Sports facility usage grant

A facility usage grant can be awarded upon application to sports clubs that receive an operating grant for sports for the same year. The association must meet the following criteria:

1. The registered domicile of the sports club is Helsinki and its activities are open to all Helsinki residents. The activities for which a grant is awarded must be primarily directed at Helsinki residents.
2. The sports club must be registered with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office in accordance with the Associations Act. The club’s activities must be well-established and the club must have been in operation for at least one full calendar year prior to applying for a grant. This does not apply to cases in which a club has changed its name, a division has registered as a separate association, or the operations of clubs that have previously received a grant are entirely or partially joined together.
3. According to the statutes of the sports club, the club’s primary field of activity is sports and exercise, and the umbrella organisation for the sports activities that they organise is a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee and/or is covered by State funding for national sports organisations provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture. More than 50% of the club’s regular training activities must be in sports that meet the abovementioned criterion.
4. The sports club organises regular instructed sports activities for the same group within the club at least 10 times for a continuous period of three months.
5. The club’s regular instructor-led sports and physical activities must be attended by at least 50 active members who live in Helsinki, or, alternatively, at least 20 active members under the age of 20 who live in Helsinki.

The sports club must comply with the principles of good governance and the ethical principles for sports communities in all its operations.

• Read the ethical principles for sports communities(Link leads to external service) (pdf, in Finnish).
• Read the principles of good governance for associations(Link leads to external service) (pdf, in Finnish).

The facility usage grant is awarded for the facility costs of activities in the gymnasiums of City of Helsinki schools and sports facilities and venues other than those owned by the City of Helsinki Sports Services.

The use of the facilities must meet the following criteria in order to be taken into account in the calculation of the facility usage grant:

1. The sports club has used its facility usage reservation for regular (at least 10 times within 3 uninterrupted months) and instructed sports activities and has paid a lease for the facility. Regular sports activities in facilities owned by the club itself are also taken into account in the calculation.
2. Only regular instructed training sessions organised by the club in sports facilities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and attended by at least four active members and an instructor or coach are taken into account. Sports facilities in Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen are regarded as sports facilities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
3. The facility usage costs are estimated on the basis of the costs of the previous calendar year. Therefore, the facility usage must have taken place in 2025 (*exception below).

*The amount of the facility usage grant may take into account, on a discretionary basis, significant changes in the club’s use of the sports facilities concerning the year of application. Significant changes may be taken into account if they have a substantial impact on the facility usage costs and if they occur in one of the following situations:

• clubs merging or splitting into several clubs
• a division or several joining or leaving the club
• new sports facilities leased or owned by the club
• a relinquishment of sports facilities leased or owned by the club
• the facility leased or owned by the club becomes or ceases to be eligible for the grant during the application year.

The applicant must indicate such significant changes separately with an application form and a facility usage appendix. If the reservation hours actually used and/or the costs are lower than the figures indicated, they will be deducted from the information provided in the facility usage appendix for the following year. If the applicant does not apply for a facility usage grant the following year, the difference will be recovered.

The facility usage grant calculation is based on the following factors:

1. The calculated maximum hourly rate, which determines the maximum amount of the grant per approved hour of facility usage (60 minutes).

2. If the hourly lease paid by the club has been lower than the calculated maximum hourly rate, the amount of the actual grant will decrease proportionally. The maximum hourly rates are:

   • sports facilities and venues: €24/h
   • swimming hall lane reservation: €14/h
   • ice time at ice halls for ages under 20: €42/h.

   When reporting lease payments, the club does not have to take into account the calculated maximum hourly rate defined above; instead, it must report its actual realised lease costs in the grant application.

3. The weighting of activities for children and young people under 20 in the calculation is 100%, while the weighting of activities for adults is 90%.

The facility usage grant is calculated on the basis of the lease invoice reported by the applicant and the facility usage appendix attached to the application. The details provided about the facility in the facility usage appendix must match those provided in the invoice. This means that the facilities cannot be divided into smaller parts to report part-specific prices.

The final facility usage grant is determined by comparing the applicant’s calculated facility usage grant with the calculated grants of other applicants for facility usage grants and the budget allocated to the grant type.

