Clubs are usually organised by one or more adult volunteers for the children and youth in the same housing company or neighbourhood. We award grants to clubs for organising early youth and youth activities. These grants are awarded to clubs that provide activities for local youth on a voluntary basis. A housing association club is usually run by residents.
If you are unsure whether your housing association club is eligible to apply for a grant, please get in touch with the experts at the Youth Services Partnership Unit.
When considering applying for youth activity grants, please carefully review both the general grant allocation guidelines and conditions and the specific award criteria and application guidelines for each grant type.
We can award grants to clubs when at least two thirds of their participants are children or young people between the ages of 7−28 and Helsinki residents. As a general rule, club grants are not awarded to registered associations, foundations, companies or other registered entities.
A club that is to be funded aims to involve and socially empower young people. We can award grants to clubs for a maximum of one year at a time.
We will not award grants to cover an applicant’s administrative, salary or other similar costs. Project grants also exclude personal travel grants and stipends. The grant may also not be used to finance the purchase of fixed assets and is not awarded to projects that are intended to generate a profit.
You apply for the club grant with a youth activity grant application and can apply for it year-round. However, we cannot award a grant earlier than the date that the application is submitted.
The project grant application is completed electronically through the city’s grant application e-service. The application is submitted using the personal identification of the adult whose account would be used to receive the potential grant.
Attachments are submitted via the City of Helsinki e-services.
A copy of a bank statement or the bank’s confirmation of the account holder is a mandatory attachment. For a copy of a bank statement, it is sufficient to provide the page that shows the account number and the account holder. You may redact any other information on the statement, if you prefer.
You can either fill in the housing association club’s activity plan and budget on the grant form or attach them to your application.
If we ask for additional information or clarifications to your application, these will be submitted through the e-service within the requested deadline.
The Partnership Manager of Youth Services decides on the club grants.
The decision will be sent to the applicant by post, and the decisions by the officials are also available on the City of Helsinki’s website.(Link leads to external service)
You cannot view the decisions on the e-service where you completed the application.
You should read the decision carefully. The decision always begins with the decision section, which also includes obligations and instructions for the applicant, e.g., on how to report on using the grant. The decision section also tells you the period and purpose for which the grant has been awarded. The grant must be used for the purpose and during the period for which it was awarded.
For example, you can use a project grant awarded to a club to cover the costs of materials, supplies and catering. You may not use the grant for hiring costs, administrative expenses or the purchase of fixed assets.
The grant provider decides the eligible expenses. This means that the project grant can only be used for the expenses specified in the decision. If the decision only states that the grant will cover the housing association club’s costs, then it only applies to the costs stated in the application and/or its attachments as the purpose of the grant. If any questions or changes arise regarding the use of the grant during the housing association club’s activities, you should contact the experts in the partnership unit.
We can only approve project expenses for the period for which the grant has been awarded in the decision. The decision will always explain how and when the use of the project grant needs to be reported.
Reporting on use
You must report the grant using the project grant reporting form (in finnish) by the deadline specified in the decision. You must include copies of receipts and any other supporting documents for the club’s expenses in the report. Typically, club expenses are purchases of materials, supplies and catering, and the supporting documents are usually receipts for these purchases.
If you do not provide an adequate report on how the grant was used within the deadline, the grant may be recovered. Please bear in mind that, per the City of Helsinki’s general grant allocation guidelines, the grant provider has the right to request all the information, documents and reports required to verify the use of the grant. If specifically requested, the grant recipient is thus obligated to provide information beyond what is specified in the decision.
Read more general guidance on grants for youth activities.
Read more about guidance and support for grants for youth activities.
Please contact the planners in the Youth Services Partnership Unit if you have any questions or concerns about youth activity grants.