Needing to drastically reduce its annual expenditure following severe cuts in government funding, Orienteering Australia has just completed a thorough review of its activities in order to establish new priorities for funding.
The state associations and interested orienteers prepared and shared input papers, which were subsequently addressed by a meeting involving one orienteering administrator from each state. The process has resulted in a series of recommendations to the OA Board and Council about the future activities of Orienteering Australia.
The following is summary of the key areas identified in the input papers and the major recommendations from the meeting.
What is ‘Development’?
The role of the Director Development should be to direct a range of facilitation strategies which aid the states to share and exchange information about the role of media, sponsorship, marketing and promotion in the enhancement of participation.
Services for which OA should Pay rather than Seek to use Volunteers
Two contracts, each for approximately $20 000, should be let, for an executive officer and a head coach, with possibly one person occupying both positions.
The Conduct of the Council
No changes should be made to the composition or election of the Board or to the conduct of the Annual General Meeting and the Annual Conference, but whether the Council consists of two or one representative per state should receive further consideration.
The Management of Committees
The management of the committees should be improved, particularly in relation to the flow of communications between meetings.
The Australian Orienteer
The compulsory subscriptions to The Australian Orienteer by the state members should be increased to offset the loss of the ASC funding and there is a possible need for the magazine to adjust editorial practice to match budgetary constraints.
Participation by Australia within the International Orienteering Federation
Although OA should seek to be represented on committees of the IOF, expenditure should be restricted to being represented at the biennial Congress [this recommendation to be implemented after Hugh Cameron’s current term as a Member of the IOF Council ends].
The Priorities within High Performance
The Australian aspects of the program should be retained in their present form.
The international aspects of the program should be retained, but with a slightly reduced total expenditure
The selection of the WOC team should be retained at a maximum of six males and six females, with the selectors continuing to stringently apply the selection criteria relating to benchmark performances.
The OA should retain its commitment to increasing the funding of MTBO activities, with the Board and the MTBO Committee working towards an agreed strategy based on parity of participation.
Sources of Income
The states should pay a small levy on each event they conduct, ie a new levy on all non-National fixture events.
The online systems of the website should be enhanced in order to provide improved data that will assist in devising new strategies to increase participation and hence income.