Header image: Invesco staff building their mini wetland at the Henley-on-Thames headquarters © Becs Greenaway/WWT
When we first started conversations with WWT, I had an idea of what I thought the partnership might look like. In reality, there’s no template where nature is involved. This was the first environmental charity Invesco had supported and we wanted it to mean more than the usual corporate gesture. What I did not fully appreciate was how partnering with WWT would shift our working culture, and spark real engagement with our staff.
Three years on, I am so glad we joined forces.
Learning a new pace
If you work in financial services, you are used to a certain pace. Things don’t always move quickly, but our processes and systems are extensive and well-formed. Wetland restoration works on a completely different timescale, and that is not a criticism, it is just the nature of doing this kind of work. Habitats do not recover on a quarterly cycle.
In the early days, we had maybe not asked the right questions of each other around timing. That uncertainty felt uncomfortable to hold at the beginning. Naturally, we want to show impact and point to results, and we came up with many ideas on how we could collaborate further than the standard donation. Invesco staff are industry professionals with a range of skills that could support WWT in so many different ways. However, as time went on, we learnt that the most valuable thing we could offer was not speed, but consistency.
Getting the team onboard
Our first volunteering day at WWT London Wetland Centre launched our partnership. I was nervous. Would people sign up? Would they enjoy it? Would this partnership feel meaningful to them and make sense?
Wetlands nestled in the heart of the city at WWT London © Sam Walker/WWT
The answer, emphatically, was YES! People loved it. They wanted to get outside, get their hands dirty (okay maybe not at first, but they often forgot about that once they were stuck in), and ultimately, they enjoyed doing something that felt real. By the end of 2026, 154 Invesco staff will have given over 750 hours of their time to hands-on conservation work at WWT’s London Wetland Centre.
These are people who work in finance, typically spending their working weeks in front of a screen. Partnering with WWT has meant they’ve instead spent hours managing habitats, coppicing trees, clearing reeds and, on one genuinely brilliant occasion, watching Australian pelicans settle into a shingle beach that previous Invesco volunteer groups had helped to build. Seeing something your colleagues made with their hands become a home for wildlife: there is no KPI that will capture that feeling!
Invesco staff volunteering at WWT London
The ripple effect
The internal impact has been one of the partnership's most unexpected gifts. Colleagues who would never otherwise have crossed paths have ended up in a wetland together. Conversations that used to stay within one team have started spreading throughout the workplace. Our employees have engaged with WWT content 25,000 times across Invesco's internal channels, which tells me people are genuinely curious, not just politely supportive.
In 2024, we built our own mini wetland at our Henley-on-Thames headquarters, something I am particularly proud of. WWT filmed the build and created How to Build a Wildlife Pond, which has since reached over 75,000 views on YouTube. A wildlife camera we installed at the pond has captured foxes, birds, and a snake! The pond became a talking point. Then a mini habitat. Now it’s something people actively care about and like to see thrive.
That shift, the moment charitable work starts being something your colleagues feel personally invested in, that is the thing worth chasing.
Upkeep of the established pond at Henley-on-Thames offices © Sam Walker/WWT
The scale of what we’ve achieved together
We are really proud of what this partnership has achieved beyond our walls. Invesco has donated £450,000 to WWT's Blue Recovery Fund, supporting wetland creation and restoration across the UK. Through that fund, WWT has restored the equivalent of 498 football pitches of lost wetland and trained 200 wetland conservation practitioners from 19 countries through WWT's Wetland Learning Hub.
These numbers matter. But they sit alongside the more personal ones: 154 colleagues volunteered, 750 hours worked. Together they tell a great story of the real difference this partnership makes.
What I would say to any business thinking about this
Do it. Genuinely, do. But go in with open eyes and ears.
Be honest about each other's capacity. Be patient with timelines that are governed by nature, rather than business plans. Find the people in your organisation who really care about this and give them the space to influence. And accept that some of the most valuable things that come out of a partnership like this will not be the ones you planned for.
Three years in, we are more committed to WWT than we were at the start. The learning curve has been real, the timelines have been humbling, and the impact has been worth every muddy boot.
Note to all: Do more of this. It is good for the soul.
Invesco has partnered with WWT since 2023. Find out more.
With thanks to Invesco from everyone at WWT. We wouldn’t be where we are today, celebrating 80 years of wetland conservation, without the support and funding from our corporate partners.
If you’re a corporate business and want to get involved with restoring and creating wetlands, please get in touch.
