Cyber liability coverage is finding its way into more and more nonprofits, said a top agent, but penetration is still largely limited to large organizations or those in healthcare.
William “Bill” Zester, a 24-year veteran working for a large agency in New Jersey, said “selling cyber is still an uphill battle with smaller nonprofits but that the bigger players know they need it and are generally willing to entertain a quote and often buy it”.
“I think we are going to see more and more cyber being written. That is something they will have to take seriously if enough people put it in front of them, if enough articles are written, if enough agents do their jobs and say ‘hey, this is something you should look at. Let me get you a quote.’”
In addition to educating nonprofits on the need for cyber coverage, he said the biggest hurdle to greater penetration is the simple fact that many smaller nonprofits just can’t afford much insurance. “You can’t throw something new at these guys if it is not already in their budget. If they are not used to paying for it, it is going to be hard for a lot of them to find the money, so we have to work it in over a period of time. We need to get them used to the idea, get their board members on board and keep selling the product.”
He said that as more and more small nonprofits market themselves online, offer more services online, and find donors through online efforts, the more exposure they have to cyber threats.
“The bigger accounts are definitely starting to pick up on cyber. Several of my larger accounts have cyber liability. I’m trying to work that down into some of my midsize accounts. However, the very small nonprofits who do not see a need for general liability or workers’ compensation are not going to entertain cyber Liability at this time,” Zester said.
He said he has done business with NIF for years. “Where they are really productive for us is writing those accounts we have difficulty writing. Where we can’t find a standard company playing in the market, we will reach out to NIF because they have the capacity and interest to write the difficult and hard to place accounts,” Bill said.
