Garfield Weston Foundation

Supporting thousands of young people to access quality, extra-curricular education

Talent and interest in STEM are spread equally across society, but opportunity is not. Socio-economic background, gender, where they grow up, and ethnicity all influence how likely young people are to choose STEM studies and thrive in STEM careers. At EDT we refuse to accept this status quo and know that no single organisation can solve the long-standing issue of underrepresentation in STEM. That’s why we are so committed to growing the Industrial Cadets community of young people, schools, colleges and universities, volunteers, and funders.

As stewards of the Industrial Cadets network, EDT can play a unique role in facilitating partnerships, sharing best practice, and bringing providers together to ensure that wherever they are in Britain, and whatever their background, young people have access to STEM experiences, role models, mentors, and careers guidance.  

Providing more equitable access to the sorts of extra-curricular programmes that help to inspire young people from all backgrounds into STEM, requires investment and we’re hugely grateful for the long-term support we’ve received from the Garfield Weston Foundation. By providing core funding, they’ve trusted us to apply their support where it’s needed most, including developing the Industrial Cadets network, boosting collaboration across STEM industry, other third sector providers, and education institutions as we work to encourage investment in, and development of, activities which meet identified regional gaps and needs. This has enabled tens of thousands of young people to access extra-curricular programmes, building STEM knowledge alongside core skills such as communication, teamwork, and resilience.

Impact

Grant funding has also helped us to develop our programmes to better reach groups who have been underserved and underrepresented in STEM -last year, 45% of our participants identified as female (compared to 29% of the STEM workforce), 50% were from ethnic minority communities (compared to 12% of the STEM workforce) and 40% were from low-income families.

Testimonial

“Through this project I have developed my time management skills as there was a lot to do with not a lot of time. I have been able to work on my communication and listening skills, I also worked on my writing skills and have contributed to writing this report by using them. I have improved my problem-solving skills as there have been plenty of problems for us to overcome as a team. Another skill I’ve learnt is to work with new people outside of my current friend group as before this project I did not know any of the people who I’m working with. I have learnt lots and so I believe that if I got a job within STEM I would be just fine. This challenge has sparked an interest in me to pursue a career in STEM in the future.”

Lizzie, Industrial Cadets Bronze Project student

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Established in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded grant-maker that gives money to support a wide variety of charities across the UK. The Foundation’s funding comes from an endowment of shares in the Weston family business – a successful model that still exists today. The Weston family have a consistent aim. The more successful the family businesses, the more money the Foundation can donate.

Each year the Foundation gives away its income and donations have continued to grow. Since it was established it has donated over £1.5billion, of which over half has been given away in the past ten years. In the most recent financial year the Foundation gave away over £100 million to just under 1,800 charities across the UK.

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