I first got involved through Schroders’ charity partnership with the Snowdon Trust. Since 2019, we’ve worked together to help empower disabled students to achieve their goals in higher education and beyond, and it’s been a partnership I’ve been proud to support.
Schroders is one of the UK's largest investment management companies, and has supported the Snowdon Trust since 2019. Over the past 7 years, the partnership has gone from strength to strength, breaking down barriers for disabled students.
Schroders Partnership
Q&A
Claudia Buffini, Schroders Corporate Sustainability Manager and Chair of the UK Charity Committee, talks to us about her experience working in partnership with the Snowdon Trust
How did you first get involved with the Snowdon Trust?
What have you learned from this partnership?
I’ve learned that practical support can be transformational. Through scholarships and vital grants - for items such as equipment, sign language interpreters and accessible technology - we’ve helped support over 100 students each year to overcome barriers and realise their ambitions. We’re also proud to have provided grant funding for 282 disabled students through the Snowdon Trust.
More broadly, it’s reinforced that many barriers are social and structural - physical accessibility and attitudes - rather than a person’s disability. When we remove obstacles and open doors, ambition and talent can really flourish.
How have Schroders staff got involved with the Snowdon Trust?
Colleagues have supported through attending and volunteering at events, and by sharing insight and advice with students. In particular, our disability community called WorkAbility has helped the Disabled Leaders Network’s students think through practical topics such as disclosing a disability in interviews, navigating disability at work, and understanding career paths - including in inclusion and diversity.
Schroders’ hosted the Snowdon Trust annual reception for the first time last year – what was that like?
It was a real privilege to host the Snowdon Trust’s annual celebration at Schroders and recognise the achievements of outstanding scholars and students. It felt like “diversity in action” - celebrating remarkable talent, creating connections, and reinforcing what inclusion looks like in practice all within our office.
How have Schroders staff worked together with the Disabled Leaders Network?
Working closely with the Snowdon Trust and the Disabled Leaders Network has been a strong example of partnership in practice. In particular, the Network’s Accessible Events Toolkit has helped colleagues plan and deliver more inclusive events, by prompting practical adjustments that make our spaces and experiences more accessible for everyone.
What are you looking forward to seeing from this partnership in the future?
Alongside our support for the Snowdon Trust, we’ve also launched an accessibility support intranet site, mapping the software and physical adjustments available to colleagues and explaining how to request them.
As the Disabled Leaders Network develops its Accessible Events Toolkit, there’s a real opportunity for us to learn from one another and share what works well.
At Schroders, we’re committed to attracting and retaining diverse talent and welcoming a range of perspectives. We believe this leads to better outcomes for our clients and helps drive progress across the financial services industry. As someone who is deaf, I’m excited to keep helping build a workplace where accessibility is proactive, not reactive - and where people don’t have to push for adjustments to be able to thrive.
Schroders partnership
Timeline
Here are some of the key achievements between Schroders and the Snowdon Trust
2019
The partnership between Schroders and the Snowdon Trust is launched through Schroders’ sponsorship of six students through the Trust’s grants programme, which makes equal access to education possible for higher education students facing unaffordable disability-related study costs.
2021
Schroders offer a week of work experience to five Snowdon Trust grant recipients who take on roles in the legal, marketing, product and compliance teams. When the Schroders intranet system cannot support a blind student's assistive software, Schroders launch an immediate project to upgrade their system to be fully accessible. Schroders also increases its financial support to £75,000 per year, offering life-changing grants to many more students.
2023
Representatives from Schroders’ WorkAbility Network attend the Snowdon Trust Disabled Student Forum at the House of Lords and make connections with the Disabled Leaders Network (DLN), Snowdon Trust’s leadership platform.
2024
Schroders' WorkAbility Network and the Disabled Leaders Network develop a partnership encompassing regular virtual coffee get-togethers with disabled students and recent graduates to share good practice and advice for disabled jobseekers, and a series of webinars on CV writing, interview techniques and other employability skills. Schroders’ talent management team provide expertise on the Snowdon Master’s Scholarship award review
panel.
2025
Schroders hosts the Snowdon Trust annual reception, bringing together emerging disabled leaders at Schroders’ headquarters in London for an afternoon of connection and celebration. Their highly accessible building and thoughtful approach to event management demonstrates their commitment to inclusivity.
2026
The partnership goes from strength to strength. Schroders Inclusion Specialist Alice is an expert panel member on the DLN webinar on Getting into Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Schroders commit to hosting the Snowdon Trust annual reception for the second time using the Disabled Leaders Network’s Accessible Events Toolkit, with further DLN activities in development.