AmeriCorps Programs

Insurance requirements for organizations that receive AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, or other national service grant funding are commonly misunderstood. Conservation United Co-Founder, Chris Baker, began his career in conservation and nonprofit service as an AmeriCorps member in 1997. As an AmeriCorps alum, each organization Chris managed throughout his career was grounded in national service, engaging AmeriCorps members as a defining organizational ethos. Conservation United has an irreplaceable depth of knowledge surrounding the distinctions between AmeriCorps state grants and national direct, the relationship of CNCS to AmeriCorps, the classifications of AmeriCorps participants as “members” rather than employees, the function of “living allowances” and implications for workers compensation, background check requirements and potential positive impact on insurance premium, grantor versus subgrantee obligations, states in which grantees are required to provide workers compensation insurance, etc. Unfortunately, AmeriCorps and other national service programs can experience denied insurance claims when brokers fail to educate and inform carriers about the unique participant status of AmeriCorps members from a perspective of credibility and knowledge. Conservation United bridges this common gap in understanding by representing AmeriCorps programs to our carriers and ensuring that your organization’s support for national service will not be rationalized as cause for denying insurance claims. AmeriCorps programs should use a broker who specializes in insuring national service. Conservation United is the only logical choice.