United Policyholders

“Part iii, line 1 - organization mission united policyholders (up) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1991 that is a voice and an information resource for insurance consumers throughout the country. Up helps people make good decisions when buying insurance and filing insurance claims, and works to maintain legal standards that protect policyholders' reasonable expectations of coverage. Through a roadmap to recovery program, we empower disaster victims, individuals and businesses to secure fair, full and prompt insurance claim settlements. We do this by creating and disseminating free guidance and tools. These include a workshop series, a free online claim guidance library, educational videos, a professional help directory, and volunteers and staff who are experts in personal finance, construction and the law.through a roadmap to preparedness program, up promotes disaster preparedness and insurance literacy through outreach and education in partnership with civic, faith based, business and other non-profit organizations. Through an advocacy and action program, up represents insurance consumer perspectives and interests in courts of law, legislative and regulatory forums and in the media.united policyholders' work is funded by donations and grants from individuals, businesses and foundations. We do not take money from insurance companies.”

“Part iii, line 4a - program service accomplishmentsroadmap to recovery highlights 2017 o guided over 500,000 consumers on property, auto, health, disability, long-term care, life, title and commercial insurance matters via phone, email and www.uphelp.orgo hosted roadmap to recovery workshops and provided long term recovery services to help individuals and families whose homes were damaged or destroyed in california wildfires in mariposa county (detwiler fire), sonoma and napa counties (north bay fires), san diego county (lilac fire), ventura and santa barbara counties (thomas fire) and hurricane harvey victims in houston, texaso conducted trainings for employees of entities and organizations providing case management services to individuals and families whose home were damaged or destroyed wildfires and hurricaneso distributed free copies of the disaster recovery handbook and household inventory guide and roadmap to recovery organizers to catastrophic loss victims in 38 states throughout the u.s.o established dedicated online help libraries for victims of hurricanes in texas, florida and puerto rico, flooding in louisiana and south carolina wildfires in california and tornados in the southeast and midwesto partnered with the american red cross to distribute our first steps after a home fire handouto provided roadmap to recovery trainings to american red cross disaster case managerso answered questions and processed consumer complaints on the "ask an expert" online forum. The forum is hosted by up and staffed by expert volunteers that include construction, claim, forensic, and legal professionals as well as laypeople with personal expertise in disaster recoveryo supported over 150 volunteers that serve as recovery mentors through a disaster survivor support network programo distributed client help materials to ngo, faith-based and government agency partnerso expanded our national find professional help and state-by-state assistance directories”

“Part iii, line 4b - program service accomplishmentsadvocacy and action highlights 2017o filed 27 "friend of the court" legal briefs advocating for insurance consumers in the u.s supreme court and appellate courts throughout the 50 stateso represented policyholder interests on the federal advisory committee on insurance, u.s. Treasuryo addressed audiences at numerous conferences and events on matters that impact insurance consumerso provided comments and participated in the advisory council to the american law institute's restatement of the law of liability insurance projecto collaborated with public officials and firefighting agencies to help homeowners in brush areas maintain affordable insuranceo served as a consumer representative at the national association of insurance commissionerso submitted support and opposition letters to state and federal legislators to promote and protect insurance consumer interests in public policy matters o updated and continued advancing the essential protections for policyholders project in collaboration with the center for risk and responsibility, rutgers law schoolo responded to information and interview requests from media professionals and was referenced as a source in more than 95 digital, print and broadcast media pieceso conducted surveys to gather data, disseminated the resultso provided consumers' perspectives at professional conferences of actuaries, regulators, lawmakers and insurance industry representativeso hosted continuing education webinars for policyholder advocates as part of a "catch up" serieso demonstrated substantial impact and helped resolve a rate filing challenge up filed on behalf of ca home insurance consumerso continued our work helping residents of california wildland urban interface zones find and maintain insurance on their homeso issued press releases/media advisories and published research reports on a variety of important insurance issues”

“Part iii, line 4c - program service accomplishments roadmap to preparedness 2017 o educated homeowners and renters throughout california on home, earthquake and flood insurance and financial preparedness o distributed our second book wise up: the savvy consumer's guide to buying insurance o conducted preparedness workshops and participated in preparedness fairs throughout california and colorado for homeowners and renters o created additional resources to help homeowners who have been xdropped" by their insurance company o distributed hundreds of home inventory tools throughout california and colorado o served as expert presenters at disaster preparedness events throughout the country o partnered with faith-based and other non-profit organizations to broadcast preparedness messages and distribute materials and tools o expanded resources in the roadmap to preparedness section of www.uphelp.org o participated in regional and voluntary organizations active in disaster meetings on the local, state and national level and formed alliances with other organizations o worked with vendors of products that improve home safety and increase disaster resilience o published print and online newsletters and monthly consumer tips”

“Form 990 is prepared by a tax professional and then reviewed by the organization's management and Board of Directors. The return is discussed and changes are made if necessary. The final version of the 990 is signed by the Executive Director and the return is filed with the IRS”

“The board of directors reviews all potential conflicts of interest annually. The executive director and all board members are required to disclose (in writing) potential conflicts of interest and related board affiliations. Any potential conflicts are discussed openly and resolved in accordance with the organization's policies and procedures”

“The board of directors reviews the compensation of all high-level personnel annually in accordance with the irs rules and regulations. Efforts are made to research data from industry sources to determine competitiveness of salaries. Every effort is made to comply withirs guidelines and the organization's policies and procedures to establish transparency in the process”

“Compensation of other personnel is reviewed annually by the board of directors and members of management. Efforts are made by researching industry data to determine the competitive ness of salaries and related benefits”

“All of the organization's governing documents, financial statements and other legal filings are maintained in a secure environment and held available for inspection by tax authorities and the general public. Tax returns are posted annually to www.guidestar.org and are also available at the organization's office in san francisco, ca”