Our History
The Rigby Foundation has been supporting communities in the West Midlands since 1992
The History of the Rigby Family’s Charitable Support
Sir Peter and his wife Patricia first set up a family foundation in 1992. Over the last 30 years they have proudly supported many local and national charities. Past funded projects include the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a sensory garden for Warwickshire’s Shakespeare Hospice, support for the Commonwealth Games legacy charity, funding for The Prince’s Trust and donations to Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital. You can read more about these projects below.
Sir Peter also established the ‘SCC Academy’, a learning centre dedicated to providing essential technology skills to local unemployed people that has supported several hundred learners with free courses and equipment since it was set up in 2021.
As part of the Rigby Group's 50th anniversary celebrations, the Rigby family reviewed their charitable giving. As a result, they made the decision to facilitate two independent charitable entities.
Sir Peter set up The Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust which will continue to support his personal philanthropic endeavours. He is Chair of this charity. In the first instance, the Trust’s funding will focus on supporting The Sir Peter Rigby Digital Futures Institute at Aston University, and The Sir Peter Rigby Centre for Enterprise at Liverpool University.
The Rigby Foundation to which this website is primarily dedicated is chaired by Steve Rigby. You can read more about all of our Trustees under 'Our People'. The Rigby Foundation now specifically focuses funding on programmes that help young people living in low income communities to succeed in education, and to have the best possible chance of securing meaningful and sustainable employment. The Rigby Foundation's philanthropic activities are concentrated in the West Midlands, particularly in central and south Birmingham.
Charity number 1209638
Charity number 1207788
Funded Projects
City of Birmingham Orchestra
The Rigby Foundation has supported the growth of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) by committing £80,000 a year for three years. This has enabled the CBSO to deliver over 150 performances reaching audiences of more than 170,000 people. Talking about this important partnership Sir Peter said ‘I am immensely proud to support CBSO, which has offered so many opportunities and so much enjoyment to local people for more than 100 years.’
Birmingham's Children's Hospital
The Rigby Foundation were a founding supporter of Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s Changemakers Programme. Collectively this community enabled the Hospital to hit it’s £1.5million iMRI Appeal in 2024 and provide a state of the art scanner which will allow neurosurgeons to accurately and confidently identify, during a surgical procedure, whether they have removed all of the tumour, right when they need the information the most. This equipment will transform brain tumour and epilepsy surgery for brave young patients.
The Shakespeare Hospice
As a patron of the Shakespeare Hospice, Sir Peter introduced the idea of a sensory garden that would be the ideal space for visitors to enjoy some peace and quiet with loved ones, or to have a quiet chat with the Hospice’s clinicians. The Rigby Foundation was proud to be able to fund this important provision in 2023. The new courtyard now includes a variety of new plants, as well as sensory areas and water features. The space now brings peace to patients and loved ones.