Rod Aldridge established the Aldridge Foundation in 2006 to further the work of his charitable trust. The Aldridge Foundation uses entrepreneurship as the catalyst for creating lasting social change for young people and their communities, by empowering young people to direct their own lives, raise their aspirations and change their future for the better, creating opportunities for young people that develop skills and assist them to achieve excellence, and building new partnerships and challenging current structures, thus enabling young people to realise their potential.
The focus is delivering a number of high profile activities in London, Darwen, Falmer, Salford and Birmingham. All of these promote the ideals of the Foundation, and the small, dedicated team support Rod in his roles, including as the Sponsor of two City Academies.
Rod was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2006. He was awarded an OBE in the 1994 New Years Honours List for services to the computer industry, and was given the freedom of the City of London in 1996. He is on the Court of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
Rod is also Chair of ‘v’- the charity launched in May 2006 which aims to inspire and engage over one million new youth volunteers, and in January 2007, was appointed Chairman of The Lowry, the theatre and arts venue in Salford. He is also a patron of the Prince’s Trust.
He is a regular speaker at conferences and is a contributor to the debate on public service reform, user voice and youth engagement.
For further information, visit www.aldridgefoundation.com