Does an animal rescue’s insurance cover its foster homes and volunteers?
Partly. A standard general liability policy treats a volunteer as an insured while doing the rescue’s work, so a bite or injury to a visitor at a foster home can be covered under the rescue’s policy. It does not cover damage to the foster’s own home, injury to the volunteer from another volunteer, or anything that happens while a volunteer is driving. Those need a foster agreement that says who pays, accident coverage for volunteers, and hired and non-owned auto.
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The detail
The standard general liability form makes volunteers insureds: "Your 'volunteer workers' only while performing duties related to the conduct of your business."
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (specimen)
It defines a volunteer worker as "a person who is not your 'employee', and who donates his or her work and acts at the direction of and within the scope of duties determined by you, and is not paid a fee, salary or other compensation by you or anyone else for their work performed for you."
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (specimen)
A volunteer is not an insured for "'Property damage' to property: (a) Owned, occupied or used by" the organization, its employees or its volunteer workers, so damage to the foster’s own home is outside the rescue’s liability coverage.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (specimen)
A volunteer is also not an insured for injury "to your other 'volunteer workers' while performing duties related to the conduct of your business," and the form’s medical payments coverage is not paid "To any insured, except 'volunteer workers'."
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (specimen)
The form excludes injury or damage "arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use or entrustment to others of any aircraft, 'auto' or watercraft owned or operated by or rented or loaned to any insured," which removes transport runs in a volunteer’s car.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (specimen)
The standard form contains no animal or dog bite exclusion. Bite and breed exclusions, where they exist, are added by endorsement, so the policy’s endorsement list decides it.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (specimen)
Colorado defines a foster home as "a site that, through a written agreement with a licensed shelter or rescue facility, provides care for pet animals that are otherwise the responsibility of the shelter or rescue."
Colorado Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act rules, 8 CCR 1202-15 Part 1, Definitions (1.15)
Colorado caps a foster home at "No more than eight dogs or cats, or combination of dogs and cats," including the foster’s own animals, and no more than five of the eight may be dogs.
Colorado Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act rules, 8 CCR 1202-15 Part 18 (18.23)
What this means for you
- Put fosters in a written agreement. Colorado’s definition assumes one, and it is where you settle who pays for a chewed door or a vet bill. The insurance follows the agreement only as far as the policy wording goes, so the agreement should not promise more than the policy pays.
- Ask your carrier about bite exclusions. The standard form has none, but rescue policies are often written with animal or breed endorsements. A bite is the claim a rescue is most likely to have.
- Transport runs need auto coverage. Volunteers driving animals in their own cars are excluded from general liability. Hired and non-owned auto covers the rescue when a volunteer’s car is in a crash during rescue work, and the volunteer’s own auto policy comes first.
- Volunteer accident coverage is a separate, cheap policy. General liability does not pay a volunteer bitten by a foster dog. Volunteer accident insurance pays medical bills for volunteers without a lawsuit, which also protects the relationship.
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Related questions
- Will the foster’s homeowners policy cover a bite?
Do not count on it. A homeowners policy is written for the household, and a rescue’s animals in the house are the rescue’s business activity. Whether it pays depends on that insurer’s wording, which is why the rescue’s policy should be the one that answers.
- Are we liable after an adoption is final?
A claim can still name the rescue, usually for what it knew or said about the animal’s history. A clear adoption agreement and honest behavior notes are the defense, and the policy’s products and completed operations coverage is what answers a claim that arrives later.
- Does any state require an animal rescue to carry insurance?
We found no insurance requirement in Colorado’s rescue licensing rules or Wisconsin’s animal shelter licensing chapter when we read them on October 4, 2026. In practice the requirement comes from leases, adoption event venues and grant makers, which ask for general liability and a certificate.
- How many animals can one foster home take?
In Colorado, no more than eight dogs or cats combined, counting the foster’s own pets, and no more than five dogs. Other states set their own rules, and many rescues set lower limits in their foster agreements.
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Written by the licensed brokers at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-10-05. See all guides.