COUNTRY Financial®

As we celebrate Labor Day, we want to thank our representatives and employees who work every day to meet our clients' insurance and planning needs. #LaborDay #ExperienceMore

A well-deserved celebration! 👏

We have been helping families protect lives and livelihoods since 1925. This week, Jesse Kohlbecker, VP of Claims and Client Services, provides an update on our response to clients in the face of increasing severe weather trends. #ExperienceMore

If you have a passion for making the world a better place or want to know how you can help, August 17 is for you. It’s National Nonprofit Day! National Nonprofit Day (NND) is a day to recognize the immeasurable impact that non-profit organizations and the people running them have on local and global communities. If you’re wondering how you can make a difference in honor of NND, here are four ways we recommend: 1️⃣ Volunteer. We all have a little time we can spare to make a big impact on the lives of people living near and far. 2️⃣ Send a thank you note. Whether you send a handwritten note or an email, a simple “thank you” goes a long way. 3️⃣ Spread the word on social media. Help your favorite nonprofit by sharing their mission and spreading the word on how others can help. 4️⃣ Donate. It takes a lot of time and money to run a nonprofit, so every dollar counts. Pro tip: Check to see if your company will match your donation. At COUNTRY Financial, we support our employees and the non-profit organizations they care about through our Matching Gifts program. We commit to match each employee’s donations up to $500 a year. Each month, we offer a double match on a specific non-profit category, and in June, we double match in all categories. This past June, we helped 243 employees expand their personal impact by donating $105,229! NND is about all of us taking concrete steps to making the world a better place. If you’re able, consider supporting a non-profit organization today.

We continue to maintain our financial strength and deliver on promises to clients. AM Best, an independent insurance ratings agency, affirmed our A+(Superior) rating. This is especially notable, as many other insurance companies have received downgrades as the industry struggles with higher costs and rising losses. We have been in business for nearly 100 years, and we are making long-term decisions that will help us to be there for clients for the next 100 years. #ExperienceMore #AMBest

COUNTRY Financial is so excited to kick off this program with Heartland Community College for its 4th year! Ten McLean County high school juniors and seniors will receive career engagement and professional development opportunities from COUNTRY and Illinois Farm Bureau mentors, as well as scholarship funding to cover Heartland's tuition-bearing courses and additional program fees. Congratulations to the students entering the program and thank you to the mentors who are serving! #ExperienceMore

COUNTRY Financial employees’ generosity multiplied: COUNTRY Financial and Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) doubled down on employee donations to nonprofits during the month of June for “Double Match Month,” giving more than $150,000 to charities of their choice. Donations during Double Match Month in 2024 increased by 10% from 2023. Nearly 200 nonprofits and community programs were supported, with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Baby Fold, Midwest Food Bank, Illinois State University and Home Sweet Home as the most selected nonprofits. Kristina Warren, Manager, Project and Systems at COUNTRY, donated to Midwest Foodbank. “As a major hurricane survivor, I love the fact one of their major initiatives is their disaster boxes. I know that those would have made a world of difference for us if we received them after Hurricane Andrew. Because of this, I volunteer there at every opportunity.” Cathy Tolan, Administrative Assistant, chose St. Jude. “We are a former St. Jude family, and because of the generous donations they receive, we were able to focus on our daughter and not worry about how we were going to pay for the care she was receiving. Money also goes toward research which is needed for cancers like my daughter’s that have no cure.” COUNTRY and IFB offer a matching gifts program for employees to give to eligible nonprofit organizations throughout the year. In June, COUNTRY and IFB doubles the matching gift amount to nonprofit organizations. COUNTRY and IFB employees also receive Volunteer Time Off to help them serve their communities. Learn more about careers at COUNTRY: https://lnkd.in/gSVy3igR #ExperienceMore #InsuranceCareers #Volunteer #EmployeeGiving

Do you know someone who could be great at serving COUNTRY clients? Refer them to our Client Services openings! A Client Services role at COUNTRY is more than a job; it’s the start of a career. We set up our Client Services employees for success by providing: - Comprehensive training and mentoring - Continued support and development opportunities - A strong foundational knowledge to help launch into multiple roles across many other business areas Learn more about Client Services openings at https://lnkd.in/gtMs7GJ2 #ExperienceMore #InsuranceCareers #InsuranceJobs

Congratulations to the COUNTRY Financial DigitaLab interns for earning the award for Skillful Execution at the University of Illinois Research Park Hackathon! These innovative students created a platform called GeoGroove, which connects music and location, during a 15-hour hackathon competition. The COUNTRY Financial DigitaLab is an immersive data science and technology program developed in partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Interns work on projects that focus on: · Creating new technology by working with AI, cloud computing and other tools. · Merging classroom and real-world experience to put prototypes into production. · Enhancing technical skills and growing soft skills needed for corporate environments. · Working in cross-functional teams to learn with peers from all walks of life. Learn more at DigitaLab - COUNTRY Financial Pictured left to right: Elijah Mock, Ben Park, Shivam Patel, Abhi Ramakrishnan, Shiyuan Liu Julia Hart, EdD #ExperienceMore #TechnologyInternship #InsuranceCareers #InsuranceInternship

COUNTRY Claims teams have been working diligently to serve clients in the Midwest who were impacted by last week's severe storms. Jesse Kohlbecker, Vice President of Claims and Client Services, shared tips for clients who need to file claims, and says events like these are a reminder to check in on your insurance coverages in this article in FarmWeek: "I encourage all friends, family and clients to meet with their insurance agent at a minimum, annually,” he said. “Situations and people’s properties change. People make upgrades and they add different things to their homes. It’s so important that you sit down with your rep and really talk about the coverages you have, and the coverages you might need.” #ExperienceMore Illinois Farm Bureau