Nine foundations commit $25 million to Nonprofits Insurance Alliance, which insures more than 25,000 nonprofits
The Santa Cruz, Calif., group of nonprofit insurers, which covers only 501(c)(3) organizations, announced the support on Sept. 15. Its release does not say whether the money comes as grants or as investments.
Santa Cruz. Nine foundations have joined to provide $25 million to Nonprofits Insurance Alliance, a group of nonprofit insurers in Santa Cruz, Calif., that sells property and liability coverage only to 501(c)(3) organizations. The alliance, which insures more than 25,000 nonprofits in 32 states and the District of Columbia, announced the support on Sept. 15.
The foundations are the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment, The Kresge Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the Soros Economic Development Fund, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
What the money is for
The release says nonprofits have struggled in recent years to find affordable, comprehensive insurance in the commercial market, and that insurance is an operating requirement without which they cannot provide their services. It says the support will let the alliance continue to be a buffer against unpredictable market changes during a period of rapid growth.
“Commercial insurers have a model that benefits from going in and out of markets to bolster profits and shed perceived risk. That works fine for them, but it does not work for nonprofits and their insurance brokers, who need to scramble when coverage is unexpectedly nonrenewed.”
The release does not say how the $25 million is divided among the foundations, over what period it will be paid, or whether it comes as grants, loans or another kind of investment. It describes Kimberlee Cornett, director of impact investments at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as a leader of the group, and quotes Aifuwa Ehigiator, an investments officer for program-related investments, for The California Endowment.
Built on foundation money before
The alliance grew out of the liability insurance crisis of the mid-1980s, when many insurers refused affordable coverage to nonprofits they considered high risk. Its first company, Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California, wrote its first policy in November 1989, after six foundations lent it $1.3 million; the loans were repaid with interest, the alliance says. Two foundations later gave $5 million each to capitalize its national insurer and an affiliated reinsurer, and the national insurer began writing policies outside California in 2001.
At the end of 2025, the alliance had total surplus of $177.8 million, it says. It insures only organizations the IRS recognizes as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, not groups with other designations such as 501(c)(4) or 501(c)(6). It sells its policies only through licensed insurance brokers, and commercial general liability is the base coverage it requires.
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