« Back

By: American Income Life Staff | March 15, 2024

Buying Special Activities Coverage for 4-H Events

Buying Special Activities Coverage for 4-H Events

4-H is the country’s largest youth development program, and the 4-H philosophy of “learn by doing” is preparation for career readiness and leadership. 4-H camps are a popular delivery mode to extend learning and direct activity enrichment to overnight and day camps held throughout the summer. These programs may include swimming, shooting sports, animal husbandry, horsemanship, and other outdoor and indoor activities.

The history of the 4-H club began in the early 1900s when new farming techniques developed in universities were not readily accepted by farming communities.

Term life insurance is life insurance that covers a person for a set period of time. Most term life insurance coverage can be for 10, 15, and 20 years. Most term life insurance policies do not accumulate cash value.

"Youth development and community organizations such as 4-H and the Cooperative Extension purchase “blanket” group accident policies to cover youth and adult members as well as approved volunteers."

By creating a connection between “hands-on” learning in public schools, 4-H bridged the gap with young people. It became the mechanism for rural youth to introduce new agriculture technology to the farming community. The program spread in popularity by teaching children animal husbandry and agriculture.

Today, 4-H clubs are in every state in the U.S. and around the world. They are not just in rural areas, but also in urban and suburban areas. 4-H clubs are available in school as part of the school curriculum and after-school programs, as well as summer camps. 4-H has expanded beyond agriculture and now includes rocketry, robotics, environmental protection, and computer science.

Youth development and community organizations such as 4-H and the Cooperative Extension purchase “blanket” group accident policies to cover youth and adult members as well as approved volunteers. Annual policies are designed to cover scheduled, adult-supervised group activities for a group with a defined membership, so programs like club meetings, practices, trips, and other approved activities are eligible. These activities may vary from state to state and are required to follow each state/university guidelines for 4-H/Extension participants.

Special Activities policies can be used for a variety of situations in 4-H and Extension programming. If an annual policy is in force for a club or county program, it should cover a majority of their programming.

There may be some exclusions and circumstances where Special Activities policies may provide needed coverage. While this is not an exhaustive list, Special Activities can provide coverage in the following cases:

  • Downhill winter sports such as skiing, sledding, tubing, etc. (excluded from the annual policy coverage)
  • Overnight/travel events with illness coverage (illness is excluded from annual policy coverage)
  • Events including both 4-H and non-4-H participants. In this case, all participants must be counted and covered, including enrolled 4-H members covered under an annual policy.

Special Activities policies may cover all registered participants in an event as well as “those involved in the operation of the event” but not spectators and members of the general public.

In an example of a horse show, coverage would be available for youth participants in the show, parents/guardians helping with trailers or in the barn, judges, ringmasters, and other volunteers assisting with show business, but not for other family members who are sitting in the audience.

To learn how a Special Activity policy can help protect your organization, consult a licensed insurance agent who specializes in group insurance.

Sources:

  1. https://4-h.org/
American Income Life articles are researched, written, and edited by multiple members of the American Income Life staff including, Marketing Specialists, Content Writers, Product Experts, as well as Legal & Compliance Professionals.

Categories: accident insurance, group activity (special risk), Insurance

« Back