The City of Helsinki's terms and conditions for grants
These terms and conditions for grants are intended to serve as the general terms and conditions under which the City of Helsinki awards grants, and they are binding on the recipients of grants. Grant applicants must accept these terms and conditions for grants on the application form prior to submitting their grant application to the City of Helsinki.
Use of grants
1. The grant may only be used for the purpose specified in the grant decision. If the grant decision does not specify the purpose of use in more detail, the grant must be used for the purpose specified in the grant application in accordance with the guidelines and criteria applicable to the grant type in question.
2. The recipient of the grant may not use the grant to cover the costs of fundraising or business and investment activities or to increase their financial assets or other long-term investments.
The operations of recipients of grants
3. The recipient of the grant must organise their accounting as required by law and in a way that allows the use of the grant to be monitored through their accounting records. The recipient of the grant must organise an audit in accordance with the Auditing Act. The recipient of the grant must organise an audit even if the Auditing Act does not require it. In this case, the audit may also be carried out by a performance auditor. If a performance auditor carries out the audit, the auditor must issue a statement on the audit, called a performance audit report.
4. The recipient of the grant must notify the City without delay of any significant changes affecting the use of the grant and agree on the use or repayment of the grant.
The right to obtain information; oversight
5. The recipient of the grant must, without compensation, provide the City with the information that the City deems necessary for the processing of the grant application, the awarding of the grant and the monitoring of the use of the grant. The body or public official awarding the grant is entitled to audit the accounting and administration of the grant applicant/recipient and also carry out other audits on the grant applicant/recipient’s activities if necessary.
6. The recipient of the grant must draw up an account of the use of the grants previously awarded by the City to the extent required by the City.
Granting and disbursement of grants
7. The awarding and payment of the grant is subject to the condition that no discrepancies or abuse are discovered in the use of the grants awarded by the City to the applicant or in other activities.
The grant may be awarded as long as the applicant provides an accurate account of what has happened and presents a credible account of the rectifying actions taken, and as long as there is no longer a justified reason to suspect that the abuse is continuing or that the activities are otherwise inappropriate following the actions taken to rectify the applicant’s activities.
The City has the right to pause payment of the awarded grant for the duration of an investigation into the matter if there is reason to suspect that any of the conditions for recovering the grant, as specified in section 9, are met.
8. The City has the right to withhold collectible receivables in part or in full from the awarded grant.
Claim for recovery
9. The awarded grant must be repaid to the City of Helsinki in full or in part if:
a) the grant is used for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was awarded or for which the recipient was allowed to use the grant
b) the recipient of the grant has not complied with the terms and conditions specified in the grant decision, and this violation is not deemed to be negligible
c) the recipient of the grant has provided the City of Helsinki with incorrect or insufficient information regarding the grant
d) the recipient of the grant does not provide the information specified in section 5 by the deadline or within a reasonable time upon request and does not contribute to the performance of the audit
e) the grant is not used by the deadline by which the grant decision requires it to be used, and the recipient of the grant has not contacted the City regarding the use of the grant
f) there have been significant changes to the use of the grant that the City of Helsinki does not consider to be acceptable.
10. Upon noticing the existence of any of the grounds for repayment as specified in section 9 above, the recipient of the grant must contact the City of Helsinki without delay and at their own initiative in order to pay back the grant. However, the City of Helsinki always has the right to request the grant to be repaid or decide on the recovery of the grant if any of the grounds specified in section 9 above are met.
Contractor's Responsibilities
11. The recipient of the grant undertakes to investigate the background of the suppliers they use in their activities and to only procure products and services from suppliers that fulfil their social obligations.
12. The recipient of the grant undertakes to comply with the ethical partnership principles for grants and cooperation with organisations(Link leads to external service) that have been approved by the Helsinki City Board.