Sports Services, orienteering map grant

An orienteering map grant may be awarded upon application to sports clubs that meet the following criteria: 

1. The domicile in accordance with the association’s statutes must be Helsinki, and the activities must be open to all residents of Helsinki. The activities to be supported must mainly be directed at Helsinki residents.
2. In accordance with the Associations Act, the association must be registered with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office. The activities of the association must be well established. The association must have been in operation for one full calendar year before the grant application date. This does not apply to associations that have changed their name, divisions of associations that have been registered as independent associations or a full or partial merger of the activities of two or more associations that have previously received grants.
3. Sports clubs are required to organise sports activities as their main activity in accordance with their statutes, and the sports organisation representing the type of physical activity they carry out must be an actual member of a national central organisation for physical activities and sports and/or included in the scope of the state subsidies for national sports organisations by the Ministry of Education and Culture. 
4. The sports club must organise regular guided physical activities for the same group at least ten times during a continuous period of three months, taking into account the nature of the activity. 
5. At least 50 of the club’s active members living in Helsinki, or alternatively at least 20 active members under the age of 20, must participate in the club’s guided regular physical activities. 
6. The association 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 (pdf, in Finnish)
• Read the principles of good governance for associations (pdf, in Finnish)

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 2022. 

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.

Work performed as a community effort will be taken into account according to the table below. 

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 metres. 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.

Orienteering map grants are open for application once a year. The 2023 application period is from 9 January to 15 February 2023. 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.

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 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 16.00 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 of 2023. 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.

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 grant must be used for the association’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 other associations or distributed as individual grants to members. The funds must be used for the operations of the association in general.

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.

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