for many years has been offered to member-groups. To make matters worse, although the AIS has never submitted an insurance claim of any sort, our former general liability insurance carrier notified us early in 2004 that they would not renew our policy when it expired at the end of August 2004. Since 1996 the AIS has provided general liability coverage for our regions, affiliates and sections at no cost except when insurance certificates were needed. As well, the AIS Board needs general liability insurance in order to continue to conduct its business and to provide protection for its members. Our primary policy coverage was for $2,000,000. About four years ago, for a reasonable additional amount, AIS added an umbrella policy of $3,000,000 in order to protect a small number of groups located of both coasts who were being required to produce proof of coverage amounting to $5,000,000. This year, the sudden and exorbitant rise in the cost of such insurance forced the American Iris Society Board of Directors to give serious consideration at the November 2005 Fall Meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas as to what actions should and could be taken. The Board discussed at great length the option of dropping all general liability insurance, or dropping just the umbrella policy, and the implications of choosing either option. Without primary insurance, a lawsuit against any one of the Affiliates, Regions, or Sections could (and most probably would) involve the AIS as the parent organization. If we as an organization are “self insured” (no insurance) any such action could very quickly bankrupt or certainly badly cripple AIS. We investigated what it would cost for a club (affiliates, etc.) To independently obtain primary insurance. The costs ranged around $750 most anywhere in the country. If you add up the collective costs for AIS Affiliates to purchase independent insurance for their annual events it could easily amount to well over $100,000 at those average rates, and rates will surly go up in the not too distant future. The projected costs of independently obtained insurance would put a severe damper on shows held in public places nationwide, and is not in the best interests of the AIS charter of promoting irises to the general public. It appeared for a while that no company could be found willing to insure the AIS at a rate that we could even consider. Reasonable alternatives were bleak, but with the Board’s encouragement, Insurance Chairman Michelle Snyder continued the search for the best coverage that could be found to meet AIS needs. Finally, through persistence, she was able to negotiate a feasible policy with another carrier. Costs for this policy, however, were more than triple the amount paid for basically the same coverage as last year. Though Michelle continues to search, no less-expensive alternative has been found for the nationwide basis in which AIS operates. Before the old policies expired late August, the Board voted to accept the new policies in order to provide continuing coverage until the Fall Board meeting where the situation could be discussed in open forum and evaluated. The most important issue was, “how do we pay for it?” This involved careful consideration of both long-term and short-term solutions. For several years the AIS has achieved a
balanced budget and been able to maintain its reserves. The extreme rise
in the cost of providing $5,000,000 worth of general liability insurance
at today’s rates would catapult the AIS into a serious deficit budget
position for the year. The Board voted to drop the three million dollar
umbrella, needed by a very small fraction of the membership and
amounting to one/third the total liability insurance cost. Substantial
dollars were saved by this action; however the primary policy costs that
are well over what we paid last year, still create a deficit budget
position that will require the AIS to use reserves to meet the operating
needs for the 2005 fiscal year. Financial concerns were further
increased because there is no reason to believe that today’s rates will
remain static - indeed there is every reason to believe that they will
continue to rise. Some of the services AIS provides
actually operate at a loss. Short of cutting many other vital and core
service, the most practical way to bring about fiscal balance was to
also increase registration fees, the price of R & I books, and
advertising rates. This action alone should generate several thousand
additionally needed dollars annually. In closing, it is important to keep in
mind the following: | Home
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