Happy Wednesday! In this week's Big I Buzz, we are discussing the annual IIAW Emerging Leaders fundraiser, what P/C insurers can expect in 2022 and newly named "Top D.C. Lobbyists". 

Annual IIAW Emerging Leaders Fundraiser

Last week the IIAW Emerging Leaders kicked off their annual fundraiser to support the Child Life Department at the American Family Children's Hospital. During this fundraiser last year, within the first few weeks of the fundraiser, we surpassed the initial donation goal of $500, donating an incredible total of $5,725!

Due to COVID-19, we are still unable to drop off gifts for the children as we had done prior to the pandemic, but we are accepting monetary donations. New this year, you can choose to donate items to the hospital from their 2021 Holiday Season Registry, which ships directly from Amazon to the American Family Children's Hospital. Monetary donations will be accepted through December 22, 2021 and the registry will be open for three more weeks. You can make a monetary donation here or you can purchase from the AFCH registry here. 

Big 'I' Leaders Once Again Named Among Top D.C. Lobbyists

The IIAW and InsurPac, our state and national Political Action Committees, ensure our industry is present and heard in Wisconsin and Washington D.C. Recently, Big 'I' Leaders were once again named among the top D.C. lobbyists by The Hill, a prominent political newspaper. The paper listed Big 'I'  leaders, Bob Rusbuldt, Big "I" President & CEO, and Charles Symington, Big "I" senior vice president of external, industry and goverment affairs in the top trade association lobbyists in Washington D.C. 

According to IA Magazine, "A vital component of the association's advocacy efforts is InsurPac, a multimillion dollar political action committee. It develops and strenghtens relationships with elected officials and candidates for federal office, amplifying the Big "I" brand on Capitol Hill. During the 2020 election cycle, InsurPac disbursed $1,948,000 to a total of 254 federal campaigns, winning at least 237 of them, resulting in a 93% victory rate. In disbursing this money, InsurPac did not look at party affiliation; as always, it gave money to representatives, senators and candidates for federal office that have been friends and advocates of the independent agency system."

You can read more from this article here. If you'd like to donate to the national InsurPac, or Insuring Wisconsin PAC, please visit the IIAW website here. 

Heading Into 2022, P/C Insurers Face 'Massive' Political Risks, Economic Uncertainty

During the Insurance Information Institute Joint Industry Forum 2021 in New York City on December 2nd, Michel Leonard, vice president, senior economist and data scientist and Head of the Economics and Analytics Department at III spoke about the "massive" political risks that property/casualty insurers will face throughout 2022. 

These risks include labor dislocation and the midterm elections, the continued institutional deadlock in Congress, worsening socioeconomic inequality and far right domestic radicalization. According to Insurance Journal, "In the U.S. and around the world, these risks encompass anti-vax radicalization relating to the COVID-19 vaccines, far-left industrial sabotage relating to fossil fuels and conflict with China over Taiwan and Hong Kong. Other flashpoint risks remain or are worsening in North Korea, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, India, China and Pakistan, Leonard noted. Beyond that, there are also risks involving weaponized trade policies, state-sponsored cyber terrorism and warfare, and risks involving state and non-state interference in elections both in the U.S. and abroad." You can read more from Insurance Journal here. 

For more news, check out the Action news section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list.