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February 11, 2022 at 12:36 pm #1360
I am a Federation professional trying to provide guidance to the manager of a (poorly funded) non-profit cemetery, who just admitted that he no longer carries insurance on the property, because the premiums had gotten too high. Of course, now he is dealing with a costly fence repair after a car ran into and badly damaged the fence around the property.
Would anyone be willing to offer me some guidance about what insurance a cemetery should carry?
Thanks,
Addie -
February 11, 2022 at 1:05 pm #1361
Hi Addie,
It’s definitely important to carry insurance for a cemetery, not just for damage that happens, but for liability reasons as well. On all three of my cemeteries, I have a full commercial insurance policy as well as an umbrella policy that covers our Board members should the need arise. Two of my cemeteries are also (poorly funded) non-profit cemeteries and I switched insurance companies to Church Mutual Insurance. Their policies were almost half of what we were paying and their customer care is top notch. Just as an example, our policy runs around $2,300/year and that includes coverage for our buildings as well (garage, chapel and caretaker house). Each state has their own rules about insurance, so costs will vary from state to state. I would recommend calling around and getting some quotes. The companies will be able to suggest coverage based on the cemetery and various state laws.
Sherri
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February 14, 2022 at 4:37 pm #1364
Thank you, Sherri! That is really helpful.
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February 14, 2022 at 4:16 pm #1362
Hi, Addie,
Our Federation has a policy that covers basically all of the Jewish community agencies and then individual policies for each agency, for its specific needs (at least in theory). This includes coverage for our cemeteries. I’m not sure if the Philadelphia Federation has any such arrangement in the area where the cemetery you reference is located, but that might be worth looking into.
One thing to keep in mind, though I’m sure you are aware and doing so, is that monuments and markers are not covered by policies for cemeteries, as they belong to the family and family members should have their relatives’ monuments covered by a home owners policy.
Best,
David -
March 1, 2022 at 4:03 pm #1368
Liability and Directors and Officers Insurance are a must. If one stone, G-d forbid, falls on a person it can easily bring about a large lawsuit. I found that it is important to tell the insurance agent what structures and equipment you have because my organization had been paying for coverage it could never have collected on; we had no equipment or structure. When that was made clear, the premium came way down. We pay about $1700/yr for $2M in liability and $1M in DOI for a very small cemetery.
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