What Types of Insurance Does a Booster Club Need?

What Insurance Should a Booster Club Have?

Most booster clubs should evaluate at least four major types of insurance: general liability, directors and officers liability, fidelity bond or embezzlement coverage, and property insurance. Depending on your club's activities, you may also need additional or optional protection for specific risks.

The most important concept is simple: there is no single "booster club insurance" policy that automatically protects your organization from everything that could go wrong.

Different types of insurance protect against different types of loss.

An injury at a fundraiser is different from a treasurer stealing money. A lawsuit over a board decision is different from spiritwear inventory being stolen. A damaged piece of equipment is different from a volunteer causing an accident while driving on club business.

Those risks may require different kinds of coverage.

Association Insurance Management (AIM), which specializes in coverage for parent and booster organizations, identifies four major insurance categories for organizations like booster clubs:

• General Liability Insurance
• Directors and Officers or Professional Liability Insurance
• Fidelity Bond or Embezzlement Insurance
• Property Insurance

You do not need to become an insurance expert to protect your club. You simply need to understand what each type of coverage is designed to do and ask whether your organization has important gaps.

1. General Liability Insurance for Booster Clubs

General liability insurance is designed to protect a booster club against certain claims involving bodily injury or property damage associated with covered activities.

This is the type of insurance many people think of first when they hear the word "liability."

Imagine that your booster club hosts a fundraiser and a visitor slips, falls, and is injured. Or imagine that club volunteers accidentally damage property while setting up an event. Depending on the circumstances and policy terms, general liability coverage may help protect the organization against covered claims.

For booster clubs that regularly organize events, interact with the public, operate concessions, host fundraisers, or use facilities owned by someone else, liability exposure is something the board should take seriously.

Does General Liability Cover Every Booster Club Activity?

No. This is one of the most important things a club leader should understand about insurance.

Having general liability insurance does not mean every activity your booster club can imagine is automatically covered.

Insurance policies contain exclusions, and higher-risk activities may be excluded or require special arrangements. A number of activities that may fall outside ordinary general liability coverage, including some motorized activities, water activities, organized athletic activities, weapons-related activities, zip lining, and other higher-risk events.

If your club is planning something unusual, do not guess. Contact your insurer before committing money, signing contracts, or advertising the event.

What Are Medical Payments?

Some liability policies may include or offer medical payments coverage that can help with certain out-of-pocket medical expenses after an accident. This type of coverage can be a supplement to liability protection rather than a substitute for it. That distinction matters because paying some medical expenses is not the same as protecting the club against a larger liability claim.

2. Directors and Officers Insurance for Booster Clubs

Directors and officers insurance, often called D&O insurance, is designed to protect against certain claims arising from decisions made while managing the organization.

Booster club boards make decisions all year long. They decide:

• How money will be spent
• Which vendors to use
• Which fundraisers to approve
• How bylaws will be interpreted
• Who can participate in certain programs
• How rules will be enforced
• How organization resources will be allocated

Most of those decisions are routine. But sometimes someone disagrees strongly enough to accuse the club or its leaders of acting improperly.

According to AIM's guidance, D&O or professional liability coverage can address certain claims involving alleged wrongful, misleading, or negligent acts, failure to follow bylaws, discrimination, misrepresentation, and other management-related decisions, subject to policy terms and exclusions.

This type of coverage is especially important because a claim may involve not only the organization but also individual board members or officers.

Is D&O Insurance the Same as General Liability?

No. A simple way to understand the difference is this:

General liability often focuses on things that happen, such as an injury or property damage. D&O coverage often focuses on decisions people make while managing the organization.

That is a simplified explanation, and actual coverage always depends on the policy, but it helps illustrate why a booster club may need both.

3. Fidelity Bond or Embezzlement Insurance

Fidelity bond or crime insurance is designed to protect a booster club against certain financial losses involving embezzlement, robbery, or theft.

This is particularly important for booster clubs because volunteers routinely handle money.

Your club may collect:

• Membership dues
• Donations
• Sponsorship payments
• Concession revenue
• Spiritwear revenue
• Fundraising proceeds
• Event fees
• Cash collected at school activities

Unfortunately, embezzlement is a frequent insurance claim among the organizations it serves. That makes fidelity coverage particularly relevant to booster club boards.

Unlike an outside burglary, embezzlement usually involves someone who was legitimately trusted with access to the organization's money. That might be an officer, volunteer, member, or another person entrusted with financial responsibilities.

Insurance cannot replace good financial controls, but it can provide another layer of protection when those controls fail.

Does Embezzlement Insurance Have Requirements?

It can. For example, AIM's fidelity bond coverage requires specific financial safeguards, including an annual audit or financial review and monthly review of bank reconciliations by someone without check-signing authority. Your own policy may have different requirements.

This is why the board should understand not just what coverage it purchased, but also what it must do to keep that coverage effective.

This article explores these financial controls in greater detail.

4. Booster Club Property Insurance

Property insurance can protect certain property owned or held by your booster club against covered losses such as fire, theft, vandalism, or certain weather-related damage.

