SOCIAL CONSCIENCE EMBEDDED IN GORE MUTUAL’S CORPORATE DNA

Gore Mutual Insurance is exactly the kind of good corporate citizen Waterloo Region needs — and their recent gift to help our most vulnerable citizens may well be the incentive others need to dig deep.

Gore’s $10,000 donation to United Way’s annual holiday giving campaign is one of many in a very long line, and it comes ahead of a corporate challenge to other business leaders to step up.

Since Gore’s partnership with United Way began in 1991, it has given over $1.6 million in corporate gifts and employee donations to help fund essential services for those struggling with chronic poverty, isolation, hunger, homelessness, addiction and poor mental health.

It says a lot about Gore that at the 2018 Excellence in Governance Awards, it was recognized for having one of Canada’s most admired corporate cultures and honoured with the Best Overall Corporate Governance award.

And if good governance is a reflection of the depth of employee engagement, Gore’s employees clearly care about their community.

“Gore was established 180 years ago on the core principal of people helping people,” says Gore Board Chair Farouk Ahamed. “Since then, this has been embedded in our DNA. We are looking to create shared value where we can help solve social problems on a wider scale, lifting our communities out of their most difficult challenges so we thrive together.

“Being a business in the Cambridge and Waterloo area for this long, it is hard to imagine that our identity and giving would not also be deeply rooted in the place we have called home for so many years. We also have an interest in the welfare of our local communities as our employees and many of our business partners live and shop locally for what is a strong interdependency.”

Adds Gore Mutual President and CEO Heidi Sevcik: “As a modern mutual company built on the idea of people helping people, giving has always been an integral part of our identity. We have a long history in Waterloo Region and it is important for us to support our local community in any way we can. One way we do this is with our longstanding relationship with United Way Waterloo Region Communities. We respect the fantastic work they do in our area and are happy for the opportunity to partner with them.

“We can’t be certain that our gift will encourage others to donate. But giving a voice to a cause and generating a conversation around the work of a charity can hopefully generate a groundswell that can have a greater impact down the road.”

Thanks to a generous match from an anonymous donor, the recent Gore donation is actually a $20,000 boost to food banks and meal programs. United Way hopes that others will be inspired to rise to the challenge — and give to the tune of $5,000, $10,000 or $20,000 in the coming months.

The company donating the most will be recognized publically through social media, on United Way’s website, and in person at the Spirit Awards in April.