The National Trust creates a new insurance subsidiary tailored to the preservation community.

BY RACHEL ADAMS

	NTIS brochure

Last fall, the Trust formally launched a new affiliated entity, National Trust Insurance Services, LLC (NTIS), which will offer comprehensive insurance plans to the nationwide preservation community—including Trust members, small businesses, and state and local affiliated groups.

The impetus behind the service's creation, says Trust Director of Business Development Miriam Lenett, is the often-inadequate insurance coverage currently available to owners of historic structures. "Insurance companies tend to drop older buildings," says Lenett, "or increase their premiums, based on the special needs of those historic properties. This program provides much more flexibility."

To assist in the formation of NTIS, the Trust enlisted the Baltimore-based firm of Maury, Donnelly & Parr, Inc., which will also administer the subsidiary. In conjunction with the Trust's corporate marketing office, the firm will serve as a go-between in the sometimes thorny preservationist-insurer relationship, helping to create case-specific insurance packages for Main Street programs, other preservation organizations, historic-site museums, historic theaters, and, of course, owners of historic homes. The coverage offered by NTIS will be able to insure not just historic properties themselves but also the fine-art collections and furnishings housed within them. Plans for liability, workers' compensation, health insurance, builders' risk, special-events coverage, and other situations are also available.

NTIS is receiving a welcome response. "It's a much broader, more inclusive sort of plan than we've previously been involved in," says Lenett, adding that "the phones have been ringing off the hook." For more information on NTIS and its specific services, call (866) 269-0944 or visit www.nationaltrust-insurance.org.

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