SE Uplift knows that community work often cannot happen unless insurance is available!
SE Uplift understands that insurance can be a barrier to great work happening in the community. Therefore, we strive to make this complicated issue as easy and accessible as possible. SE Uplift provides directors & officers and general liability insurance coverage for most of our Neighborhood Associations. And we can be a resource for community groups seeking insurance in partnership with a Neighborhood Association, or who need a policy or activity coverage on their own.
Who is Covered?
Community Groups who Partner with an Insured Neighborhood Association
Our insurer currently extends coverage only to neighborhood associations listed as additionally insured under SE Uplift’s General Liability insurance policy. However, you can partner with a covered neighborhood association to co-host your event or project. If a neighborhood association agrees to co-host your activity, their insurance will cover your event.
FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
1) Contact the neighborhood association where your activity will take place at least four weeks before the start date (they meet monthly). Request to be added to their board meeting agenda to present your activity and ask for their vote to co-host it.
2) Ensure the neighborhood association records their vote to co-host your activity in their meeting minutes.
3) Collaborate with the neighborhood association to submit a completed activity questionnaire to SE Uplift, required by our insurer. See the “How to Request a Certificate of Insurance” section below.
4) SE Uplift will obtain a “certificate of insurance” from our insurer, which will be provided to the neighborhood association to share with you.
5) Acknowledge SE Uplift’s support by placing the SE Uplift logo and the Office of Community & Civic Life logo on all printed and web-based materials associated with your event or project. See “Acknowledgement of SE Uplift” section below.
If you are fiscally sponsored by SE Uplift but NOT a neighborhood association, contact the Fiscal Sponsorship Manager to explore your options. We can help connect you with a neighborhood association to co-host your activity or direct you to insurers for a quote or coverage.
District 3 Neighborhood Associations
SE Uplift’s insurer will extend our General Liability and Directors and Officers Insurance coverage to Neighborhood Associations in our district coalition area in most situations. These groups are covered for community activities and events such as meetings, clean-ups, picnics, and art walks, garage sales, banner hangings, and more. Neighborhood Associations that are designated as 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations according to the IRS, are recommended to procure their own insurance.
Annually in May, neighborhood associations are required to provide SE Uplift with a list of anticipated events and activities so they may be listed in our insurance policy. Large events, or activities that carry a higher risk for injury, may incur additional costs that may be passed onto the neighborhood association.
FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
See “How to Request a Certificate of Insurance” section below.
What is Covered?
Banners & Projects
Meetings & Events
Directors & Officers
SE Uplift’s liability insurance is required when hanging street banners either for an event or permanently as a neighborhood identifier. In order to hang banners, applicants must acquire a permit through the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and the utility company where the banners will be displayed.
Use our banner permit toolkit to guide you through the permitting process. The toolkit includes PBOT’s Cross Street Banner Application Instructions and Portland General Electric’s (PGE) permit instructions and application.
Use SE Uplift’s standard general liability policy for low-risk events, meetings, and community activities if you are a neighborhood association or wish to partner with a neighborhood association.
If your neighborhood association plans a large event with over 300 participants, music, alcohol, or other high-risk activities, be aware that additional coverage may incur extra costs, which are passed on to your group.
Secure Abuse and Molestation insurance for any activity involving children or vulnerable adults. Contact the SE Uplift Executive Director if this applies to your activity. Do not allow a volunteer to be the sole adult supervising or interacting with children or vulnerable adults.
Use SE Uplift’s Directors and Officers insurance for all SE Uplift and eligible district neighborhood association board members. Oregon-incorporated nonprofits are generally protected from lawsuits as long as they comply with their mission and bylaws. However, your organization may still face a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit.
Federal and State SLAPP Suit laws protect you, acting within your volunteer capacity, from being sued in these instances. Use our Directors and Officers insurance to access funds necessary to prove the suit falls under SLAPP suit protections. Neighborhood association are responsible for keeping SE Uplift informed of any changes to your board roster. Your Secretary should promptly inform SE Uplift of any changes.
Acknowledgement of SE Uplift
Place the SE Uplift logo and the Office of Community and Civic Life logo on all printed and web-based materials associated with your project, activities, or event if you receive insurance, funds, support, or additional resources from SE Uplift. This includes, but is not limited to, public announcements, media releases, newsletters, email announcements, event flyers and posters, event programs, annual reports, website pages, on-site signage, and social media announcements.
