IICF honours Liberty Mutual at annual benefit

The charitable gala held in New York on 28 November gathered over 650 professionals from across the insurance industry for a night dedicated to celebrating the industry’s philanthropic efforts, while raising funds for non-profit grantees in the region.

IICF honoured Liberty Mutual and their employees with the ‘Double I’ award, recognising influence in the industry and impact in the community.

IICF is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping communities and enriching lives. It celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2024.

Proceeds from the IICF Northeast Benefit Event support grants to an array of regional non-profits.

Betsy Myatt, executive director of the IICF Northeast division and VP/chief program officer for IICF, commented: “Through the phenomenal generosity of IICF supporters, this festive insurance industry tradition in New York continues to be a significant source of the nearly $12mn in community grants IICF’s Northeast division has awarded since 2007 to our non-profit partners.”

Kevin Smith, president, Global Risk Solutions North America at Liberty Mutual, accepted the ‘Double I’ award on behalf of the company and their employees. Smith joined Liberty from CNA in August last year, in a move first revealed by this publication.

In 2022, the Liberty Mutual Foundation distributed $50mn and is on track to do the same in 2023.

In total, Liberty Mutual, its Liberty Mutual Foundation and the mutual’s employees gave nearly $64mn to organisations supporting individuals experiencing homelessness and hunger, expanding educational opportunities for young people, addressing the challenges of climate change, and more.

A “foundational culture” at Liberty

In an interview with The Insurer at the event, Smith highlighted Liberty’s unique culture of giving back.

“There is a foundational culture here more than anywhere I've been about doing the right thing for the right reason,” he said.

“It is core to the values, starting with our CEO and throughout the organisation. People not only do the right thing for the right reason, but from a genuine concern to give back to the local community.”

Liberty has set up a number of avenues to do this,

The Liberty Mutual Foundation was set up in 2003. In partnership with grantees, the foundation’s common purpose is to invest the expertise, leadership and the financial strength of Liberty and its employees to improve the lives of its most vulnerable neighbors.

Grants from the foundation help non-profits that work to empower families and individuals who are struggling to thrive amid challenging situations.

Liberty also has what it calls ‘torch-bearers’ – employees that give, volunteer, and serve in support of the causes they care about.

More than 10,000 Liberty Mutual employees donated to causes in 2022, for a total of $7.6mn to 7,759 organizations, with donations to eligible non-profits receiving a 100 percent match from Liberty.

Participating employees were also given the opportunity to award a $250 mini-grant from Liberty to a non-profit of their choice, to help counter the effects of inflation.

Smith also noted Liberty employees’ volunteer work, from teaching to planting trees to filling pantries.

Smith suggested that many insurers do good work but have an “inconsistency of engagement”.

“But what I see here at Liberty is an element of people coming into the organisation that have a passion for this, and that feeds upon itself,” he said.

Smith suggested that the industry “does more work than it probably gets credit for”.

He noted the reciprocity that takes place from events such as the IICF Northeast Benefit Event.

“It creates this reciprocity of giving as an industry, not only within the IICF but in general,” he said.

“A lot of carriers and brokers do individual events right within their own houses. So I think the industry does a really, really good job collectively. And it's one of the industries where it really dovetails with the inherent nature of our business, of getting people back on their feet when they've had a hard time.”

He added: “But what I can tell you is, having served on a number of grant committees, you quickly realize it's just the tip of the surface. We’ve done a really nice job collectively, but we've got to continue to press forward and do more. Demand is much greater than the supply.”