City of Espoo’s principles for organisation grants for the promotion of health, wellbeing and social inclusion

The Local Government Act (410/2015, section 1) and the Act on the Provision of Health and Social Services (612/2021, section 6) require that municipalities promote the health and wellbeing of their residents. According to the Act on the Provision of Health and Social Services, municipalities are primarily responsible for the promotion of health and wellbeing insofar as this task is linked to their other statutory duties. Municipalities must also promote the operating conditions of organisations involved in the promotion of health, wellbeing and social inclusion and enhance their possibilities to carry out effective activities.

Organisations that promote health and wellbeing through art and culture as well as resident and neighbourhood associations can primarily apply for the City of Espoo’s cultural grants. Organisations that promote health and wellbeing through sports are mainly supported through the City of Espoo’s sports grants. Youth summer employment, young people’s own projects and ideas and youth work organisations are mainly supported through the City of Espoo’s grants for youth activities.

The organisation grant for the promotion of health, wellbeing and social inclusion is mainly intended for registered non-profit associations that meet the general grant principles and have not received other grants for the same activities. The Sports and Wellbeing Committee decides on the principles for organisation grants for the promotion of health, wellbeing and social inclusion. 

The purpose of the organisation grant for the promotion of health, wellbeing and social inclusion is to promote the health, wellbeing and inclusion of Espoo residents. The grant enables activities for Espoo residents with the main focus on health and wellbeing promotion through preventative measures.

Grants are awarded to activities that are in line with the values and goals of the Espoo Story and the goals of the city’s wellbeing plans.

Particular attention is paid to the following aspects when making grant decisions:

• activities that prevent social exclusion, reduce loneliness, promote people’s functional capacity, quality of life and social inclusion, and boost a sense of inclusion;
• activities that promote equality between different areas and are targeted at different districts in Espoo;
• activities that are varied and accessible and take different population and age groups into consideration.

The following themes are especially valued

• activities that promote integration, peer support activities related to employment promotion, and psychosocial support for jobseekers;
• activities that support school work, homework club activities, anti-bullying activities, and activities that support parenting in cooperation with early childhood education;
• activities that promote social encounters.

The following are considered an advantage:

• Cooperation with other local organisations, operators and the City of Espoo.

• Active multi-channel communication about the organisation’s activities to both the target group and partners.

  It is hoped that organisations use the Lähellä.fi service(external link, opens in a new window), the Suomi.fi Finnish Service Catalogue (FSC)(external link, opens in a new window) or the Espoo event calendar(external link, opens in a new window) for communication.

• The goals of the activities are defined in a clear and realistic manner.
• Assessment of the success and effectiveness of the activities and a description of assessment methods (e.g. monitoring of visitor numbers).

An association can only receive one grant from the City of Espoo for the same purpose. The applicant is obliged to disclose if it has applied for or received a grant from another City of Espoo unit (e.g. cultural or sports grants).

If necessary, the Sports and Wellbeing Committee may update these principles before the application period starts the following year.

The grant is intended for supporting the established basic activities or new experiments of associations that organise activities promoting health, wellbeing and social inclusion. The grant can also be used to cover the rent for premises.

The grant can be awarded to Espoo-based registered associations that have started their operations during or before the previous calendar year. The grant may be awarded to an association whose domicile is not Espoo if it has members and activities in Espoo. Grants are awarded on the basis of an overall assessment.

The grant must be used during the calendar year it was awarded or the following year.

The grant will not be awarded if:

• the association has received a grant for the same purpose from another City of Espoo unit;
• if the activities for which the grant is sought are clearly services that supplement the wellbeing services county’s statutory duties;
• if the application is late.

Grant applications received by the city are initially assessed based on the minimum criteria (approved/rejected).

