General grant for sport

Applicants who meet the following conditions may be awarded a general grant:

• The applicant is an association registered with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office in accordance with the Associations Act. The association must have been active for at least one year before applying for the grant. This does not apply to the registration of a section as an independent association or to the merging of all or part of the activities of two or more associations that have previously received a grant.
• The registered domicile of the association is Helsinki.
• The association organises sports activities.
• The association meets the minimum criteria for responsible and accessible activities:
  • All employees hired by the organisation have written employment contracts.
  • All paid employees in the organisation have a designated supervisor.
  • Up-to-date information on the organisation can be found in the Finnish Patent and Registration Office’s Information Service of the Finnish Register of Associations or in the Virre information service.
  • The organisation's operations, financial management, accounting and auditing of accounts or activities are carried out in accordance with the law.
  • The organisation collects data on participants in accordance with data protection legislation.
  • The organisation informs participants that their participation data may be shared with the City to monitor the use of the grants.
  • The organisation will immediately notify the City of Helsinki Sports Services if serious omissions or violations of any of the minimum criteria for responsibility and accessibility occur in its operations.
  • The association has up-to-date rules.
  • The association maintains a list of its members, in which the name and domicile of each member is entered in accordance with the Associations Act.
  • The association holds its meetings at the times specified in its rules.
  • The organisation checks the criminal records of all employees working with under-18s and all volunteers starting to work with under-18s.
  • The organisation does not tolerate racism, sexual harassment, gender-based harassment or inappropriate behaviour. Activities in breach of these policies are actively prevented, are always taken seriously and incidents are dealt with promptly.
  • The use of nicotine products, alcohol or other intoxicants is not permitted in the organisation's activities for children under 18. The use of these is actively prevented and incidents are dealt with without delay.
  • The participation of an assistant of a person with a disability in activities organised by the organisation is free of charge.
  • The use of doping or fitness doping is not permitted in the organisation's activities. Any breaches will be dealt with promptly.
  • No manipulation of competition is allowed in the organisation's activities. Any breaches will be dealt with promptly.

Grants will not be awarded for business activities or to applicants whose activities are limited to sports events, camps or training.

In addition to the granting criteria, the instructions and regulations issued by the Sports Services and the grant decision, grant recipients must comply with the following decisions, guidelines and regulations:

• The City of Helsinki's general guidelines on grants(Link leads to external service) (City Board, 7 April 2025, section 222)
• The City of Helsinki's ethical partnership principles for grant allocation and cooperation with organisations (City Board, 7 April 2025, section 222)
• The Culture and Leisure Division's shared grant allocation principles(Link leads to external service) (Culture and Leisure Committee, 12 December 2023, section 178)
• current legislation.

The general grant consists of an operating component and a facility usage component.

The amount of the general grant is up to 80 per cent of the eligible costs of the association's non-profit sports activities.

Eligible costs do not include

• costs of activities otherwise financed by the City of Helsinki
• costs of fundraising or financing activities
• loan repayments, interest, depreciation, impairments, reservations or other calculated items that are not based on actual expenses.

Grants of less than 100 euros are not awarded.

Operating component of the general grant

The operating component consists of a basic component and a responsibility and accessibility bonus.

The basic component is influenced by the number of participants, the number of trained instructors or coaches and the annual duration of the activity.

The following groups are taken into account in the number of people being physically active:

• people under 20 years of age
• people aged 64 and over
• people belonging to an adaptive sports target group.

The number of those in an adaptive sports target group is weighted double.

People being physically active must be Helsinki residents who have taken part in group sports activities organised by the association (excluding activities funded by the City of Helsinki in other ways) at least 10 times in the previous calendar year. Groups must have at least four members. The requirement of four members is not applied to adaptive sports target groups.

Adaptive sports target groups include people whose physical activity requires assistive devices, special support or special arrangements due to disability, illness or reduced functional capacity due to other reasons. They can exercise in their own groups or with other people who do not have the above-mentioned limitations.

