Reece Foundation

The Reece Foundation, established in 2007 by engineer Dr Alan Reece, drives economic regeneration and social mobility in regions facing industrial decline by investing in high-quality STEM education, engineering skills, and manufacturing innovation. Core values champion excellence in technical teaching, fostering youth inspiration for engineering careers, collaborative partnerships with educators and industry, and long-term sustainability of local manufacturing bases. Their grantmaking philosophy emphasizes targeted, innovative interventions that build skills pipelines, believing strategic support for specialist resources and outreach sparks technical talent development, empowers underrepresented young people, and revitalizes communities through practical, evidence-based education.

They prioritize STEM education initiatives including university and further education engineering programmes, mathematics and physics teaching enhancements, specialist equipment and infrastructure for secondary schools and technical colleges, outreach activities inspiring young people aged 11-19 to pursue engineering and manufacturing careers, apprenticeships and work experience placements for underrepresented youth facing barriers to technical employment, STEM learning resources and science festivals promoting hands-on innovation, mentoring schemes connecting students with industry professionals, and skills training addressing gaps in technical subjects. They support interventions tackling industrial skills shortages through youth development, employability programmes, early career inspiration, and community-led technical education, occasionally funding rural skills projects, biodiversity conservation, and environmental stewardship intersecting with engineering purposes, such as sustainable manufacturing or countryside resilience training for young people in deindustrialized areas.

They exclude core operational costs for generalist organizations, statutory services, or projects lacking direct ties to engineering, manufacturing, or STEM skills development. Distinctive for unwavering focus on North East England's manufacturing heritage and technical education revival, they prioritize young people from communities hit by industrial decline, educational charities delivering practical interventions like equipment grants and apprenticeships, innovative grassroots initiatives with industry collaboration, and organizations demonstrating measurable pathways to skilled technical roles over broad philanthropy.