Hello, friends. Here's a summary of feedback from colleagues about insurance for museum contractors. Additional thoughts welcome!
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General liability insurance - The majority of museum contractors reported having this.
- Two contractors shared that they have this for $325/year from State Farm.
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Professional liability insurance (PLI) - Only some museum contractors have PLI, also known as Errors and Omissions. The type of work they do determines if PLI is beneficial or necessary. Some clients require PLI, such as government contracts. Some people mentioned that PLI is expensive. For insurance providers, two contractors mentioned Hiscox and one mentioned Chubb.
For example, contractors mentioned that these types of work make PLI worthwhile for them:
- Executive search (their main reason for PLI), major fundraising initiatives, strategic planning, IT/CRM/business intelligence
- "Design" consultants, especially architects and exhibit planners & fabricators
- Project management, writing & administering contracts
- Education programs, exhibit research & writing, evaluation, access
These groups said their work doesn't benefit much from PLI, so they typically don't carry it:
- Graphic design
- "Management advisory" consultants - sometimes they have PLI, but less often than "design" consultants
- DEI and metadata (said they looked into PLI, but the insurance company didn't really know how to handle their specializations)
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Auto Insurance
- Contractors might look into adding an Auto Coverage Policy for work travel that's excluded by their personal auto insurance. Or they might add a business use classification to their existing personal auto policy.
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Commercial Liability
- One contractor mentioned having this off and on, but they didn't provide more details.
Hopefully it's helpful to see the responses gathered like this. I'm not an insurance expert, so additional thoughts welcome!
Also, if anyone has access to a copy of "Museum Mercenary" by Rebecca Migdal, I'm curious if you think the chapter on insurance is helpful. My library hasn't been able to find a copy. Thank you!
Warm regards,
Crystal
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Crystal Boyd
Curator
Golden Valley Historical Society
Burnsville MN
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