History of the Orienteering Foundation
Here we capture the history of the Orienteering Foundation since its formation in 2006
Formation
The Orienteering Foundation is a registered charity (number 1118793) independent of British Orienteering, set up originally with a bequest from Bertie and Elsie Ward in 2006. The original charitable objectives from the trust deed dated 11 November 2006 read as follows:
To benefit the public and promoting healthy recreation by: 1) providing facilities, access and opportunities available to the community to encourage and promote orienteering; 2) providing capital and revenue support to increase and sustain participation in orienteering; and 3) strengthening the links between orienteering and the community and to harness the potential of orienteering as a force for good in the community and society as a whole.
See the Charity Commission website for the official entry for the charity today.
History and today
In its early years there was a strong focus on driving donations, with giving campaigns and encouraging people to set up regular donations. However in the last decade, the focus has pivoted more towards highlighting the good work that we do or can support and encouraging high quality grant applications (with the belief that seeing our great work will implicitly lead people to generously donate). Some of the key projects and initiatives include:
- Junior orienteering - An original area that Bertie and Elsie Ward where keen on, we have continued to support it since, especially via the Junior Regional Orienteering Squads (JROS).
- Club development - We made our first Club Development Officer grant to CLOK in 2021, and have since supported CDOs at 10 other clubs.
- Technology innovation - Conducted a survey of technology use in orienteering in xxx and have since encouraged grant applications leveraging technology.
- Social media - On Facebook and Twitter (now X) since 2016, sending email newsletters via Mailchimp since 2018, posted our first YouTube video in 2020, and joined Instagram in 2022.
- 1% legacy programme - Launched in 2018, this provides a way for people to leave a lasting legacy for the sport they love.
- Coaching days - Organised our first coaching day in 2018, particularly targeting often neglected coaching for adults, and run annual coaching days in the Lake District ever since.
- Newcomer retention - Kicked off this project in 2021 to provide best practice for clubs aiming to attract newcomers.
- Projects funded - Provided grant support to dozens of orienteering projects big and small, all across the UK.
Chairs past and current
| Name | Dates |
|---|---|
| Peter Christopher | 2006 - February 2015 |
Neil Cameron | September 2015 - January 2021 |
| Andrew Evans | January 2021 - present |
Trustees past and current
| Name | Dates |
|---|---|
| Chris James | 2006 - 2011 |
| Bob Roach | 2006 - February 2014 |
| Peter Christopher | 2006 - February 2015 |
| Sue Bett | 2006 - ??? |
| Pauline Olivant | March 2013 - present |
| Neil Cameron | September 2013 - present |
| Duncan Archer | February 2015 - January 2021 |
| Malcolm Duncan | September 2015 - August 2019 |
| Andrew Evans | September 2015 - present |
| Roger Scrutton | May 2018 - present |
| Martin Ward | March 2020 - present |
| John Mather | April 2022 - present |
| Anne Edwards | April 2022 - present |
To see the biographies of the current trustees head over to Meet the Board. To get in touch with any of them, or one of our ambassadors, see Getting in Touch.
Other entries related to: About Us