Acknowledge SE Uplift support in press releases, newspaper articles, curtain speeches, and other applications where logos are not applicable or if space and format do not permit the use of the SE Uplift logo. Use the following statement: “[name of project] is made possible in part through funding from the City of Portland Office of Community & Civic Life and SE Uplift Neighborhood Coalition.”
How To Request a "Certificate of Insurance"
Ensure your events and activities are covered in case of loss or accident by securing proof of commercial general liability (GL) insurance with a certificate of insurance. This certificate is typically required for events held on City-owned property, such as parks or roadways, or on private property like churches, schools, or rented venues. SE Uplift can assist neighborhood associations and groups partnering with them in securing a certificate of insurance for their activities.
FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
1) Download and complete the special events questionnaire or the special events with liquor questionnaire. Sign and date the “Insured Signature” line at the end.
2) Email the completed and signed form to SE Uplift’s Executive Director at least TWO WEEKS before your event.
3) SE Uplift will submit the request to our insurer, who will issue the certificate of insurance demonstrating that your activity is covered. You will receive this certificate by email.
TIP: If you are applying for other permits – through Portland Parks & Recreation or Portland Bureau of Transportation, we recommend that you submit the questionnaire at least 1 month prior to the event. This ensures you have the required insurance documentation when you apply for your permit. For your reference, we have provided the links to commonly needed event permits for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R).
Insurance Frequently Asked Questions
General Liability insurance typically covers NA-hosted or co-hosted meetings, national night out events, picnics, garage sales, clean ups, littler pick-up and other small scale community events under 300 people (e.g. Harvest Celebration). For now, these types of activates are still common and are covered.
The NA would need to host or co-host the event for it to be covered. If it is a large event like a movie in the park or more than 300 people or contains high-risk activities like trampolines, a bouncy house, alcohol, or music, you will need to issue a request to have this special event covered. Special events can cost anywhere from $50 – $800 per event.
Events that include high risk activities. According to the insurance provider that typically includes: alcohol, music, over 300 people, trampolines, races and competitive sports, bouncy houses, and other dangerous activities.
Events and activities on City-owned property like parks or in the road right-of-way typically require proof of general liability insurance. Ideally, the NA will know what events they have coming up in May when SEUL prepares to renew its insurance policy and make the request at that time. However, we understand that things come up and you may need to request a certificate mid-year. Please give SEUL at least two weeks to secure the certificate. It can take anywhere from 2-15 days to get a certificate depending on a number of factors.
There are three main changes in coverage. First, the City of Portland requires Abuse and Molestation insurance for organizations working with children or vulnerable adults. Second, insurance companies are getting stricter about who and what they will cover for the organizations we extend our coverage to. Lastly, as Neighborhood Associations (NAs) become independent 501(c)(3) entities, insurance companies recommend that these NAs get their own coverage. As long as the activities of the NAs have not changed, SEUL will continue to extend our coverage until our insurance provider says otherwise.
If it were up to us we would! However, our insurance provider only allows us to extend our insurance to groups and activities that SE Uplift has some level of ”control” over – the logic being that we would then also be able to mange the “risk” (e.g. say no to activities that involve tightropes and swimming with sharks). That said, we do not want this to be a barrier for great projects and events so please check in with staff early if you have an upcoming event or project that needs coverage.
No, we do this as a courtesy and as part of our Liaison Program. Neither the ONI Standards nor our grant agreement with the City of Portland require us to provide D&O Coverage. This benefit is at the discretion of the board of directors and staff to implement.
Insurance company requirements do not align perfectly with SEUL’s desire to provide it to everyone we can, nor does it align with our grant agreement, city codes or the ONI Standards. The insurance provider is not governed by any of these other requirements and SEUL has to work within the parameters of our insurance provider to provide the best coverage we can to meet our grant agreement, ONI Standards, and our mission.
Yes, SEUL’s Grant Agreement with Civic Life requires that anything produced/provided using funds from the grant (i.e. insurance) include their logo. Download an include a SEUL and OCCL Logo to add to your promotional materials.