Breaking through liability fears for volunteers

When we were talking about finding more volunteers in a virtual session with Radically Rural, some people brought up liability as a barrier to all kinds of volunteer projects and events.

I get why this came up. Somebody in your town probably brought up liability when you shared an idea, too.

“You want to let people tour empty buildings? What about liability??”

Or, “You can’t let the kids play human foosball! The liability!!”

After you hear that sort of thing enough times, you might realize it’s just a dodge. Too often, the person bringing it up actually wants to oppose your idea, but they don’t want to just say so. So they fall back on liability.

Because if they were legitimately concerned and trying to be helpful, they wouldn’t bark “What about liability??” They would ask, “How can we get insurance coverage to reduce the risk?”

And that’s a question we can answer. Here are some options.

Ask your local agents for quotes.
Ask about event coverage for the whole year as an organization.
Also ask about short term event coverage, and compare with sources like https://www.theeventhelper.com/ (hat tip to Cheryl Lawson of Tulsa)
Go find a sponsor to cover the insurance cost.

Now, go have fun with your project or event.

Deb and I wrote up all our secrets from the volunteers session I mentioned, and we made you a 12 minute video/audio called “Find More Volunteers”