Fifteen farmers, one good idea
Unity Mutual Insurance Company was established in 1877 and incorporated on January 1, 1878, by a group of fifteen neighboring farmers in Stockholm Township of Wright County, Minnesota, who could not get protection for their property from other insurance companies. The office was the secretary’s rural farmhouse near Cokato. In the 1800s, the stock companies out east weren’t interested in insuring Midwest farmers — so the farmers found a way to protect their property, their neighbors, and their families themselves.
That’s how Minnesota’s township mutual insurance companies were born — eventually numbering over one hundred. The idea traces back to Benjamin Franklin, who formed the very first mutual insurance company: every member contributes to the company treasury, and when a loss strikes, all members share in making their neighbor whole — putting them back, as close as possible, to where they were before the loss. Protection at cost, not for profit. It worked in 1878, and it still works today.
Minnesota originally limited each company to a connected set of townships. In 2009, the state’s Modernization Law changed territories from townships to counties — and Unity Mutual, a merged company, now writes in twenty connected counties, the maximum Minnesota allows a township mutual.
The people behind the promise
Board of Directors
- Marvin Johnson — President
- Scott Olson — Vice President
- David Urdahl — Treasurer
- Michael Kaufman — Secretary
- Melvin Rozenberg — Director
- Tom Lindell — Director
Our Staff
- John Kaufman — General Manager
- Michael Kaufman — Supervisor
- Megan Worm — Administrative Assistant
Financially Backed
Additional financial backing provided by RAM Mutual Insurance Company. Current financial stability rating: B++ (Good).
Counties we serve
Anoka, Becker, Benton, Carver, Cass, Douglas, Hennepin, Hubbard, Isanti, Kandiyohi, McLeod, Meeker, Morrison, Otter Tail, Pope, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd, Wadena, and Wright — and all the cities within them, except those over the statutory population limit: Blaine in Anoka County; Brooklyn Park, Edina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Richfield, and St. Louis Park in Hennepin County; and the St. Cloud proper area of Stearns County (the St. Cloud outskirts are not excluded).
