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mutual insurance company type mutual insurance industry insurance founded 1839 in brantford ontario headquarters cambridge ontario vancouver british columbia key people heidi sevcik president and ceo net income 13 200 000 sept 2016 cad number of employees 300 employees across canada website www.goremutual.ca gore mutual insurance is a canadian insurance company founded on june 18 1839 . gore mutual has two offices in canada the head office is located in cambridge ontario and a western office that is located in vancouver british columbia . in 2014 gore mutual was voted 1 insurance provider in ontario by the insurance brokers association of ontario ibao . 1 2 contents 1 history 1.1 pre canadian confederation 1.2 modernization of galt fire department 1.3 pre confederation modernization 1.4 after canadian confederation 1.5 world war 2 1.6 post war 2 gore mutual insurance foundation 2.1 mission 3 paperless office movement 4 references history edit pre canadian confederation edit after a failed attempt in 1837 gore mutual insurance known at that time as the gore district mutual fire insurance company was created by an unknown business man from brantford on june 18 1839 after rediscovering the subscription book that was originally created in 1837 . gore mutual began business with only one paid officer william a. walker who also held the role of secretary treasurer . in november 1839 william a. walker was also given the title of travelling agent . he was responsible for travelling on horseback in order to expand gore mutual s operations across the galt district . with the passing of new legislature in 1842 mutual insurance companies were able to expand their business into districts where no mutual fire insurance provider existed . gore mutual took advantage of this by expanding into toronto simcoe oakville port dover colbourne yarmouth and london over a two year period . 3 modernization of galt fire department edit at the annual meeting in 1858 members authorized the board to reward fire companies who were called to assist with fires and those who successfully saved the property . this new legislation was the first step in developing more efficient firefighting methods in the galt region . 4 pre confederation modernization edit the 1860s were a modernization period for gore mutual . in 1863 under new leadership gore mutual moved the company to a new office building in galt . in 1865 gore mutual implemented a new structure on charging tariffs that allowed the company to charge higher premiums on policies that were deemed high risk a method that many insurance companies use today . in 1866 new agencies were established in preston st. mary s wroxeter lucknow princeton plattsville county of wentworth county of halton embro west zorra woodstock brantford and its surrounding county . 4 after canadian confederation edit by mid 1870 the number of active gore mutual policies had grown to over 6 000 . by this time gore had expanded into central and eastern ontario . in the late 1870s gore mutual started to cancel policies that were deemed too high of a risk . gore mutual also began breaking ties with agencies that were in remote areas that were located to far from the head office in galt . by the beginning of the 1880s gore mutual had over 4 500 policies ; by 1899 that number had grown to over 13 000 policies . gore mutual s portfolio was growing at a rate of 500 policies a year . the value of its insured properties during that time rose from 4 000 000 in 1880 to 15 670 000 in 1899 . meanwhile british and american fire and casualty insurance companies began expanding into canada during this time . 5 1895 gore mutual s new building in galt was completed . the building stands over 80 feet tall and was built with dark red bricks and sandstone trim . it is revolutionary with hot water heating as well as gas and electrical light . the building quickly emerged as a local landmark for the people of galt . 5 1914 gore mutual donated 50 000 which was the previous year s profits to help aid the war effort patriotic fund . 5 6 1936 gore mutual s current building was completed . built by scottish stonemasons using local handpicked stone it was built on a hill top surrounded by gardens . lieutenant governor herbert a. bruce officially opened the building . 5 1939 gore mutual turned 100 years old and had over 2.4 million dollars cad in assets . 5 world war 2 edit during world war ii gore mutual donated 100 000 of its profits to the government of canada in order to aid the war effort . 6 this money was to be spent however the government saw fit . not only did gore mutual donate to the cause but every employee gave an additional portion of their income during the war to further aid the efforts of the canadian troops . during this time eight gore mutual employees served all of whom survived ; however two of them were severely wounded during their time of service . by the end of the war gore mutual had victory bonds amounting to a total of 525 000 which is worth roughly 7 297 550 today . 4 post war edit in the early 1970s gore mutual hired brantford architects mark musselman mcintyre & combe to design a new building that was to be attached to the existing head office built in 1937 . the two buildings are connected by a glass passageway that extends 60 feet from the old to new building . in 1968 gore mutual purchased its first honeywell computer becoming one of the first companies in canada to use a computerized policy handling for automobile insurance . the late 1970s were the age of the computer for gore mutual . cathode ray tube crt systems were used in the claims department for the purpose of processing personal and commercial lines . in the 1990s gore mutual introduced a 24 hour emergency claims service in order to help customers and brokers at all times . also during this time new estimating software was introduced to allow adjusters to prepare quotes with greater speed and accuracy . in 1998 gore mutual created the gore mutual foundation . the foundation provides funding to hundreds of health welfare education cultural environmental and charitable activities in communities across canada . 5 gore mutual insurance foundation edit for over 100 years gore mutual has been donating to charities in the communities where they do business . in 1998 gore mutual incorporated the gore mutual insurance foundation . incorporating the gore mutual foundation registered it as private charity funding statues which has the benefit of being tax free allowing for an increase in yearly donations . there are two ways to apply for donations through a brokerage charities can directly apply to gore mutual in 2011 gore mutual foundation donated 450 000 to nearly 120 charities canada wide . in 2012gore mutual pledged 1 000 000 to the gore mutual foundation . since 1998 gore mutual foundation has donated over 12 000 000 to nearly 1 000 charities . in 2008 the gore mutual foundation donated 500 000 to the cambridge memorial hospital . this is one of the largest donations ever received by the cambridge memorial hospital foundation . the donation was used to allow 300 more screening cases each year and to reduce wait times for the endoscopy unit . 7 mission edit support the communities served by gore mutual insurance company by aiding social services education health cultural and environmental activities as may be in the best interest of these communities . 8 paperless office movement edit in 2002 gore mutual insurance implemented a paperless office objective . within 10 months gore mutual went from 70 % paper 30 % electronic to 70 % electronic 30 % paper . the quick success of the paperless movement was due to 80 % of gore mutual staff being under the age of 35 . since 2002 the percentage of paper used has decreased sufficiently . underwriting and claims departments are fully paperless . gore mutual s success implementing a paperless office has inspired some insurance brokerages to also turn their office into a paperless office . 9 10 references edit gore mutual insurance company about gore mutual . goremutual.ca . retrieved 2014 10 18 . gore mutual ceo will leave company on high note . therecord.com . retrieved 2014 10 18 . canada . parliament . legislative assembly 1855 . journals of the legislative assembly of the province of canada . p. 295 . retrieved 2014 10 18 . a b c the legacy of the gore gore mutual insurance company cunningham roderick . k june 18 1989 a b c d e f gore mutual celebrates 175th anniversary pdf . june 18 2014 . retrieved 2014 10 18 . a b at 175 years gore mutual is older than canada . therecord.com . retrieved 2014 10 18 . gore mutual insurance company gore mutual foundation . goremutual.ca . retrieved 2014 10 18 . gore mutual insurance company foundation mission statement and donation mandate pdf . april 24 2008 . retrieved 2014 10 18 . brokers need to go paperless . insurancebusiness.ca . retrieved 2014 10 18 . thom patterson . is the paperless office here at last cnn.com . cnn.com . retrieved 2014 10 18 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title gore mutual insurance company & oldid 738228434 categories insurance companies of canadafinancial services companies established in 18391839 establishments in canadahidden categories articles with a promotional tone from september 2016all articles with a promotional tonewikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from september 2016copied and pasted articles and sections from september 2016all copied and pasted articles and sectionsuse mdy dates from november 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent 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