What is Ensure Charity?
Ensure Charity is a financial services company that has a unique company policy. We donate 50% of our gross revenues to charities and non-profits. Therefore, our clients (individuals and businesses alike) know that in the process of obtaining insurance, they are simultaneously making an impact.
In many states, the client can choose which charity or non-profit they would like the see the funds donated to and receive follow up to know the impact of their decision. In the remaining states, Ensure Charity will donate the funds to our featured charities which we support and also inform the client of the impact we are making (see client choice disclosure for more information).
Our message is simple: If you are going to make decisions about your insurance needs, why not make sure it also impacts a cause you believe in. This is what we call Socially Conscious Planning.
Does that mean Ensure Charity will charge more commissions or look for policies with higher commissions?
No. Ensure Charity works with nearly all of nations largest insurance carriers and their commission schedule is standardized. We cannot charge more or less commissions than other financial organizations. It is our fiduciary duty to find the best plan/product for your needs regardless of commission. In addition, we operate under full disclosure so you will know the amount of commission that will be generated prior to moving forward. Please see our Commission Disclosure page for more details.
What types of Insurance does Ensure Charity offer?
Ensure Charity brokers many types of insurance including life insurance and annuities for individuals. For businesses, we have a referral relationship with a brokerage that offers Group Health Insurance, Supplemental Benefits, Property Insurance, Casualty Insurance and Specialty Lines.
Ensure Charity does not offer variable products or anything related to securities or requiring a securities license.
Is Ensure Charity a brokerage operation?
Yes. Ensure Charity is a brokerage operation which means we have access to over 40 carriers giving us broad access to the marketplace.
How does Ensure Charity work for only 50% of the normal margin?
Ensure Charity has worked hard to create a very efficient and lean operation. Many of our team members are located at satellite offices around the country which substantially decreases our overhead. We have also partnered with one of the countries largest underwriting firms to assist with our back office processing of cases. Ensure Charity does very little advertising and we rely heavily on referrals and good public relations. Our story is one that needs to be told so we count on our clients to be our biggest fans and spread the word.
Is Ensure Charity a non-profit or for-profit organization?
Ensure Charity is a for profit organization which supports non profit organizations.
Does Ensure Charity specialize in working with individuals or businesses?
Our team of financial professionals covers a broad array of disciplines with some our team members focusing on individual solutions (i.e. life insurance) and some on business solutions (i.e. employee benefits and property/casualty insurance).
Why should I consider switching my insurance to a policy or plan offered through Ensure Charity?
First and foremost, Ensure Charity must provide a superior product or service. We work with nearly all of the nations largest carriers and we are unbiased in our recommendations. If we cant find a more competitive policy/plan or one that better suits your needs, don’t switch. However, if we can, why not switch and know that you are supporting a tremendous cause?
For individual life Insurance, Insurance costs have come down, and there are more competitive policies (with better features) on the market today than in the past. Our complimentary policy review will compare your current policy with new options on the market today so see if you have the best policy available for you. We encourage everyone to go through our policy review and allow us to see if your policy is still the best out there.
This policy/plan review is also true with business related insurance such as health and property and casualty.
Can I use my own insurance agent and estate-planning advisor and still participate in the Ensure Charity program?
Ensure Charity does not generally work with or split cases with financial professionals outside of our team. Many financial professionals outside our team (i.e. CPAs and tax attorneys) will simply refer clients to us (if they don’t offer competitive products/services).
Do I have to meet certain qualifications in order to work with Ensure Charity in my financial services needs?
We currently operate in CA only which means our clients need to be residents of CA. We do not currently have minimum net worth requirements. We do not currently provide service Internationally.
What risks are involved when switching life insurance policies from my current carrier to a different carrier through Ensure Charity?
If considering switching policies to a new carrier one should not cancel their current policy with the risk of being uninsurable, or that a substantial decrease in health condition has occurred since the original policy was issued. One should also fully understand the ramification of surrendering their original policy. This could include surrender charges, taxes on the deferred growth of the cash value etc…
We will be happy to consult with you on the possible ramifications of switching to a new carrier.
Does Ensure Charity offer policies from the entire marketplace of insurance carriers or do I have a limited number of participating companies to choose from?
Ensure Charity works with a very broad array of carriers in multiple lines of insurance. See Carrier List for more details.
If my business has offices and branches across the country, can they all participate in this program or is it limited to certain regions or states?
Ensure Charity and its entity, ECC Focussed Insurance Agency, LLC is licensed to work with CA residents only. We have a referral arrangement with a property and casualty brokerage.
Contributions to Charity
What Charities do you support? Are there any limits on the type of charity that I can contribute to? Can I split my contributions between multiple charities?
Ensure Charity has a list of featured charities that cover a broad array of timely and important causes. If you live in a state where permissible, you can select one or multiple of our featured charities or you can choose any charity/non profit that you would like (again, provided this option is available in your state). You can also ask that we divide our donation it between multiple charities or non profits. If you should select a charity or non profit that is outside of our featured list, Ensure Charity will check with the state to make sure its 501c3 status is effective. If Ensure Charity suspects that the non profit isn’t a legitimate organization, we reserve the right to send the money elsewhere.
How will the charity I designate receive my contributions once I secure a plan with Ensure Charity? How quickly will this happen? Does it only happen once, or does it happen as long as my policy is enforced? Will my Charity be notified that the donation came from me?
Ensure Charity disperses our Charitable Donations on a monthly basis. Ensure Charity will them send the money to the designated non profit organizations at the end of each calendar month (via check or wire transfer). Ensure Charity will send a notification to you once the funds are sent, specifying that it was because of you that this contribution was made possible. Ensure Charity will distribute the commissions “as earned” as to make sure that in the event of a “chargeback” from the insurance company, Ensure Charity hasn’t already donated the funds.
The donations to the charity will continue to occur as long as there are fees/commissions being paid by your plan (there are usually renewal commissions as long as the policy is in effect). We will highly encourage the non profit organization to follow up with you to make sure you are aware of the ongoing impact of your decision.
What percentage of the available commission will be donated to the charity of my choice?
50% of our gross revenues are donated. That being said, this doesn’t not always amount to 50% of the gross commissions on each case because Ensure Charity has strategic partners that provide service for our clients and need to be paid accordingly. The details are outlined in our Commission Disclosure page and are disclosed to the client up front prior to moving forward
Are there any tax benefits for my company or me personally for participating in the Ensure Charity program?
No, there aren’t any direct tax benefits for the individual or corporation because Ensure Charity is actually making the donation, not the client. That being said, depending on the plan set in place, the contributions to the plan may be tax deductible (i.e. executive bonus plans set up by the employer); however, you should always consult your tax attorney.