We are the Orienteering Foundation, a charity that promotes and supports orienteering, to bring all the benefits this amazing sport has to offer the people of the UK, and to ensure that our sport is here for the enjoyment of generations to come.
But the future of our sport is at risk. Only 10% of our orienteering community is aged between 20-34 and in 2017 nearly 10,000 school children participated in our grassroots schemes. Worryingly despite this good work we are seeing drop out rates of 70-80% in those crucial skill building years of ages 13-21.
And our volunteers are getting tired. Last year there was a 4% drop in the number of events run, but a 7% increase in competitors. The demands outside events also continue to rise. We know people want to participate in our sport but we are in danger of burning out our volunteers.
Technology in the sport provides massive opportunity but we need to invest. We have all seen major changes over the past twenty years with the emergence of electronic punching and tracking systems, mapping software, and online analysis tools.
With your support the Orienteering Foundation works to tackle emerging issues. We currently fund junior programmes, invest in elites, support adult coaching opportunities, support those developing tools and techniques to alleviate volunteer workloads, and sponsor projects which look to exploit new technologies in our sport. With your help we can do more.
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The future of our sport is in jeopardy. With shrinking junior numbers, diminishing pools of experienced volunteers, increases in costs of running events and problems with access to some of our best technical areas, orienteering is under increasing pressure. The Orienteering Foundation is here to help ensure that our favourite sport continues to be a great source of adventure, challenge and community spirit. This month we launch the 1%er Legacy Programme, which asks "Would you be willing to gift just 1% of your estate to the future of orienteering?" Read more here.
08th Oct 18
The Orienteering Foundation is most appreciative of a generous donation of £500 from Saxons Orienteering club.
05th Oct 18 Read more…
Today saw the launch of the Scottish Orienteering Youth Leader (SOYL) award in Perth, supported by a grant from the Orienteering Foundation
22nd Sep 18 Read more…
Jonathon Hooton has created an excellent video showing what goes on at the JROS (Junior Regional Orienteering Squads) Lagganlia training camp in Scotland. You can watch the video here.
The Orienteering Foundation is proud to have supported JROS and the Lagganlia camp for many years, often with a particular focus on young coach development at the camp, and it is great to see this brought to life by the video.
19th Sep 18 Read more…
The Orienteering Foundation is pleased to announce support for another coaching day on Saturday 10th November 2018, in a similar format to the one back in February 2018 (but hopefully better weather this time!). We are particularly keen to promote coaching of adult orienteers, who are often under-served, but also welcome groups including juniors. Details of the day are below.
06th Sep 18 Read more…
