Sample Indemnification Provisions for Ministry Bylaws

These sample indemnification provisions are available for your ministry to share with your attorney as a starting point for consideration.

INSURANCE COVERAGE AND INDEMNIFICATION OF MINISTRY LEADERS, EMPLOYEES AND VOLUNTEERS

SECTION 1. INSURANCE. The Ministry will purchase and maintain liability insurance on behalf of any and all persons who are or were a director, officer, leader, employee, committee member or volunteer of the Ministry (while serving in their capacity as such). Such insurance will be purchased for the purpose of protecting such persons from covered loss resulting in liability asserted against the above individuals in connection with their activities on behalf of the Ministry.

SECTION 2. INDEMNIFICATION REQUESTS. Should any director, officer, leader, employee, committee member or volunteer of the Ministry incur any liability as a result of their affiliation with or service to the Ministry that is not covered by the Ministry’s insurance policy, and should such liability result in any out-of-pocket cost to such individual, then such individual may request indemnification from the Ministry. The granting of full or partial indemnification shall be at the discretion of the governing board of the Ministry as set forth in Section 3 herein.

SECTION 3. INDEMNIFICATION DECISIONS. In relation to any indemnification request that is made pursuant to Section 2 herein, if such request is made by an individual who is not currently serving on the governing board of the Ministry, then the indemnification decision (whether to indemnify the requesting individual, and the dollar amount of such indemnification), will be made by the governing board. Such decision of the governing board will be final. If the indemnification request is being made by a person who is currently serving on the governing board, then the indemnification decision (whether to indemnify the requesting party, and the dollar amount of such indemnification), will be made by the remaining disinterested members of the governing board. A decision on the indemnification request by a majority of disinterested members of the Board of Directors will be final.