Help build the register once, so it can serve Australia for generations. The $900,000 does not fund a temporary program. It establishes a permanent national asset. One register, one standard and a trusted national home for the journeys that made Australia.
The foundation ask
$900,000
over four years, to develop, build and staff the register through establishment to self sufficiency. Beyond establishment, the register sustains itself through founding sponsorships and regional promotion, with the National Trust and its 7,000 volunteers as permanent custodians.
The national website, web app, trail builder and register systems.
A small national team to build the register, curate trails and work with custodians and states.
Durable, QR enabled trail marking and minor access improvements.
Launch marketing and education programs that put the trails to work.
The campaign begins with an anchor commitment of between $300,000 and $450,000. From that point, every public donation is matched until the $900,000 target is reached, creating momentum, urgency and confidence that the campaign can succeed.
What your gift does
Helps digitise or interpret a heritage place.
Give $25 →Supports research or audio storytelling.
Give $250 →Helps map and publish a section of trail.
Give $2,500 →Supports a trail launch, interpretation or signage.
Give $10,000 →Establishes a founding trail partnership.
Discuss a partnership →Recognition
Cornerstone philanthropic supporters of the register, recognised on the national platform, in launch materials and in annual impact reporting.
Partners attached to a registered trail, recognised across that trail, its signage and national campaigns, with outcomes reported quarterly.
The founding generation of individual supporters who built the register, acknowledged together on the national platform and at launch.
Recognition is structured so that the campaign celebrates contribution without commercialising the heritage itself. Founding partners are recognised across trails, signage and national campaigns, with outcomes reported quarterly.
Ways to give
One or two cornerstone philanthropic gifts anchor the campaign and unlock matched giving for everyone who follows.
Founding sponsors in national, geographic and sector categories, with the majority of sponsor funds spent on promotion that returns direct value.
A government willing to recognise the register as permanent national infrastructure, alongside benefactors willing to seed it.
A national crowdfunding campaign, so that the register is built by the many as well as the few, with every gift matched during the campaign period.
A flagship fundraising dinner, walk or ride, with matched giving from supporters in the room on the night.
The Trust’s 7,000 volunteers, historical societies, friends groups and men’s sheds become the custodial workforce of the register.
A national launch will symbolically connect the five candidate trails, bringing together representatives from each state, First Nations custodians, volunteers, historians, regional tourism bodies and founding donors.
A coordinated series of walks, rides and community events then takes place nationally through the campaign period, putting the first trails to work as the register is built.
“Australia’s great journeys already exist. Help us put them on the map.”