The hourly rate for the sports facility administrated by the applicant is calculated as follows:

Any lease income received by the club from the facilities is deducted from the lease paid by the club. The difference between the lease costs and income is divided by the number of hours used by the club for its own regular training activities, resulting in the hourly rate for the use of the facility. Only the share of the sports facilities in the lease is included in the hourly lease. The share of office, meeting and storage facilities in the lease is not taken into account unless these facilities are used for sports activities. In the case of a sports facility owned by the sports club, the association must report all usage costs (e.g. water, electricity, cleaning costs) in the additional information section of the application.

Clearing ice time for ice hockey and figure skating juniors is not supported in this grant type, nor is it reported in the grant application or the facility usage appendix.

A grant may be awarded to eligible applicants who have applied for the grant by the given deadline. The amount of the grant cannot exceed the amount applied for. If the applicant receives a grant for an activity from some other City of Helsinki grant form, the Sport Service will not approve a second grant for the same activity.

The application for sports facility usage grant opens at the beginning of the year and ends on February 15. Grants must be applied for within the application period specified. If an application is not submitted by the deadline, it will be regarded as late and rejected.

The grant is primarily applied for through the operating and facility usage grant application form. The same application is to be used to apply for an operating grant. A link to the application form will appear on the left side of this page for logged-in users during the application period.

Click here for instructions on how to use the e-services to apply for a grant and how to log in.

In exceptional cases, the grant application may be submitted to the City Register Office ( instructions(Link leads to external service) ).

The application must be accompanied by the mandatory appendix on the use of sports facilities; see below for additional information.

An applicant applying for a sports facility usage grant must provide the previous year’s facility use data with a separate facility use appendix to be attached to the application. The number of hours and rent indicated by the applicant on the application form must correspond to those that are indicated on the facility use appendix.

Facility use appendix(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish, excel, 2026)

Published 22.7.2025. Note: always use the latest version of the facility use appendix template!

Decisions on sports facility usage grants are made by the Sports Sub-committee. Decisions are expected to be made in April. The grant decisions, including the instructions for appeal, will be sent for information to all applicants.

See previous decisions of the Sports Sub-committee on  the page of the Sports Sub-committee(Link leads to external service) .

The grant for the use of sports facilities will be paid in accordance with the grant decision into a bank account specified by the recipient. If the recipient does not have a bank account, they must open one. The City of Helsinki will only pay a grant into a bank account in the name of the recipient. 

The facility usage grant will be paid in one instalment following the grant decision.

A prerequisite for the granting and payment of the grant is that there have been no discrepancies regarding any grants awarded by the city to the recipient in previous years. The city has the right to suspend the payment of a grant until the matter has been resolved if there is reason to suspect that the prerequisites for the recovery of a grant specified in Section 10 of the general grant criteria of the City of Helsinki are met.

The city has the right to set off the grant in whole or in part against a recoverable claim from the recipient.

The grant for the use of sports facilities must be used for the purpose for which it was awarded. The grant must be used for the association’s non-profit activities. The grant must be used during the year in which it was awarded, unless otherwise specified in the decision.

The grant for the use of sports facilities is based on the actual use of facilities in the previous year and related expenses. The actual usage must be indicated in the facility use appendix. Rent receipts and lease agreements must be provided upon request. A separate report on the use of the facilities is therefore not required, unless otherwise specified in the decision. The combined share of the operating and facility usage grant cannot exceed 80% of the eligible costs of the club’s non-profit activities.

The grant cannot be used for fundraising or for business and investment expenditure, or to increase the association’s financial assets or any other long-term investments. The grant cannot be forwarded to third parties.

If the applicant has received the grant in the previous year, but does not apply for a grant in current year, the applicant must complete a separate report form (opens in a new tab)(Link leads to external service) on the use of the grant from the previous year. The report form must be completed by the deadline mentioned in the grant decision.

The recipient must notify the City of Helsinki without delay of any significant change affecting the use of the grant.

Instructions on completing the form 2025(Link leads to external service)  (pdf, in Finnish)

A preview of the application form(Link leads to external service) (pdf, In Finnish) 

Read more about the other documents governing the award, use and reporting of grants for sports on the Guidance and support page.

The contact details of personnel providing personalised guidance on sports grants are available on the Contact details page.