Sports Services, orienteering map grant

An orienteering map grant can be awarded to sports clubs that receive an operating grant for sports for the same year. A grant may be awarded upon application to sports clubs that meet the following criteria: 

1. The sports club's declared residence is in Helsinki, and the activities are open to all residents. The subject activities must be primarily targeted at Helsinki residents. 
2. The sports club must be an association registered at the Patent and Register Office. The club activities must be established and it must have been in operation for one whole calendar year before submitting the grant. This does not apply to clubs that have changed their name, have had a section register as an independent association, or if the applicant is a partial or total merger of two or more clubs that have received grants in the past.
3. The club’s primary activities, according to its rules, are physical activities and the sport it represents is a part of the Finnish Olympic Committee and/or belongs to the list of national sports associations that receive government contributions from the Ministry of Education and Health. Over 50% of the club’s regular exercise activities must be in sports that meet the above-mentioned criteria.
4. The sports club arranges regular, guided physical activities for a fixed group of its members at least 10 times during a 3-month period, considering the nature of the sport.
5. At least 50 of the club’s active members, or alternatively 20 active members under the age of 20, whose residence is in Helsinki, must participate in the club’s directed exercise activities.

The sports club must comply with the principles of good governance, the ethical principles for sports communities and  principles of the UN convention on the rights of the child 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) 
• Read the principles of the UN convention on the rights of the child (in Finnish)(Link leads to external service)

The grant covers orienteering and teaching maps reported to the map register of the Finnish Orienteering Federation. The grant only applies to new, remapped and updated maps printed in previous year.

Eligible expenses include costs arising from printing, background materials (permits, aerial photography, copying and drawing) and fieldwork. The application must include an itemisation of all the costs for each map.

Voluntary work can be taken into account as a manufacturing cost:

If the map includes different mapping methods (new, remapping and updating), the amount of voluntary work reported in the application will be distributed to each method of mapping in proportion to the number of mapped square meters. Income from the map, such as advertising revenue, grants and sales income, will be deducted from the map-specific costs. 

The grant will be awarded within the limits of the grant budget up to a maximum of 60% of the loss resulting from the difference between the costs and revenue. For maps produced as a joint effort between clubs, grants are awarded according to the percentage reported by the clubs. The map for which a grant is applied for must feature the logo of the City of Helsinki.

The application for orienteering map grants 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 orienteering map grant application form in the e-services for grants. 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(Link leads to external service) 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 at City of Helsinki Register Office, Culture and Leisure Division/Sports, PO Box 10, FI-00099 City of Helsinki, Finland (street address: City Hall, Pohjoisesplanadi 11–13). Applications submitted to the City Register Office must arrive by 15.00 on the last day of the application period.

The application must be accompanied with the mandatory attachments specified for each grant, a list of which is available below.

Invoices and receipts for the cost of producing orienteering maps must be submitted upon request. The invoices and receipts are not to be attached to the grant application.

If the applicant has not previously applied for any grants from the City of Helsinki or if any of the relevant information has changed, the following documents must also be attached to the application: 

• Rules of the association 
• A notice from the bank on the account holder or a copy of a bank statement (the applicant must have its own Finnish bank account into which the grant will be paid) 
• An extract from the Register of Associations

The decision on orienteering map grants is made by the Sports Services Director. Decisions on grants are expected to be taken in the spring. The grant decisions, including the instructions for appeal, will be sent for information to all applicants. 

Decisions by the Sports Services Director can be viewed here(Link leads to external service).

The grant will be paid in accordance with the grant decision in one instalment 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. 

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 orienteering map grant must be used for the costs of orienteering maps printed in previous year.  The grant cannot be used for other costs.

Orienteering map grants are awarded according to actual expenditure, so there is no need to provide a separate report on the use of the grant unless specifically requested.

Read more about the other documents governing the award, use and reporting of grants for sports on the Guidance and support page(Link leads to external service).

The contact details of personnel providing personalised guidance on sports grants are available on the Contact details page(Link leads to external service).