Property insurance covers church buildings, including chapels, camps, schools, and private residences occupied by the clergy. Appurtenant structures can be covered, as can outdoor signs and stained glass. Many other types of property can be covered upon request. Coverage may be written on a replacement cost or actual cash value basis, and there is no coinsurance penalty as in most other commercial insurance policies.

Liability insurance covers church operations, including those off the church premises such as camps, retreats or athletic events. Church schools can be covered, as well as commercial church operations such as radio or TV broadcasting. And, Alfa's Church Policy extends coverage to persons acting on behalf of the church, such as deacons, elders, employees, officers, Sunday School teachers and others.

What property is covered?

Alfa has two forms to choose from listing your church's property coverage:

• The Special Form covers risks of direct physical loss, with certain policy exclusions.
• The Standard Form names the specific perils for which coverage is provided — fire, lightning, windstorm, hail, explosion, smoke, aircraft, vehicles, riot, civil commotion, vandalism, or malicious mischief, sprinkler leakage, sonic boom and glass breakage.

Additional property coverages

Your policy includes additional coverages for special or unusual exposures faced by a church. There is no additional charges for these coverages. A few of these additional coverages and coverage expenses are:

• Money and securities ($2,500)^*
• Employee dishonesty ($5,000)^*
• Newly acquired buildings (up to $250,000 for 30 days)
• Personal property while temporarily away from the premises (up to $15,000 include theft)
• Property in transit (up to $15,000)
• Accounts receivable (up to $5,000)
• Valuable Papers (up to $5,000)
• Extra expenses to resume normal operations
• Arson reward ($7,500)
• Fire extinguisher recharge ($5,000)
• Pollutant clean up and removal ($10,000)
• Business personal property temporarily in portable storage units ($10,000)
• Fire department service charge ($2,500)
• Electronic data (up to $10,000 annually)

^*Can be raised for a slight additional premium.

What liabilities are covered?

Alfa's policy provides coverage for bodily injury, property damage and personal injury losses. Personal injury provides coverage for some offenses that might ordinarily be overlooked in an insurance policy, such as libel, slander, invasion of privacy, wrongful eviction, malicious prosecution, etc.

Medical payments

Coverage is included to pay medical expenses arising from church activities including medical expenses for athletic participants, volunteer workers and students. These coverages are excess over any other insurance available.

What optional coverages are offered?

Many optional coverages are also available at a slight additional premium to tailor the policy to meet your church's specifications. Such coverages include loss of tuition fees, clergy professional liability, sexual misconduct liability, cemetery professional liability, teacher's liability for corporal punishment, hired car coverage and several others. Alfa can also separate policies to round out your church insurance program, such as automobile or umbrella.

Commercial umbrella policy (optional)

Alfa's commercial umbrella policy is a separate policy that provides additional insurance to cover large or unexpected losses. This policy is designed to pay for liability losses that could seriously affect your ability to continue under normal circumstances. The purpose of a commercial umbrella is to supplement the coverages found in your church, auto and employers liability policies (if all of these exposures exist). The minimum coverage amount available is $1,000,000. For more information on the commercial umbrella policy, contact your Alfa agent.

What special features does Alfa's church insurance offer?

Call Alfa today to compare your current church insurance coverage to ours. The church policy offered by Alfa contains several notable coverage items that may not be included in your current church policy.

Coinsurance - We encourage and expect your church to adequately insure your property exposures. There is no coinsurance penalty that will reduce the amount of your loss payment, however, if you are underinsured.

Volunteer labor - Coverage for medical expenses is extended to include bodily injury to authorized volunteer workers while performing maintenance, repair, alteration, demolition or new construction at the insured premises.

Money and securities - If this optional coverage is selected, Alfa's policy anticipates the higher offerings that are often collected around Christmas and Easter holiday periods, and coverage is automatically doubled during these times.

Personal property of the clergy - Coverage for personal effects of the clergy is limited to $2,500 if the personal effects are unrelated to church business. Any clergy-owned property that is used in church business, however, is fully covered up to the "Business Personal Property" covered amount. This is important for the clergy who maintain libraries of their own books on the church premises.

Vacancy - We recognize that churches occasionally experience interim periods in which a residence premises maintained for the clergy may be vacant. Our policy contains an exception to the vacancy clause, which assures full protection even during such periods as long as the church is actively seeking new clergy.

Trees, shrubs, lawns and plants - Our policy includes coverage for the often overlooked peril of theft. Our limit of $1,000 for any one tree, shrub or plant is also higher than many other policies.

^*Some exclusions apply. All coverages are subject to deductibles and policy limits. This is not an insurance policy. It is intended only to provide a general description of Alfa Insurance^® and/or its product lines and services. An actual policy contains the specific details of the coverages, conditions and exclusions. Your Alfa agent can explain the policy and benefits and answer any questions you may have before you buy.