Political instability, the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters have increased the risk of travel for nonprofits, which face significant liability if employees or volunteers suffer harm while traveling on behalf of their organizations.

Legal disputes over travel-related claims can have costly outcomes — the median cost insurers paid for a single fatality was $5.1 million in 2019.¹

Business travel is rebounding from the pandemic, as organizations report having restored at least 75% of their pre-pandemic travel budgets.² With personnel on the road again, nonprofits need a travel risk management strategy to safeguard their staff, volunteers and organization.

Strategies to manage risk

Nonprofits can reduce their travel-related risk exposure through thoughtful preparation, meticulous coordination and robust insurance protection. The following three strategies can help protect people and the organization they serve:

1. Know the risks. Nonprofit personnel are more likely than corporate travelers to visit remote locales or dangerous countries, so it’s important to evaluate local conditions, travel protocols and confirm travel routes beforehand. The organization can build a risk and security matrix of its destinations, rating them by degree of medical, natural disaster or physical security risk. Travel to high-risk locations should require travelers to obtain executive approval and complete pre-deployment training.

2. Provide single-source executive assistance. Travel is the nexus for several different types of insurance, one or more of which could be triggered by a single incident. Although travel-related insurances often include executive assistance for services ranging from evacuation to lost luggage retrieval, the service providers can vary, causing confusion for less-experienced travelers. Hire a single provider to handle all travel emergencies. This should include offering guidance, prioritizing incidents by event type and severity and communicating with executive assistance services, insurers, families and management to ensure travelers receive the help they need quickly and efficiently. These providers also can provide important additional services including smartphone applications and GPS positioning, travel itinerary tracking and emergency SMS notifications.

3. Consider the insurance implications. Insurance products exist to address such risks as occupational injury (including endemic disease), third-party liabilities, out-of-country medical expenses, accidental death and dismemberment and security threats such as kidnap, extortion, hijacking and detention. Whether packaged in combination or purchased as stand-alone policies, these policies often work in tandem and are not mutually exclusive. As with all contracts, the fine print governs outcomes. Nonprofits must confirm each category of personnel — board members, employees, volunteers and independent contractors — has the appropriate coverage for the medical, natural disaster or security risks to which they are exposed. Review exclusions for preexisting health conditions and territorial restrictions, including war risk destinations.

Contact HUB International’s nonprofit insurance experts to learn more about how to protect your organization from travel risks.

¹ Advisen, “‘Social inflation’ by the numbers: Advisen data spotlight,” March 26, 2020.

² Deloitte, >Return to a world transformed: How the pandemic is reshaping corporate travel,” August 2, 2021.