Every child deserves a quality education and the best chance to be successful in their lives. All too often, accessibility, geography, and affordability often present obstacles to those opportunities.
Nonprofit school foundations can help support their community’s schools, teachers, students, and their families with educational programming, on-campus support, scholarships, health initiatives, after-school/summer programs, and much more.
While school curriculums may be standardized, the children that these nonprofits serve are anything but — so school foundations must design their missions to fit their community’s specific needs.
With such diverse missions, nonprofit school foundations have all different types of specific needs when it comes to their insurance coverage.
What do nonprofit school foundations need most from their insurance?
Meet three nonprofit school foundations
We talked with a trio of nonprofit school foundations that NIA insures about their missions to serve the students of their communities — and how those missions determine what they need most from their insurance coverage to keep those missions going.
In their own words…
Communities In Schools of Northwest Michigan (Mancelona, MI)
“Communities In Schools (CIS) is a nonprofit organization focused on empowering students to stay in school and succeed in life. We place dedicated site coordinators in schools to provide students with the support of a caring, dependable adult every day.
Through personalized support and resources, we help students overcome obstacles, stay engaged, and achieve their full potential.
We provide a variety of supports and services, including school-wide approaches that aspire to elevate all learners, targeted group support designed for students with a common need, and individualized support plans that are customized to a student’s individual needs and created alongside students and their families.
Basic needs, social emotional health, health initiatives, academic assistance, after-school and summer programming, and mentoring, as well as college and career readiness are just some of the supports that we provide through connecting students to the resources they need.”
— Haley Nelson, External Relations Coordinator, Communities In Schools of Northwest Michigan
Petaluma Educational Foundation (Petaluma, CA)
“Petaluma Educational Foundation’s vision is to create impactful educational opportunities for all students in our community. Our mission is to fund programs that promote critical thinking, creativity, student well-being, and lifelong learning.
We provide grants for schools that fund curriculum-based programs across all subject areas and grade levels, plus scholarships for graduating seniors that plan to attend two-year colleges, four-year colleges, or vocational programs after high school.”
— Maureen Highland, Executive Director, Petaluma Educational Foundation
South High Alumni and Friends (Denver, CO)
“We support the alumni and students of Denver South High School. This year, our focus is on the “Giving Grocery,” a student support system within the high school, for students and families with food insecurity and basic needs insufficiencies.
We raise donations and support for the students as well as support the needs of the alumni, maintain a museum, and support the brick-and-mortar memories of the school building. We had the building added as a historical listing of Denver, CO for its 100th anniversary in 2026.”
— Pam Walters, Treasurer, South High Alumni and Friends
What did these nonprofit school foundations need most from their insurer?
Quality coverage at a fair price
“We needed a company that provides the insurance we need at a competitive price.”
— Maureen Highland, Petaluma Educational Foundation
“Our greatest need from an insurer was fair and equitable pricing.”
— Haley Nelson, Communities In Schools of Northwest Michigan
Consistent coverage and easy renewals
For Village Arts and Education Foundation, the most important things are “proper and consistent coverage, as well as ease of renewal.”
— Nancy Scheuermann, Village Arts and Education Foundation
An understanding of a small nonprofit’s needs
South High Alumni and Friends needed an insurer that “understood our needs as a small nonprofit and had programs to supply us with the proper coverage. The cost was a big factor for us, with no employees and less than $40,000 of operating capital each year.”
— Pam Walters, South High Alumni and Friends
How did these school foundations hear about NIA?
Researching insurance providers
“The minimum rate of our previous insurance premiums was double of what our need was. We are a small nonprofit and need to be financially responsible to be able to serve the large needs we have.
I researched insurance companies and found NIA as a leader in nonprofit insurance in the country.”— Pam Walters, South High Alumni and Friends
Broker’s recommendation
“We learned about NIA from our longtime insurance agent, Daniel Powers, with Ramatici Insurance in Petaluma, CA.”
— Maureen Highland, Petaluma Educational Foundation
Since becoming an NIA member, how has that relationship helped these school foundations?
Added benefits and resources
“The NIA website offers added benefits and resources to support our needs. As a nonprofit, expenses are tight, and we do not always have the resources to engage outside agencies to ask questions.
Still, with NIA, we can usually find the answer we are looking for or the appropriate source to pursue information.”— Maureen Highland, Petaluma Educational Foundation
“NIA catered to our exact needs…”
“By changing to NIA, we saved nearly 50% on our premium and got better coverage. NIA catered to our exact needs. We were pleased to have discovered them.
Saving money on insurance meant we could further support the Food Bank with the school. The $1,000 saved could go directly to the students for food.”— Nancy Scheuermann, Village Arts and Education Foundation
Stability and transparency
“NIA’s stability and transparency as an insurance provider have helped our nonprofit greatly.”
— Haley Nelson, Communities In Schools of Northwest Michigan
School foundations need an insurer that values their mission.
Why do nonprofit school foundations get their insurance coverage from NIA?
Simple: School foundations want insurance that fits. Insurance that fits them, fits their mission, fits their specialized needs, and fits their budget. NIA provides coverage that’s dependable and affordable, tailored to their needs, and includes resources that can help them thrive.
After all, when you’re got a mission to support education, you want an insurer that’s at the top of its class.
