Orienteering — navigating between control points using map and compass — is one of sport's best-kept secrets: intellectually demanding, physically varied, accessible to all ages, and set in nature. Australia has a strong orienteering tradition, with events across bushland, parks, and urban environments. Rogaining (long-distance navigation over many hours) is an Australian invention. Grant funding supports clubs, map development, junior programs, and the events that bring orienteers together.
Australian orienteering landscape
Orienteering's distinctive value
Sport Australia
Community sport grants.
State sport agencies
Orienteering development funding.
Orienteering Australia
Club development; junior programs; map development.
State orienteering associations
State-level club grants.
Maps
Equipment
Junior programs
Events
Rogaining
Trail orienteering
Orienteering provides significant health benefits:
- Moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise
- Cognitive load (navigation) exercises the brain simultaneously
- Nature exposure: mental health benefits
- Lifelong: people compete in their 80s in appropriate age classes
- Social: club culture and event community
Applications that frame orienteering as a healthy ageing, cognitive health, and nature connection activity can access health funders alongside sport funders.
Maps are essential
Without current, accurate maps, orienteering cannot happen. Applications for map development or revision are the most fundamental investment in the sport.
Junior development
Orienteering's navigation skills are educationally valuable — and the sport is genuinely accessible to children. Applications for junior programs in schools are well-positioned.
Cognitive health framing
The combination of navigation and physical activity makes orienteering particularly valuable for brain health. Applications with cognitive health framing can access dementia prevention and healthy ageing funders.
Tahua's grants management platform supports orienteering funders and community sport organisations — with participant tracking, event reach data, program measurement, and the reporting tools that help orienteering funders demonstrate their investment in Australia's navigation sport community.