Booster clubs can accumulate more property than board members realize.

Your organization might own:

• Spiritwear inventory
• Concession equipment
• Fundraising merchandise
• Auction items
• Raffle prizes
• Signs and banners
• Computers or electronics
• Tables, tents, displays, and event equipment
• Other supplies purchased with club funds

If that property is stolen or damaged, the club may otherwise have to replace it using money intended to support students.

AIM refers to its property protection as inland marine coverage and identifies certain organization-owned property, fundraising merchandise, auction items, and raffle prizes as examples of property that may be protected, subject to the policy.

Are There Other Types of Insurance a Booster Club Might Need?

Possibly. The four categories above address many common booster club risks, but your club's activities may create additional exposures.

AIM's materials discuss several optional or situational types of protection, including coverage involving media liability, abusive conduct, hired and non-owned automobiles, extended accident medical expenses, and other risks.

You do not need to purchase every possible type of insurance simply because it exists. Instead, ask whether your club actually creates the risk the coverage is designed to address.

Media and Social Media Risks

Booster clubs frequently publish photos, logos, graphics, names, and information on websites and social media.

AIM offers optional media liability protection addressing certain accidental issues involving photos, copyrighted material, trademarks, confidential information, or misrepresentation.

If your organization maintains an active website, social media presence, email program, or other communications platform, ask your insurer whether media-related risks are included or excluded.

Volunteers Driving for the Booster Club

Transportation can create another coverage question.

A volunteer may use a personal vehicle to pick up supplies, transport equipment, or perform another task for the club. Your organization might also rent a van or hire transportation for an event.

AIM offers hired and non-owned auto liability as an optional upgrade for certain exposures involving hired vehicles or personal vehicles used for organization business.

Do not assume the booster club's general liability insurance automatically covers automobile-related claims. If volunteers regularly drive on club business, discuss that exposure with your insurance provider.

How Do You Know What Insurance Your Booster Club Needs?

Start with your actual activities rather than an insurance shopping list. Once a year, have the board ask:

1. What events do we organize? Consider fundraisers, banquets, concessions, races, carnivals, auctions, and other public activities.
2. How much money do we handle? Look at your bank balances, annual revenue, cash collections, online payments, and the number of people who have financial access.
3. What property do we own? Include inventory, equipment, supplies, merchandise, and prizes.
4. Who makes decisions for the organization? Consider board members, officers, committee chairs, and other volunteers with management responsibilities.
5. Do volunteers drive on club business? Think about supply runs, equipment transportation, rented vehicles, and other transportation activities.
6. Do we hire outside vendors? Caterers, entertainers, transportation providers, contractors, and other vendors may introduce additional risks.
7. Have our activities changed? A policy purchased several years ago may no longer reflect what the club does today.

Then compare those risks with the coverage your club actually has. This process does not require an MBA, law degree, or insurance license. It requires a board willing to ask practical questions.

Do Not Assume the School's Insurance Covers Everything

Because booster clubs work so closely with schools, leaders sometimes assume the school's insurance automatically protects the club. That assumption can create a serious coverage gap.

Your booster club may be a separate organization even if it exists solely to support a school team, activity, or program. Ask the school or district exactly what coverage applies to your club and its events. Then compare that answer with your own insurance. If the answer is vague, keep asking until someone can clearly explain who and what is insured.

Review Your Booster Club Insurance Every Year

Insurance should not be something the board purchases once and forgets. Booster clubs change. A club that once held one fundraiser a year might now operate concessions every weekend. A small spiritwear program may have grown into thousands of dollars of inventory. The club may have purchased equipment, begun using vehicles, expanded its website, or started hosting larger events.

Leadership changes too. Because booster club officers often rotate every year or two, institutional knowledge can disappear quickly. Make insurance review part of your annual board transition.

Keep policy documents where future officers can find them. Record contact information for the insurance provider. Make sure more than one person understands what policies the club has and when they renew.

Using a centralized management platform such as BoosterSpark can help clubs maintain organizational records and continuity as volunteers come and go. Insurance documents, financial records, board information, and other important club information should not disappear when one volunteer leaves.

Ask the Right Questions Instead of Becoming an Insurance Expert

Booster club volunteers have enough responsibilities already. Nobody should expect the president or treasurer to become an insurance professional. Your job is to recognize the major risks and know when to ask for help. If your club already has insurance, ask your provider to explain each policy in plain English:

• What does this policy protect?
• Who does it protect?
• What are the major exclusions?
• What are the coverage limits?
• What requirements must the club follow?
• Are our current events and activities covered?
• Are there important risks we have not insured?

If your organization does not have insurance, consider speaking with a provider that regularly works with volunteer school-support organizations. Association Insurance Management specializes in organizations including booster clubs and can help your board determine which types of protection fit its activities.

BoosterSpark encourages clubs to treat insurance the same way they treat good bylaws, accurate financial records, and responsible financial controls: as part of running a well-managed organization that can continue supporting students year after year.