Holiday camp grants are awarded for organising camp activities during the school holidays for children and youth aged 7–16 who are Helsinki residents. There are specific eligibility criteria for the number and duration of camps, participants, and dates. Read more: Grant guidelines for youth organisations.(Link leads to external service)
For camps held between 1 November and 31 October, the deadline to apply for a camp grant is the end of the last day of October. At the end of the season, a report of the grant must be submitted by the end of October. Read more about applying for camp grants.
The use of the holiday camp grant is reported on the holiday camp grant report, which is submitted with the same Excel annex that was submitted when applying for the grant. Now, the annex is filled in with the realised data.
The report is filled in electronically in the city’s grant application e-service. The report is open from 1 September to 31 October 2025.
Check that the dates, hours, participants and locations of the camps are correct. If there are any changes to these compared to your plan or the award criteria for the grant, please briefly explain these changes in the ‘Brief description of the camp’ section of the camp Excel sheet.
Eligible expenses for holiday camp grants are:
-
Transport; material; food; communication; insurance; and rental costs for camps.
-
Payroll costs for camp staff
Eligibility criteria 1.11.2024-31.10.2025
Holiday camp grants can be awarded to Helsinki-based associations. Camp grants are also available to associations that are not youth associations, such as sports clubs and cultural associations.
We award holiday camp grants to Helsinki-based organisations that organise a camp during school holidays for at least ten children between the ages of 7 and 16 who live in Helsinki. Camps that are held entirely or partly when schools are in session are ineligible for grants. School holidays include the summer, autumn, Christmas, winter, Easter and other holidays.
Applicants must hold at least four overnight and/or day camps. The length of overnight camps must be at least three nights, and day camps must be at least four six-hour days. In special circumstances, we may award grants for camps that differ from these numbers.
We do not award these grants to national organisations or umbrella organisations.
All camps must be open to children and young people who live in Helsinki.
Grants for camping activities are awarded based on the number of camping days.
We calculate a camp day by multiplying the number of Helsinki residents aged 7–16 who participated by the camp’s length. Grants for overnight and day camps may differ. The number of days is the number of camp days from the beginning to the end of the camp, i.e. arrival and departure days are included.
The camp Excel with realised camp data is submitted together with the report in the city’s grant application e-service.
The cost centre statement including the income and expenses of the camps is submitted by the end of March of the following year to kansalaistoiminta@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) or by mail to Partner Unit/Youth Services, P.O. Box 51400, 00099 City of Helsinki.
The Culture and Leisure Committee’s Youth Sub-committee decides on the holiday camp grant in two parts. The first decision is made in the beginning of the year on the basis of the plans provided in the camp Excel. The second decision is made towards the end of the year in November–December based on the realised camps reported in the Excel file.
Decision
Both the beginning-of-year and end-of-year grant decisions will be sent to the applicant by post. The Youth Sub-committee’s meeting minutes, which include the decision, are also available on the City of Helsinki's website. The Youth Sub-committee’s meeting agendas are published approximately one week before the meeting, and both the agendas and minutes can also be found on the city’s website (Link leads to external service)(Link leads to external service) .
You cannot view the decisions on the grant application e-service where you completed the application.
Read more about decision-making on the holiday camp grant page.
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.