Is there community interest in Foundation insurance

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

Last year the GNOME Foundation purchased D&O and General Liability
insurance, for which we are paying an annual cost of about $2,000.
However, our current General Liability coverage only covers claims in
the United States.

I have been doing research to find out what our options might be for
also getting international General Liability and Accident insurance and
have been finding that it is considerably more expensive.  So far, I
have received two quotes:

1) The first quote we received was from ACE and is for $13,457.

   Premium recap:

   - Commercial General Liability $6,150
   - Workers Compensation $6,150
   - Volunteer Accident: $1,557

2) The second quote is for $3,393.00 and a broker fee of $400:

   Premium recap:

   - Commercial General Liability $1,000
   - Auto Liability $50
   - Voluntary Compensation and Employers Liability $950
   - Travel Accident and Sickness $1,393

The main difference between these two quotes is that the first includes
coverage for all participants, while the second only includes coverage
for Foundation employees and those who receive travel subsidy.

Note that it is possible to pick and choose what type of insurance we
want.  So, for example, if we wanted to purchase option #2 and only
wanted the "Commercial General Liability Insurance", then it would cost
just $1,000.  Also note the above are quotes, and the actual cost may
vary a bit after filling out paperwork.  I can provide more information
about the details of these quotes if there is interest.

The advantage of getting such insurance is that if there were any
sort of injury or accident that occurred at any international Foundation
sponsored event, then it would be possible to help the individual, and
also avoid any possible claims.  The largest risk of claims are from
people who receive travel subsidy from the GNOME Foundation and
therefore could be considered to have a business relationship with the
Foundation.

Aside from the cost, the downside of getting such insurance is that it
would make the process of organizing international events more
cumbersome.  All the insurance companies I have talked to want us to
provide them with an accurate list of events and number of participants
well before the event.  Many GNOME Foundation events are currently
scheduled in a more ad-hoc fashion, with the location and participants
often decided at the last minute.  So, if we wanted to make sure
international events are covered, this would obviously add process,
complexity, and cost to arranging future events.

Due to the cost, our budget, the economy, the fact that we have never
had any sort of claim in the past, and concern about adding complexity
to arranging future events has caused the board to think that we
probably do not want to get this sort of insurance.

However, the board felt that it would be good to pass this information
along to the larger Foundation community and get feedback on this.  If
people think there is value in getting more insurance coverage like
this, then it would be good to hear that input.

An alternative idea, which I think would help to reduce the risk to the
Foundation would be to require individuals who receive travel subsidy
from the Foundation to get their own insurance if they are not already
covered (e.g. people who work for companies typically are covered by
their employer already).  If we were to take this option, then we would
probably need to update the "GNOME Travel Subsidy Approval" so that
individuals who get subsidy sign off that they agree to getting their
own coverage and waiving the Foundation of any responsibility to
provide insurance.  This seems reasonable, and would be more cost
effective than trying to insure events overall.

Thoughts?

Brian