Qualified instructors or coaches are persons who:

• instruct or coach people under the age of 20, aged 64 or over or belonging to the target group of adaptive sports in the association's sports activities (at least 50 per cent of the participants in the group to be coached must belong to these target groups to be assisted), and
• have completed one of the qualifications specified in the appendix.

The annual duration of the activity is determined on the basis of the number of months during the previous calendar year in which the association organised group sports activities:

• 1–3 months: a multiplier of 1 is used for scoring
• 4–6 months: a multiplier of 2 is used for scoring
• 7–9 months: a multiplier of 3 is used for scoring
• 10–12 months: a multiplier of 4 is used for scoring

The score for the basic operating component is calculated on the basis of these three factors: (number of participants + number of instructors and coaches) × annual duration multiplier. Double the emphasis will be placed on adaptive sports target groups.

The association can earn a responsibility and accessibility bonus, which increases the amount of the grant. The responsibility and accessibility bonus is based on the responsibility and accessibility scoring criteria set out in the appendix. Meeting each criterion will generate responsibility and accessibility points, which will be converted into a responsibility and accessibility bonus as set out in the appendix.

The responsibility and accessibility bonus is added to the applicant's basic component score. The resulting score is compared with the scores of the other applicants and the available budget to determine the amount of the operating grant in euros.

In the transitional period 2027–2028, a mechanism to prevent the operating component from decreasing by more than 35 per cent compared to the corresponding grant in the previous year will be applied to the operating component. In 2027, the benchmark is the operating grant for 2026 and the grant for other associations promoting physical activity. If the reduction in the grant is due to a structural change in the association (e.g. a section or sections leaving the association) or the previous year's grant was based on incorrect information, the mechanism will not be applied. The mechanism will also not be applied if the overall grant awarded to the applicant is less than 100 euros.

Facility usage component of the general grant

The amount of the facility usage component is influenced by the cost of premises for group sports activities.

The use of the facilities must meet the following criteria in order for the related costs to be taken into account in the awarding of a general grant:

• The facility is not managed by the City of Helsinki.
• The applicant uses the sports facility for its own group sports activities and pays a rental fee and/or other costs related to the use of the facility.
• The gym is located in the Helsinki metropolitan area (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen).
• At least 50 per cent of the people using the facility during the allotted slot belong to target groups requiring assistance (under 20 years old, 64 years old and over, adaptive sports target groups) and there are at least four participants belonging to these target groups. The minimum requirement of four participants does not apply to courses where at least half of the participants belong to adaptive sports target groups.
• The City of Helsinki does not contribute to the costs of the facility use in any other way.

The following are eligible as costs for the use of sports facilities:

• Rent paid for the use of the premises or the right to use the sports facilities (excluding the part of the rent paid for non-sports facilities and changing rooms).
• Separately paid facility usage operating costs, such as electricity, water, heating, insurance and maintenance charges.

The rent and other costs must be reasonable, taking into account the nature of the facility, and must be set at or below market rates. In the case of a sports facility managed by the applicant, the costs of the facility are taken into account, with any rental income the applicant may receive from the facility deducted.

As a general rule, the facility usage component is granted on the basis of the costs incurred in the previous calendar year. Consideration may be given to foreseeable significant changes in the use of sports facilities by the applicant.

Acceptable reasons for considering a change include:

• the merging of associations
• a section or sections joining or leaving the association
• a new sports facility rented or owned by the applicant (the expected cost of the facility must be proven at the application stage through a lease or other commitment)
• the entry or exit of a facility into or out of eligibility.

If a significant change is taken into account in the facility usage component, but the costs of using the facility are lower than expected, the amount of the facility usage component paid on false grounds will be deducted from the grant to be awarded in the following year. If the applicant does not apply for a general grant for sport in the following year, the corresponding proportion of the grant awarded will be recovered. The amount allocated as a facility usage component will be distributed among the applicants in proportion to the eligible costs of the premises. Each applicant may receive up to six per cent of the budget allocated for facility usage.

