Our Stories
Highlighting Organizations Supported in Vancouver for Day of Charity
September 5, 2023
More Than Mining: How B2Gold Gives Back Close to Home
When B2Gold Board DIrector Liane Kelly set out to create the company’s More Than Mining Fund in 2019, she began with a blank slate – and a mission to do some good in the company’s hometown of Vancouver, Canada.
Liane had worked on CSR as a B2Gold consultant for years, at the company’s project sites around the world, on community and social development projects benefiting young people, women, job skills, infrastructure development and more. This work had proven so inspiring to Canada-based employees, that they’d begun asking for their own way to give back locally.
“We do a lot of social and environmental work elsewhere, but as the head office is in Vancouver, they wanted to create a fund to support organizations in their own backyard,” says Liane.
“We set it up, and then we tossed around a whole bunch of different ideas about what to do. After quite a lot of deliberation, we decided – even though it’s a hard topic to talk about – we wanted to focus on the complex social issues in Metro Vancouver; where addiction, mental health and poverty intersect.”
Beyond Compliance: B2Gold’s Culture of Corporate Giving
It was an ambitious goal, but also one that dovetailed with B2Gold’s philosophy, and its approach to giving company-wide, she adds.
“A lot of what we do globally is, basically, going beyond compliance, or beyond what we have to do,” she says. “This is why the fund is called More Than Mining – at our mine sites globally, our corporate giving is beyond what we are required to do our secure our mining mandate. We want to make a positive impact everywhere that we have a presence, going beyond what relates to our mine.”
This meant partnering with organizations that provide complex social services to the most vulnerable and at-risk people in the region; groups addressing social issues related to health, children, and people at risk, and supporting people living with challenges from poverty, mental health, addiction, violence, and abuse.
Key Donations and Metro Vancouver Partner Organizations
In 2022 alone, the More Than Mining Fund provided financial support of approximately $1 million to community organizations in Vancouver, in three key areas:
1. Access to Food
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank supplies healthy food to those in need. The demand for food support in the local community increased dramatically prior to, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Housing, Health Care and Harm Reduction
PHS Community Services Society supports people who are struggling with their needs for harm reduction, health care, housing or shelter, targeting some of the most vulnerable and under-served people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community.
The Bloom Group provides housing, shelter, and support for health care for vulnerable people in the Downtown Eastside area of Vancouver.
3. At-Risk and Homeless Youth
Covenant House Vancouver provides food, shelter and medical care to Vancouver’s homeless and at-risk street youth. More about our work with Covenant House in this recent article.
PLEA Community Services’ Children of the Street Program delivers prevention initiatives that provide children and families with info and tools to keep young people safe from sexual exploitation.
Other Causes Supported by the More Than Mining Fund
In addition to the core roster above, the More Than Mining Fund has supported several other Metro Vancouver organizations on an ad hoc basis, to aid with specific projects:
- Canadian Red Cross
- North Shore Stroke Recovery Centre
- Ronald McDonald House
- YWCA Metro Vancouver – programs
On the Horizon: More Giving and Stronger Local Bonds
With so many charities and non-profit groups doing vital work in Metro Vancouver, how do Liane and her colleagues narrow down which to support? It isn’t always easy, she admits.
“We do get approached by a lot of organizations, and it can be hard, because they all pull at your heartstrings in some way. Often it’s something we think is a very worthy cause, but it doesn't fall into that category of poverty, homelessness or mental health,” she says. The team also tries to prioritize small- and medium-size organizations that are most urgently in need of funding, she adds – where a donation can make a major impact.
Going forward, she hopes to establish a system for employees to make suggestions and proposals for More Than Mining Fund donations. But for now, she’s concentrating on strengthening bonds with current partners.
“Now that we've been creating relationships with these core organizations, we want to take it to a new level and get even more personally involved,” says Liane. In other words: continuing to put the “more” in More Than Mining.
Learn more about B2Gold’s More Than Mining Fund, and our Responsible Mining practices across the globe.
