What is the difference between insurance purchasing and risk financing?

Most nonprofits purchase insurance and transfer the risk to carriers, paying sizable premiums and losing control over the overall outcome of claims, let alone having no real-time view of the pertinent data (exposures - total insurance values, COPE information | experience (claims as knows as insured losses).

For more than 50 years dioceses and archdioceses have had the opportunity to not rely just on insurance per se (some of it forced on them by the reduction in carriers willing to insure dioceses). Rather we have developed new ways to finance the risk across the portfolio of coverages, retaining expected losses and coming together with other dioceses, similarly assuming expected losses, through this national group of owners together assuming that first layer of excess coverage (above expected losses). Each member diocese is BPIC has unique appetite for risk taking but all member dioceses transfer risk above their expected losses and BPIC is there to organize a group retention program all-lines that can take the structured risk financing program of a diocese all the way up to $1 million reducing risk transfer through the power of a group retention program.

Today BPIC members as owners each have surplus accumulated as part of BPIC's group surplus and a growing loss fund on their own retentions to fund future expected losses (and invest in their respective risk management program)

Most insureds look vertically at a property tower, a liability tower, a special coverage for D&O, Sexual Abuse, E&O, an Auto tower sometimes combined with GL, Workers Compensation tower, etc.  BPIC combines these many coverages horizontally under one policy form - short tail and long tail exposures - as one funding portfolio that sits above individual retentions on each of these lines - while pursuing qualified self-insured status for Auto and Workers Compensation.

BPIC has an underwriting team that specializes in rating and pricing this complex, customized all-lines portfolio of coverages that over the past 20 years has been able to reduce the rate members pay by more than 25%, providing broad coverage terms and giving members the flexibility of changing layers and lines of coverage with each renewal, while giving the BPIC member diocese freedom to select a claims administrator as well as control on how to manage incidents and claims - opportunities for ministry!

First Step - Ask Us about an Assessment of your Current P&C Program

Given BPIC is a comprehensive risk financing strategy and not a product per se, dioceses are encouraged to reach out to the BPIC Operating Team with their broker to get a full assessment of how the diocese currently finances the risk in its insurance program. We can work with you and your broker to design a retention program that incorporates the diocese's unique appetite for risk taking with a group retention program which over time reduces the dependency on insurance per se and the total cost of risk long term.