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2020 US Insurance Awards: Higginbotham Insurance Group, Community Outreach Project of the Year (donations)

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Rusty Reid

Higginbotham Insurance Group created the Higginbotham Community Fund as an outreach program designed to reflect the broker’s mission statement: “vision and values.”

The fund’s performance has so far surpassed all expectations; it has supported nonprofits and charities in the United States and abroad and this year has aided the company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also garnered Business Insurance’s U.S. Insurance Award for Community Outreach Project of the Year (Donations).

Since its creation in 2011, the Higginbotham Community Fund has raised $2.7 million in employee contributions and pledges. It was particularly energized in 2018 when employees donated $110,000 in honor of Tracy Jackson, a commercial lines supervisor who lost her battle with leukemia.

On North Texas Giving Day, the company contributed to nonprofit organizations “that were close to Tracy’s heart,” said Rusty Reid, chairman and CEO of Fort Worth, Texas-based Higginbotham.

The Higginbotham Community Fund again expanded to support local businesses and first responders coping with COVID-19.

Mr. Reid proposed that the fund contribute to the company’s restaurant clients to help feed first-responders. “We have provided more than 25,000 meals from our clients to nonprofits and first responders fighting COVID-19,” he said. “We don’t know how long COVID-19 will continue, but we will keep supporting as long as we can. It’s to support our clients in a time of need, and we want to play our part.”

It also raised $160,000 for nonprofits and first responders battling hurricanes and wildfires. 

One international charity that has had a big impact on both the company and the charity is the Zoe Empowers Program in Africa, which works to help orphans and other vulnerable children overcome poverty.

 “We were able to send representatives from a number of our 16 offices to Africa to see first-hand what the Zoe Project was doing for children,” Mr. Reid said, adding that, “We have built a culture within our firm to give back to our communities.”

Employee participation in the Higginbotham Community Fund is currently about 80%. “My goal now is for 100% participation,” Mr. Reid said. “As we have grown from 12 employees in 1986 to 1,300 and expanded geographically, it’s been great to see our teammates embrace the idea of giving back.”

FINALISTS

• H.W. Kaufman Financial Group Inc. — In 2019, H.W. Kaufman Group launched the 50 Days of Giving Challenge, a global and corporate-wide effort in honor of the company’s 50th anniversary.

• KCIC LLC — For the past several years, KCIC has participated in the Race for Every Child, an annual 5K run/walk that raises funds and awareness for Children’s National Hospital in Washington. Last year it helped lead the event and held several other fund-raising efforts.

• NFP Corp. — NFP established a corporate partnership with Year Up, an organization that works to help young adults who lack access to higher education and career opportunities.

• Risk Placement Services Inc. — The Cambridge, Maryland, office of Risk Placement Services has for several years raised funds for United Way’s Imagination Library Program and last year raised a record-breaking amount.

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