Operations
FAQs regarding the new insurance program offered by home office
What insurance is offered by the Centers for Spiritual Living’s insurance program?
The initial focus of this program will be on commercial insurance, which includes coverage for centers’ facilities and autos, ministers, staff, and volunteers. Specifically, commercial insurance includes property, general and professional liability, commercial autos, and workers compensation in addition to other types of commercial insurance that may be required such as director and officers, errors and omissions, camp and special event coverage. Please review the description of these insurance types under the link titled Description of Commercial Insurance. Once the majority of centers are properly covered, the long-term plan is to offer personal coverage insurance to practitioners.
Who is Wave Financial Partners?
Wave Financial Partners is an independent insurance agency based in Aurora, Colorado, that offers property and casualty insurance to over 3,000 businesses, not-for-profits and individuals. The company has agreements with over 38 insurance carriers, which ensures that its customers get the most comprehensive and cost-effective property and casualty insurance coverage available in the marketplace.
In what states is the insurance being offered?
Insurance is regulated on a state-by-state basis with each state requiring individuals and companies that sell insurance to become licensed in a state to conduct business. This process takes time and therefore the initial roll out of this program will be on a state-by-state basis. The states that insurance will be offered in during Stage One of the roll-out will be Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, and Utah. In addition, California, Florida, and Georgia will be added to Stage One once licensing is complete in those states.
What is the timing for additional states?
Given the large number of centers located in these initial states, we expect Stage One to take the majority of 2013 to complete. Therefore, we anticipate beginning Stage Two during the first half of 2014. At this time, we expect Stage Two to include Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Jersey.
What is the process for getting insurance through home office?
Securing the proper commercial insurance can be a daunting and laborious process. We realize this and are here to help. The first step in the process is the gathering of all the required documentation relating to your existing insurance coverage. We have developed a very detailed checklist to help you get started. For assistance with the checklist, email Nancy Mitchell-Edwards at insurance@csl.org or call 720-279-8983 and she will get back to you within 24 hours. (Please note, home office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday.) We realize that this checklist may be more detailed and require more effort on your part to gather the information than you have done in the past, but it is necessary to make sure that your center is properly covered. Once all the information has been gathered, we will review the documentation with Wave Financial Partners to make sure we have everything we need to properly quote your insurance. In some instances, we may contact you with additional questions or required additional documentation.
The positive result of all your efforts is that once the information is gathered, you won’t have to do it again as we will be able to use this information to shop your coverage in future years on an annual basis –always ensuring that you are receiving the most coverage for your money.
What can I do now?
To begin the process, check the expiration date of your existing policies and then send that expiration date to Nancy Mitchell-Edwards at insurance@csl.org or call 720-279-8983 and she will get back to you within 24 hours. (Please note, home office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday.) Once we have your expiration date, we will contact you 90 days prior to this date to get the process started.
How long does the process take?
Because commercial insurance is complicated and requires extensive documentation, it is necessary for you to have all of your completed information to us a minimum of 90 days prior to the expiration date your existing insurance policy. In many instances, commercial insurance policies have similar expiration dates of either January 1st or July 1st, so please check your existing policies and let us know.
Who do I contact regarding starting the process?
Please contact Nancy Mitchell-Edwards at insurance@csl.org or call 720-279-8983 and she will get back to you within 24 hours. (Please note, home office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday.) She will assist you in getting started and answer any initial questions you may have regarding this process.
When will insurance coverage be offered to practitioners?
Given the large number of centers and diversity of locations around the U.S., we expect to be offering commercial insurance during the calendar years of 2013-14. Once all centers are properly covered, we expect to roll out a plan wherein you will be able to offer personal insurance (e.g. home, auto, etc.) to your practitioners.
Building an endowment for your center
By Lynn Thomas, Executive Director lthomas@csl.org
Science of Mind Foundation
The Science of Mind Foundation is here to help your center create permanency and long-term financial stability through building your endowment. Building an endowment is best accomplished by encouraging your members to include your center in their estate plans and the Foundation will be providing tips in future issues of the newsletter to help you do that. To let us know if you have particular questions we can address, if you would like assistance now, or to request your copy of the Endowment & Planned Giving Primer, contact Lynn Thomas, Executive Director, Science of Mind Foundation 720-279-1623 or at lthomas@csl.org.
The new Disaster Relief Program – Helping those in need
By Dr. Jim Lockard DrJim@CSLSimi.org,
Coordinator, Disaster Relief Program
Spiritual Leader, Center for Spiritual Living Simi Valley in California
Disaster can strike at any moment and to help centers during their time of need, the Leadership Council approved a centralized disaster relief program for the Centers for Spiritual Living at its February 2013 meeting. This program will enable home office to provide immediate, consistent, and targeted support to member communities affected by disasters.
We are creating an ongoing fund to be used to support member communities affected by disasters, both initially and for the longer term as appropriate to the situation. This fund will be generated by donations from member communities and individuals prior to a disaster. All of our member communities will be asked to contribute to the establishment of this fund beginning in June and thereafter whenever the fund is depleted.
How can you help? We are suggesting that every community raise funds during June 2013 to create the initial fund. We are also inviting ministers, practitioners and laity who are experienced and qualified in disaster relief to serve on the committee. Specific skills we are looking for include direct disaster relief experience in a public safety capacity–police, fire, EMT; experience with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or with agencies working with FEMA, or with the Red Cross or similar agency, or state or local emergency management agencies; experience in commercial construction and remodeling, building supplies procurement or commercial insurance underwriting or claims; licensed mental health counselor or therapist with crisis and emergency counseling training and/or experience. Applications can be found on the internal website: csl.org/disaster-relief.html.
If you would like to help as an individual, you can send your donation to Centers for Spiritual Living, 573 Park Point Drive, Golden, CO 80401. Please put “Disaster Relief” on the memo line of your check.
