Invesco’s help and support for those impacted by Covid-19
May 01, 2020

Invesco’s help and support for those impacted by Covid-19

Matthew Heath. Chief Marketing Officer, Invesco.

After many discussions across our teams, we have taken a different view on how to help at this time of crisis and we have decided to focus on: helping our people to help others and amplifying existing financial support.

Like most businesses who are still operating through the crisis, we have spent a lot of time at Invesco considering how we can best help those in need in the many locations across Europe, where our colleagues live and work.

Help our people to help others

Many Invesco team members have already been helping their local communities through the crisis. This has taken various forms. Some have volunteered for the NHS in the UK or the equivalent in other regions, others are grocery shopping or dog walking for self-isolating neighbours or those who cannot get out. There are Invesco people working in local food banks and night shelters for the homeless, even those running online yoga and art classes to help others stay connected and well.

To encourage and support this work, we have increased the allowance of volunteering days we offer each of our 1,500 colleagues across EMEA from two to eight fully paid days over the rest of 2020.

To us this feels like a fast and practical way to offer help, which in turn ensures it will make a meaningful difference to communities. Time is as precious as money right now and Invesco people are making a real difference every day.

Amplify the financial support we provide for those charities we already know well

This is a hard time for the whole charity sector. Our view is that our financial help will make the biggest difference where we already have proven and trusted relationships. This means, for example, we are building on our relationship with CALM who are able to offer vital help to those suffering increased mental hardship during this period of great stress for all.

We are also offering new financial support for Dementia UK, a previous charity partner of ours, who are anticipating a 30% increase in calls to their helpline. Unfortunately, they have seen a dramatic drop in funding at a time when people need their specialist dementia nurses more than ever.

We are providing funding for the Single Homeless Project (SHP), a London-wide charity working hard to prevent homelessness and transform lives. As the number of Londoners infected with Covid-19 coronavirus rises daily, the homeless people SHP supports across the capital are even more vulnerable than ever.

In total, we have donated to 13 charities and we continue to look for other opportunities to stay involved and to help in whatever way we can.

The business world will quite rightly be asked ‘what did you do to help when the crisis hit’? At Invesco, we want the answer to that question to be clear and positive. We gave our people the time they need to make a difference, time we pay for that they can invest in a way that feels right to them.

We listened to those charities reaching out to us as a long-term partner. We know they are seeing an increased demand for their vital services and so we helped fund them at a time when fund-raising income has taken a dramatic turn for the worse.

Whether through allowing our employees to participate in local initiatives or focused financial support, we want everyone at Invesco and all our clients to know that we are proud to be ‘doing our bit’.

Important information

  • Where individuals or the business have expressed opinions, they are based on current market conditions, they may differ from those of other investment professionals and are subject to change without notice.