Non Profit Insurance
Non-profit insurance is a program of coverages for California organizations, built around governance, people, and mission. It typically includes directors and officers liability for the board, abuse and molestation coverage where you serve vulnerable people, general liability, commercial property, employment practices liability, event liability, and workers’ compensation once you have employees.
Your mission carries real responsibility, and so does running the organization behind it. We help California non-profits build coverage around the organization itself, its board, its staff and volunteers, and the events it runs. A one-day gala or fundraiser can also be written on its own, which our special event insurance page explains.
Non Profit Insurance Features
Coverages non-profits usually need:
- Directors and officers (D&O) liability, for the personal exposure your board and leaders carry.
- Abuse and molestation coverage, especially important when you serve youth or vulnerable populations.
- General liability, for third-party bodily injury and property damage.
- Commercial property, for your facilities and contents.
- Workers’ compensation, required in California once you have any employees.
- Employment practices liability (EPLI), for claims from staff or volunteers.
- Event liability, for fundraisers and community gatherings.
Requirements for Non Profits
In California, workers’ compensation is required once you have any employees, and volunteer coverage is a separate consideration worth reviewing. We help you match coverage to your mission, your people, and the way you actually operate, whether you run a single program or many.
Non-profit insurance in California, explained
Does a California non-profit need insurance before its volunteer directors are protected?
Yes, for the two main statutory immunities. Corporations Code section 5047.5 shields an unpaid director or officer of a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) corporation from negligence claims only if the corporation carries general liability insurance. The minimum is $500,000 when the annual budget is under $50,000 and $1,000,000 when it is $50,000 or more. Corporations Code section 5239 protects a volunteer director of a public benefit corporation only where the damages are covered by a general liability or D&O policy issued to the corporation. The alternative is that the board made reasonable good-faith efforts to obtain one. Neither section limits the corporation's own liability. Whether either applies to a particular claim is a question for the organization's attorney; the insurance consequence is that the policies are the entry ticket, not an afterthought.
Are volunteers covered by workers' compensation at a non-profit?
Not by default. Labor Code section 3352 excludes from "employee" a person volunteering for a private non-profit who receives nothing beyond meals, transportation, lodging or reimbursement of incidental expenses. Labor Code section 3363.6 lets the board of a private non-profit declare, in writing and before an injury, that its volunteers are employees for workers' compensation purposes. That declaration brings them under the policy and its premium. Once the organization has any paid employee, Labor Code section 3700 requires workers' compensation regardless of size. A volunteer accident policy is a separate, usually modest, product that pays medical expense on a no-fault basis and does not replace either of these.
Why does a youth-serving non-profit need separate abuse and molestation coverage?
Because the general liability form is commonly endorsed to exclude abuse or molestation claims, so the coverage has to be bought back by endorsement or written as its own policy. Underwriters who offer it ask for the organization's screening and supervision practices first. In California those practices are now law. Business and Professions Code section 18975, added by AB 506 in 2021, requires a youth service organization to background-check and train its administrators, employees and regular volunteers. It must also adopt written child abuse prevention policies that call for two mandated reporters to be present with children wherever possible. A regular volunteer is an adult with direct contact or supervision of children for more than 16 hours a month or 32 hours a year. Expect to show that documentation before the coverage is offered.
Whose insurance pays when a volunteer drives their own car for the non-profit?
The volunteer's own auto policy pays first. Insurance Code section 11580.9 conclusively presumes that the policy describing the vehicle as an owned automobile is primary and any other policy is excess. The organization's own exposure for that trip sits in hired and non-owned auto liability, added to its general liability or business auto policy. Since 1 January 2025 the California minimum limits are $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $15,000 property damage, and many volunteers carry exactly that. The excess layer is what stands behind a food delivery run that ends in a serious injury. The federal Volunteer Protection Act gives the driver no immunity for harm caused while operating a motor vehicle.
What do we need before serving alcohol or running a raffle at a fundraiser?
For alcohol, a daily license from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, applied for on Form ABC-221 at least 10 days and no more than 30 days before the event. Since 1 July 2022 a non-profit holding a daily license must keep a certified Responsible Beverage Service server on site wherever alcohol is poured. For a raffle, Penal Code section 320.5 requires annual registration with the Attorney General before any ticket is sold. At least 90 percent of gross receipts must go to the charitable purpose, and tickets cannot be sold over the internet. The Attorney General's raffle registration runs on a calendar year and the confirmation letter must arrive before selling begins. Special event liability, with host liquor liability, is the policy built for the organization's exposure at that event. It does not replace the license, and an insurer may ask to see it.
Can a non-profit with fewer than five employees be sued for harassment?
Yes. Government Code section 12940 makes harassment of an employee, an unpaid intern or a volunteer unlawful, and for harassment it defines an employer as anyone regularly employing one or more persons. The five-employee threshold applies to discrimination claims and to the training duty in Government Code section 12950.1, which requires two hours for supervisors and one hour for everyone else, repeated every two years. Employment practices liability is the coverage built for these claims, and it is commonly packaged with a non-profit D&O policy. Whether a specific complaint is covered depends on the policy wording, and the legal question belongs with counsel.
Does the federal Volunteer Protection Act mean the organization does not need liability insurance?
No. 42 U.S.C. section 14503 limits a volunteer's personal liability, and only when the volunteer acted within scope, held any required license, and did not act with willful, criminal, grossly negligent or reckless misconduct. The Act states that nothing in it affects the liability of the non-profit organization itself. A volunteer under the Act is someone receiving no more than $500 a year beyond expense reimbursement. General liability and D&O remain the organization's own protection, and section 5047.5 above makes them the price of the state immunity as well.
Which workers' comp class code applies to a non-profit?
There is no single non-profit classification in California. The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau classifies by what the organization does. A day care center (class 9059), a thrift store (8017 or 8008) and a private school (8868 with 9101) each carry a different governing code. Clerical staff who work in a separate office are rated under 8810, and fully remote clerical staff under 8871. A national "charitable organization" code you may see quoted online is not a California code. If your operations span more than one activity, expect the audit to split payroll by activity rather than average it.
How do you get a non-profit insurance quote from us?
Start a business insurance quote and tell us your programs, your budget, your employee and volunteer counts, whether you serve minors, whether volunteers drive, and the events you run each year. Some non-profits we can write directly and quickly. Others go to underwriting for approval, or need a wholesale market, and those take longer. Either way you know before you decide. Boards that want the D&O piece explained on its own can read our directors and officers insurance page.
Statutory limits, filing deadlines and classification references current as of September 2026 and specific to California. Form descriptions refer to standard policy wording; no form text is reproduced. Legal questions about immunity or employment status belong with the organization's attorney.