1. Grants can be applied for by a registered association or another registered organisation, such as a foundation.
2. Associations and other organisations that apply for a grant and are just starting their operations must be able to show proof of their activities through sufficient documents, for example by providing minutes of their board meetings.
3. Grants are only awarded to such non-profit activities that are in line with the Espoo Story and support the city’s goals. Any grants awarded must not have a distorting effect on competition, and the activities in question must not be business activities.
4. The organisation’s activities must take place in Espoo.  
5. The city only awards one grant for the same purpose or activities.  
6. The applicant’s activities must comply with applicable laws and regulations and respect good practices and generally accepted ethical principles. Ethical principles also cover all forms of discrimination.
7. The applicant must arrange its bookkeeping so that it is possible to monitor the use of the grant. Non-profit activities must be separated from any service production or other commercial activities in the organisation’s bookkeeping.
8. Grants are not awarded to religious or political activities or any activities that can be defined as religious or political.
9. Late applications will not be processed.

The City of Espoo allocates the funds reserved for organisation grants to the activities that meet the conditions using a scoring system. In addition to the scores, the city examines the distribution of grants between different areas and target groups.

The maximum score is 11 points.

Scoring

1. The applicant describes why the activity in question is needed in Espoo, i.e. justifies the need for the activity (e.g. the target group experiences a high level of loneliness).

• 0 p = need for the activities is not justified in the application
• 1 p = need for the activities is insufficiently justified
• 2 p = need for the activities is justified and confirmed

2. The applicant describes the target group of the activities and provides an estimate of the number of participants.

• 0 p = the target group is not described and an estimate of the number of participants is not provided
• 1 p = the target group is described, but an estimate of the number of participants is not provided OR an estimate of the number of participants is provided, but the target group is not described
• 2 p = the target group is described and an estimate of the number of participants is provided

3. The applicant describes how the activities promote the participants’ health, wellbeing and/or social inclusion (for example, loneliness among the target group decreases as participants meet and interact with one another).

• 0 p = the impacts of the activities are not described
• 1 p = description of the impacts of the activities is minimal/insufficient
• 3 p = description of the impacts of the activities is comprehensive and well-reasoned

4. The applicant explains clearly and realistically how they are going to monitor and assess the achievement of their goals and the impacts of the activities (e.g. monitoring of visitor numbers).

• 0 p = no plan is presented
• 1 p = the monitoring and assessment plan is described, but its implementation is not realistic considering the applicant’s resources
• 2 p = the described monitoring and assessment plan is realistic

5. The applicant describes its ability and motivation to cooperate with the City of Espoo’s services, networks and other operators, such as other associations.

• 0 p = ability and motivation are not described
• 1 p = ability and motivation are partly described
• 2 p = ability and motivation are described

The start of the application period is announced annually in a public notice, which is published in the local newspapers and on the city’s website.

Applicants should preferably submit an online application or a paper form that must be delivered to the City of Espoo Registry Office.

Late applications are not processed.

Certified copies of the following documents must be submitted together with the application:

1. Rules of the association
2. Annual report, financial statements and an operations inspector’s report from the previous operating period. Operating income and expenses must be specified by activity in the profit and loss account or its notes.
3. Budget and action plan for the period for which the grant is sought.

The documents must be submitted by the end of the application period.

Even if the organisation does not apply for a grant for the following year, the organisation must provide a free-form report on the use of the grant received as well as the above-mentioned documents.

Applications are scored, and the scores guide the grant decision process. We allocate grants, within the available budget and in accordance with our principles, to different population and age groups as well as to various areas of Espoo, while taking residents’ views into account. The following aspects are also taken into consideration when making grant decisions:

1. The extent, purpose and nature of the applicant’s activities: number of active members, number of participants. The purpose of the activities is more important than the number of members.
2. The applicant’s financial situation: assets and self-financing (considered positive). Any previous grants must be mostly used.
3. Other grants received by the applicant and the use of these grants.
4. The significance of the applicant’s activities in the promotion of health, wellbeing and social inclusion in Espoo, considering the general grant principles.
5. Physical and digital accessibility of the applicant’s activities.

All applicants are informed of the decisions in writing, and they have the right to request review of the decision.

The grant is paid into the account specified by the applicant.

When submitting its application, the organisation agrees to comply with the terms of the City of Espoo’s organisation grant for the promotion of health, wellbeing and participation. If the organisation fails to comply with the terms, the grant may be recovered. The City of Espoo has the right to inspect the grant recipient’s use of funds and the related documents to make sure that the terms are being complied with.