Open Forum

Our small museum is presented with another difficult issue with insurance.  Last time, it was insuring our 1925 Graham truck.  That issue never was resolved, so the truck is now a static display.  Now we've been hit with a huge increase in the insurance for our two buildings.  Last year, our premiums were almost $6,000. Our insurer has dropped us despite the fact that we have never had a claim in our 35-year history.  So far, our agent has only found one insurer that will cover us at a cost of over $20,000.  We understand that we are in a fire-prone area, but that is ridiculous!  We have a written evacuation plan and have acquired fireproof materials to wrap our archive building.  We have several volunteers who are retired Forest Service firemen who can wrap the building if the need ever arises.  That doesn't seem to make any difference.  We are looking into the California Fair Plan.  Our question is simple:  Are there any other museums out there who are having the same difficulties?  If so, what are you trying to do about this?  We were pretty gob-smacked by this since our total operating budget for the year is about $35,000.  If there are others out there, maybe we can get together and make a plea to the California Insurance Commissioner.  There's got to be some kind of answer to this.