Many thanks for the earlier response. Great ideas.

On another note, I have just popped over to the Farm and one of the managers has asked me to add a further inquiry on the forum.

Has any one had experience running Orienteering events / team building as a fund raising exercise. We have 35 acres here so plenty of space. But where do you begin. The boy scouts??

Regards

Adam

Hi Adam

I have not yet heard of any parks groups raising money in this way but there are lots of organisations doing events like this across the country.

I would start by searching for orienteering clubs and having a chat with them as to how best to go about it. A web search turned a couple so it should be quite easy to find someone to talk to.

There are many organisations that run orienteering as fundraising events. An online search for “orienteering fundraising” again turned up quite a few. Many are private companies who provide the service for a fee and some reputable charities have engaged them in this way, so it could be worth having a chat with them especially if you were prepared to negotiate. You could allow them to run a few profit sharing sessions at which you could learn the ropes. (Always worth considering the benefit of someone else managing the project on an ongoing basis as it leaves your staff free to get on with other work.) Find a company in your region as the short travel distance may make it a more appealing option.

I think the scouts are a good idea as well as contacting kid’s activity centres – many of these include some form of orienteering but their work tends to be seasonal. Again not sure if you have any of these in your area but being seasonal I guess they draw their staff from all over.

Another option may be shops like Cotswolds or Blacks. It is worth asking if these companies might support your efforts by providing a couple of volunteers as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Remember to make a case for how this might be good for them as a company i.e. staff development, public interaction with the brand, any possible press you could arrange for the fundraising event, use of their logos etc.
They will want to know things like who your target group are, how many people will be involved, how will the money be used, how will you market the activity etc. Shops tend to like to do this kind of volunteer support in areas where they have an outlet as the marketing benefit tends to be localised but the rise in online use is challenging this approach. You could be asking them to pay the expenses of an expert orienteering team to help run the day for example.

Don’t forget companies who make maps and orienteering equipment as they may well have lots of experience in orienteering events – well what would a map making company do for fun! (A bit generalist-ic but I bet I'm right!)

Hope this helps a bit

David