Although the general public's perception of the insurance industry may not be positive, the antidote can be found in the reality of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF).

Founded in 1994 in San Francisco, the organization's mission statement is to help communities and enrich lives through the collective talent of the industry. Over the years, the Foundation has awarded more than $16 million in local community grants and contributed more than 140,000 hours of volunteer service. This year's IICF October Volunteer Week drew more than 4,000 volunteers who worked more than 20,000 hours.

The fourth annual IICF New York division annual benefit dinner, which will be held tonight at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, has already raised more than $1.1 million for regional charities including Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Boys Hope Girls Hope NY, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and World Cares Center.

AA&B spoke with David Brinkman, executive managing director at Aon Benfield and chair of IICF's New York division board of directors, on the organization and its plans for the future.

AA&B: What is the history of IICF?

Brinkman: The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation was started in 1994 by a small group of insurance leaders from San Francisco. Their vision was to support local community needs by giving grants, serving as volunteers and stimulating others in the industry and community to participate.

For many years, IICF raised funds locally in northern California exclusively to support the City of Hope. Now, IICF makes many grants each year, and one of those grants continues to be for the City of Hope.

Read related, "IICF names Brinkman chairman."

We've broadened in grant giving and geography. Today, IICF's goal is to help communities and enrich lives through the collective strengths and talents of the insurance industry. We represent many involved companies and employees who make up this significant industry. We are the strongest united philanthropic voice of the industry today. As an organization, IICF is unusual in that it represents an entire industry.

AA&B: How does IICF involvement help the insurance industry's image in the world at large?

Brinkman: Insurance is the backbone of any household and community. The industry sets an example when it comes to community support, service and philanthropic activities.

Unfortunately, very few people ever hear about the local agent funding a children's hospital or the millions of volunteer hours provided by the industry around the communities of the world. Recently one of our board member companies (ACE) held a global day of service. Through their quiet but caring employees they provided support, help and real work and support to communities in almost every region and every community where ACE has employees. This is the kind of leadership this industry and its employees provide every day. Working together allows us greater visibility and helps reinforce our individual community actions and programs. Those things happen all the time, but part of IICF's job is to let more people know about them.

IICF provides a way for the industry to work together. It allows us greater visibility and helps to reinforce our individual community actions and programs.

AA&B: What are some of the main charitable causes you helped fund and what are you looking to finance in the future?

Brinkman: In 2009 the foundation awarded $664,000 (through the New York and Western divisions) to community nonprofits such as Boys Hope, Girls Hope, Big Brothers / Big Sisters, the Wounded Warrior Project, and World Cares Center.

The dollars raised within a region remain in the region. Each division has its own grant focus areas. In the New York division, we fund grants for education, children at risk, the environment and disaster preparedness.

Volunteerism is a vital part of our mission. Now more than ever, our communities need volunteers, and the people working in our industry are eager to help. Volunteer Week--the October 16-23, 2010 event that IICF organized in California and in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut--drew more than 4,000 volunteers who worked more than 20,000 hours. The beneficiaries were schools, food banks, soup kitchens, parks and other community organizations and charities. Next year's Volunteer Week is October 15-22, 2011.

AA&B: Does IICF have any "favorite" charities?

Brinkman: No. Every year, prospects who are brought to us by our boards apply for grants. Our board grants committees conduct thorough reviews that include visits to the charities. The grant committees make grant recommendations to the full board, and the full board must approve the grants.

AA&B: How do individual insurance professionals get involved in the organization? How many active members are there now?

Brinkman: We are not a formal membership organization, but we welcome everyone involved in the insurance industry, whether they're people working for insurance carriers, reinsurers, brokers, agents, law firms, trade associations or service providers.

We encourage companies to provide valuable leadership and knowledge to our foundation through board membership. To give you a sense of the numbers currently involved in our leadership, we have 22 companies and associations represented on our New York tri-state board, another 30 are represented on the Western division board, and we have a 10-person national board of governors.

This year, we also formed a national advisory board made up of philanthropy professionals working for insurance-based foundations. We are looking within our industry to find ways to work together and help each other.

Individuals and companies support the IICF in a number of ways: writing checks large or small, hosting employee fundraisers, and forming volunteer teams to work with a local agency throughout the year or during Volunteer Week.

The ways leaders take initiative have been inspiring. One of our companies provided a summer intern to rally employees for Volunteer Week. Another insurer provided pro bono usage of its video production department to prepare a video about our grantees for our benefit dinner. Another firm provides office space for our New York division executive director Betsy Myatt.

We want to join people together under an insurance industry banner. The IICF is a catalyst. We want to be "the industry's foundation," through Volunteer Week, our grants program and fundraising events and activities we conduct throughout the year.

We want to serve communities where we live and work, but we also want the foundation to be a source of pride for people working in our industry.

AA&B: How is IICF structured?

Brinkman: IICF is a single united foundation. The New York tri-state division and the Western division have a shared mission. Each division raises its own funds to provide grants within its own region, each stimulates volunteerism locally and each is led locally.

There are about 350,000 insurance employees in the New York tri-state area, so we've just scratched the surface by having more than 2,000 involved in our first Volunteer Week this year. We've had a very successful beginning, but the potential for growth is enormous. Imagine the possibilities and impact if even 10 percent of those employees were to participate in IICF Volunteer Week activities!

Chicago and the Midwest will become our third division for the Foundation. We are close to launching this third division and aim to make an announcement early in 2011. Chicago is a hub of major insurance firms that already provide a significant local community presence. IICF plans to implement the same model of grants, volunteer service, and leadership--directed locally by people living and working in the Midwest.

Hopefully in a few short years the Midwest division will become equal to or greater than the New York division, which has already raised more than $4 million in four years.

AA&B: Please tell us about tonight's dinner event with Hank Greenberg.

Brinkman: Our dinner chair Greg Case, president and CEO of Aon Corp., will present Hank Greenberg, chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc., with the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation Double I Award for "influence in the industry" and "impact in the community." Baseball great Ken Griffey, Jr. and hockey legend Mark Messier will be special presenters. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be the keynote speaker.

The event will take place on Wednesday, December 8 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. For more information, call 212-763-8597, or e-mail IICF@cmevents.net.

Special Reports /

Insurance charitable foundation highlights industry&#039;s good side

Related Stories

Recommended For You

Insurance charitable foundation highlights industry's good side