In the transitional period 2027–2028, a mechanism to prevent the facility usage component from decreasing by more than 40 per cent compared to the corresponding grant in the previous year will be applied to the facility usage component. In 2027, the benchmark will be the 2026 facility usage and clearing grants. The mechanism is the primary constraint in relation to the six per cent maximum per applicant.

The mechanism will not be applied if:

• the reduction in the grant is due to a structural change in the association (e.g. the transfer of a section or sections from the association);
• the previous year's grant was based on incorrect information;
• in 2026, the applicant's facility usage grant was based solely on the costs of using the City of Helsinki schools' sports halls; or
• the general grant awarded to the applicant is less than 100 euros.

The deadline to apply for the grant is 15 February each year.

The grant is applied for by logging in to the grant service and completing the application form. The link to the form will be displayed on the left side of this page for users logged in as a registered organisation during the application period. If necessary, you can go to the instructions on how to use the grant service and how to log in.

The form must be submitted by the application deadline. Applications arriving after the deadline will be rejected.

In exceptional situations, the grant application can be submitted to the City of Helsinki Register Office. Go to detailed instructions(Link leads to external service).

The application must be accompanied by:

• action plan for the year of application
• budget for the year of application.

If the applicant has not previously applied for a City of Helsinki grant or if their information has changed, the following attachments must be submitted with the application:

• the rules of the association
• the bank's notice of the account holder or a copy of the bank statement
• extract from the Register of Associations.

'The decision to award the grant is made by the Sports Committee. Decisions are expected to be taken in April. All grant applicants are sent the grant decision with appeal instructions by post.

Grants are paid in one instalment in accordance with the grant decision, using the payment details provided by the recipient. Applicants must have a Finnish bank account to which the grant will be paid. The City of Helsinki only pays grants into a bank account in the recipient's name.

The granting and payment of the grant is conditional on there having been no irregularities in the grants previously awarded to the applicant by the City. If there is reason to suspect that the requirements for recovering a grant are fulfilled, as described in Section 10 of the City of Helsinki's general grant criteria, the City has the right to suspend the payment of an awarded grant while the matter is being investigated.

The City has the right to offset the awarded grant, in whole or in part, against any receivable it is entitled to collect from the grant recipient.

The grant must be used in the calendar year in which it is awarded.

The beneficiary must submit an annual report on the grant by the date specified in the grant announcement. In the annual report, the beneficiary must explain how the general grant for the previous year was used and provide information on its activities in the previous year. In addition to this, each beneficiary will be subject to a periodic, more extensive audit, the information and documentation for which must be submitted with the annual report. The audit will pay attention to the accuracy of the information provided by the associations. If necessary, the audit may be extended to grants awarded in previous years. The associations selected for the audit will be informed at least three months before the due date for submission of the annual report.

The City may also review the use of the grant in other ways it deems appropriate at other times, as well. In accordance with the City of Helsinki's general guidelines for grants, applicants are obliged to provide the City with the information it deems necessary to monitor the use of grants. The City of Helsinki has the right, at its own discretion, to disclose any information it deems necessary in connection with the processing, awarding and monitoring of the grant application to the Finnish Center for Integrity in Sports FINCIS for processing in the centralised disciplinary system for sports.

An association that has received a general grant must keep the records on which the information provided in the grant application is based for five (5) years from the date of the grant. Such data include e.g. data on participants, statistics on participants’ visits, accounting data related to facility costs, and documentation and other data verifying compliance with responsibility and accessibility criteria.

If, during the audit, it is found that the applicant was not eligible for a grant, i.e. has not fulfilled the conditions of the grant, the entire grant awarded will be recovered. In other cases of non-compliance, it is possible to recover the entire grant, only the part of the grant to which the non-compliance relates, or only the amount overpaid or misused, without further penalty. If the applicant is guilty of repeated serious infringements, they may be excluded from receiving sports grants for a period of one year.

For a summary of the other documents applied to the awarding, use and reporting of grants, see the guidance and support page.

For information on who to contact for individual advice on sports grants, please visit the ‘Contact details for sports grants’ page.