How to Run a Church Insurance RFP: A Timeline for Executive Pastors

Oct 2

Most churches do not run an insurance RFP. They get a renewal notice, feel the increase, ask their broker to look around, and accept whatever comes back. For a congregation of 500 or more with a school, multiple buildings and twenty people on payroll, that is a sixty to a hundred and fifty thousand dollar line item being renewed on a handshake.

A real RFP is not complicated and it does not require a consultant. It requires a calendar, a document pack, and a decision about who approaches which carriers. Here is the process an executive pastor or business administrator can run without outside help.

Start 120 days out, not 30

Church carriers want complete submissions 30 to 60 days before the effective date, and they will not quote mid term or backdate. Working backward from that, the useful window opens four months before renewal.

Week	Task	Owner
120 to 105 days out	Pull the current policies, dec pages and the last three years of loss runs. Confirm the exact renewal date in writing	Administrator
105 to 90	Update the statement of values. Walk the buildings. Note roof, electrical, plumbing and alarm updates since the last renewal	Facilities
90 to 75	Select two or three brokers. Assign carriers to each in writing so nobody blocks a market the others need	Executive pastor
75 to 60	Issue the submission pack. Same documents to every broker on the same day	Administrator
60 to 30	Answer underwriter questions within 48 hours. This is where most submissions stall	Administrator
30 to 14	Receive and compare proposals on a like for like basis	Executive pastor and board
14 to 0	Decide, bind, and confirm certificates for the school, lenders and any lease	Executive pastor

Pick two or three brokers, not six

There is a strong temptation to invite everyone. It backfires. There are a limited number of carriers that genuinely write churches, and the first broker to submit to a carrier owns it for the term. Six brokers chasing the same five markets produces a scramble, a pile of declines, and less competition rather than more.

Two or three brokers, each with an assigned set of carriers, produces more real quotes than six brokers fighting over the same ones.

Want the market assignment done properly?

We will tell you which carriers are realistically open on your account and which are already committed, before you invite anyone to quote. Request a free church risk assessment or call 978.712.0111.

Send every broker the same pack on the same day

An RFP is only a comparison if everyone worked from identical information. The pack should include the current declarations pages for every line, three to five years of carrier produced loss runs, an updated statement of values by building, a payroll summary by job classification, your staff and volunteer counts, a list of vehicles, and a description of every program including the school, preschool, camps, athletics and any outside groups using the building.

If the school is a separate legal entity, say so explicitly in the pack. If it is not, say that too. It changes the structure of every quote you will receive.

Set the questions in advance

Decide before proposals arrive what you are actually comparing, otherwise the cheapest number wins by default. For a church at this scale the questions that matter most are usually these.

Is the valuation replacement cost, and is it agreed value?

A replacement cost policy with a coinsurance clause can still pay less than the full loss if the stated value is low. Agreed value removes that penalty. On a historic sanctuary this single term can be worth more than the entire premium difference between two proposals.

What are the abuse and molestation limits, per occurrence and aggregate?

At 500 plus attendance with children and youth programming, this is the coverage that decides whether a bad claim is survivable. Compare both numbers, not just the per occurrence figure.

How is the school treated?

Scheduled as its own operation with its own limits, or folded into the church general liability. Ask for it in writing.

What is excluded?

Ask each broker to list the five exclusions they think matter most for your church. The quality of that answer tells you more about the broker than the premium does.

Compare on structure before you compare on price

Lay the proposals side by side on limits, deductibles, valuation basis, abuse limits, school treatment and exclusions first. Only once those are level should the premium column decide anything. Two quotes that look eight thousand dollars apart are frequently not covering the same church.

Questions boards ask about running an RFP

Will our current broker be offended?

A competent commercial broker expects a periodic market test on an account this size and will often welcome it, because it either confirms their pricing or gives them leverage with their own carrier. If a broker reacts badly to a structured, fairly run process, that reaction is itself information.

How often should we do this?

A full RFP every three years is reasonable for most churches at this scale, with a lighter review in the intervening years. Doing it annually burns goodwill with carriers and can make underwriters reluctant to put out their best number.

Can we run this if we are mid term?

You can prepare, but you cannot quote. Carriers will not write mid term or backdate. Use the time to gather documents and confirm your renewal date, then start the clock 120 days out.

Who should own this internally?

One person, usually the business administrator or executive pastor, with the board informed rather than involved in the mechanics. Insurance RFPs die when they are run by committee, because underwriter questions sit unanswered while people wait for the next meeting.

What if we only get one quote back?

Then something went wrong upstream, and it is almost always one of three things: markets were already blocked, the submission was incomplete, or it arrived too late. All three are fixable next year if you record what happened this year.

The short version

Four months of lead time, a complete document pack sent to everyone on the same day, two or three brokers with assigned carriers, and a decision about what you are comparing before the numbers arrive. That is the whole process, and it is worth doing properly on a line item this size.

Not ready for a full review? Start with our church insurance checklist, a short list of the coverages and limits worth confirming on your current policy before you talk to anyone.

If you would like a second opinion on whether your renewal and broker process is properly structured for insurance purposes, contact us for a free church risk assessment.

Contact Hale Street Insurance at 978.712.0111 or [email protected] for a free church insurance review. You can also visit our church insurance page or request a quote to get started.

Jake Lubinski is the founder of Hale Street Insurance and a licensed insurance broker with years of church board and stewardship experience. Based in Boxford, MA he works with churches throughout Massachusetts and the US to build insurance and risk programs designed around how ministry actually operates. Reach Jake at [email protected] or 978.712.0111.

Jake Lubinski