PHILANTHROPY
Steve chairs The Rigby Foundation, a charity set up by his parents, Sir Peter Rigby and Patricia Rigby over thirty years ago, to deliver on the family’s shared desire to give back. As their business celebrates its 50th year in 2025, the Rigby family will focus their charitable efforts in the West Midlands, supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in education and secure meaningful and sustainable employment.
Steve was previously chair of the development board of national children’s mental health charity Place2Be, where he made a game-changing difference to its fundraising achievements.
“ SUCCESS IN BUSINESS GOES HAND-IN-HAND WITH GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY AND COMMUNITIES.” – STEVE RIGBY
RIGBY FOUNDATION PLEDGES £3 MILLION TO SUPPORT THOUSANDS OF DISADVANTAGED YOUNG PEOPLE IN BIRMINGHAM
In its 50th year, Rigby Group through its charity, The Rigby Foundation has launched a ground-breaking social mobility project called ‘Inspiring Futures’ aimed at 11- to 25-year-olds from low income backgrounds.
As part of the initiative, The Rigby Foundation has announced a £3 million commitment to help raise the aspirations and achievements of disadvantaged young people in Birmingham.
The programme pairs ten schools and colleges from the city with ten leading charities that will provide support with activities like Maths and English attainment, mental health, debating skills and preparing for higher education and employment.
The commitment aims to help more than 1,000 pupils per year to achieve goals and aspirations that otherwise could not be attained. The charities involved are Action Tutoring, Ahead Partnership, Debate Mate, Envision, Get Further, IntoUniversity, Place2Be, Skills Builder, Sutton Trust and Zero Gravity.
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CENTRE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE (CSJ)
The Rigby Foundation commissioned a research report from the CSJ (Centre for Social Justice) – A New Deal for Young People in the West Midlands. The report is based on detailed research among education leaders and charities to lay out challenges facing young people across the West Midlands, particularly in education, employment and training, but also to identify successful interventions that could be rolled out to address these issues.
The Rigby Foundation, will use the findings of this report to inform its funding strategy to enable our young people to thrive, help them to succeed in school, and have the best possible opportunity to secure meaningful jobs.
This report is just the beginning of The Rigby Foundation’s work in the region. As Rigby Group approaches its 50th anniversary in 2025, the Rigby family has been reviewing the purpose of their Foundation’s charitable support. Future funding will focus on programmes that help children and young people to succeed in education and secure sustainable employment.
RIGBY FOUNDATION FUNDS GENERATION UK TO SUPPORT YOUNG PEOPLE INTO WORK
The Rigby Foundation is investing £600,000 to support at least 300 young people in the West Midlands into a range of careers including IT, green energy and health and social care.
This three-year commitment has been made to support Generation UK, a charity that works across the region to get young people into technically skilled and well-paid jobs, such as cloud and data engineering, cyber security, data analytics, green energy, sustainable construction and health and care.
As the Rigby family approaches the 50th anniversary of their family business in 2025, they have committed to put social mobility at the heart of their charitable support.
RESEARCH INTO THE CHALLENGE OF SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM
School absenteeism is a growing challenge – and one we can’t afford to ignore. Since the pandemic, severe absence has more than doubled, with over 157,000 pupils missing more school days than they attend. In the West Midlands, where The Rigby Foundation focuses its support, the numbers are even more concerning, with 23.1% of students persistently absent.
The Rigby Foundation is partnering with The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to explore how best to support meaningful change, re-engaging parents and rebuilding trust between home and school. By working with schools, colleges, Birmingham City Council, and the West Midlands Combined Authority, The Rigby Foundation will work to ensure that more children get back into education and have the opportunities they deserve.
The final report and recommendations will be published in late 2025.
