Organisation grants for the promotion of health, wellbeing and social inclusion

The purpose of the organisation grant is to promote the health, wellbeing and social 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. 

The grant is intended for supporting established core activities or new experiments. 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. 

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 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 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. We hope that organisations use the Lähellä.fi service, the Suomi.fi Finnish Service Catalogue (FSC) or the Espoo event calendar 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). 

Grants are awarded in particular to support activities that 

• promote people’s inclusion and functional capacity
• reduce loneliness and social exclusion
• reduce inequalities in wellbeing and health between population groups
• increase peer support and voluntary activities
• are open to all and based on a low-threshold principle 

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. 

Grants are not awarded to the following:

• activities to be put out to tender under the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts
• staff or travel expenses not related to the supported activities
• investments, purchases or renovation of premises owned by the organisation
• religious or political activities or any activities that can be defined as religious or political
• applicants who do not meet the general grant awarding principles.
• if the activities for which the grant is sought are clearly a service that supplements the wellbeing services county’s statutory duties;

Organisation grants are always discretionary.

The City of Espoo uses the Lähellä.fi(external link, opens in a new window) service to help residents find services and activities that promote health and wellbeing. Grant recipients are encouraged to add their supported activities to the Lähellä.fi service to help spread information about the activities and improve the accessibility of services for residents.

The online application is available as a Webropol form. You can add the required documents to the form. Please name the documents clearly. Online applications will be sent directly to the Registry Office.

The application must be sent before the end of the application period. We recommend that you do not leave it until the last minute to avoid overloading the system. Late applications will not be processed. 

Please note that the online form is not accessible. 

If you have problems with the form, please send an email to hyteavustukset@espoo.fi.

You can also submit your application using an accessible paper form, which is available as a PDF file on the city website during the application period. Fill in all sections of the application carefully and send the application and the required documents to the City of Espoo Registry Office, either by email to kirjaamo@espoo.fi or by post to City of Espoo Registry Office, P.O. Box 1, 02070 City of Espoo.

Late applications will not be processed.

Both online and paper applications must include the following documents:

• Extract from the register of associations or foundations, dated no more than 12 months before the application date
• Current rules of the organisation
• The organisation’s latest approved annual report or, if the organisation has been operating for less than a year, the minutes of the latest board meeting
• The organisation’s latest approved financial statements or, if the organisation has been operating for less than a year, the minutes of the latest board meeting
• The organisation’s latest approved action plan and budget
• If you are applying for a grant together with other organisations: Your organisation’s mutual agreement concerning the grant application.

Answer all application questions carefully. This will ensure that we have all the information we need. Assessment is primarily based on the application. The supporting documents help verify the information provided in the application. Your organisation must realistically and truthfully assess its resources to carry out the supported activities.

The supported activities must be goal-oriented, systematic and monitored. This means that the application must define clear goals for the activities, the content of the activities must be planned, and the applicant must describe how the activities will promote the participants’ health, wellbeing or social inclusion. In terms of monitoring, it is important to consider the extent of the supported activities and the resources available. For activities carried out by volunteers, possible indicators include visitor numbers and feedback collected. For reporting purposes, your organisation may also make use of assessments and monitoring carried out for other providers of funding. Board activities alone are not considered monitoring.

In terms of communication, you should favour channels and methods that best reach the target group. In addition to target group communication, you should tell your partners (e.g. other organisations and the city) about your supported activities. You can make use of various channels for target group communication. The Lähellä.fi service is an effective channel for informing service counselling staff of organisations’ activities.

If a grant is sought for a project carried out by several operators, one of them must be assigned to be in charge of the application. This operator applies for the grant and is responsible for its use, any repayments and submitting a report to the City of Espoo. If necessary, the application must include the participating operators’ agreement on the division of tasks and responsibilities, the use of the grant and the related responsibilities.

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 are not processed.

The scoring system guides the distribution of organisation grants. In addition to the scores, other aspects examined include the distribution of grants between different areas and target groups. 

The maximum score is 11 points.

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

Grant decisions are sent to the applicants by email. The decision includes the amount of the grant awarded, grounds for the decision, and instructions for requesting administrative review. 

If you are dissatisfied with the decision, you can submit a written request for administrative review within 2 weeks of receiving the decision. An electronically sent decision is deemed to have been received on the third day of the sending of the message (Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector, section 19, subsection 3). The decision cannot be appealed against. 

The request for administrative review must be sent to the city’s Registry Office by the deadline. Write the following text on the envelope or in the email: ‘Oikaisuvaatimus hyteo-avustus’. 

More detailed instructions for requesting administrative review are provided with the decision.

The awarded grant will be paid to the bank account provided in the application once the decision has become legally valid, i.e. after the two-week period reserved for requesting administrative review has expired and any such requests received have been processed.

Please be careful when entering your bank account number, as errors in the application will delay payment of the grant.

If the amount of the grant received is smaller than the amount applied for, the supported activities may be scaled down without a separate notification. For example, you may organise events or clubs for fewer participants or less frequently than originally planned. 

You can have other minor changes approved by sending an email to hyteavustukset@espoo.fi. There must be a clear reason for any changes, and all proposed changes are discussed on a case-by-case basis. Minor changes are often acceptable if the grant is still used to support the specified target group and to promote the stated objective.

For more significant changes, such as extending the grant usage period, please send a request by email to kirjaamo@espoo.fi or by post to City of Espoo Registry Office, P.O. Box 1, 02070 City of Espoo. A special reason must always be given when requesting a change.

You must add the City of Espoo’s logo to communication materials related to the supported activities or event. Download the logo here.(external link, opens in a new window)

If it is not possible to use the logo, you must mention the City of Espoo’s Sports and Wellbeing Committee as a supporter of the activities.

We also encourage grant recipients to add their supported activities to the Lähellä.fi online service. Instructions for registration and adding activities to the service can be found on the Lähellä.fi website(external link, opens in a new window).

The deadline for submitting the report is 31 October 2026. If you use the paper form, please use the case number 3034/02.05.02/2024. Remember to include the required documents.

Open the paper form here.(external link, opens in a new window)

Fill in the online form here.(external link, opens in a new window)

The deadline for submitting the report is 31 May 2027. If you use the paper form, please use the case number 207/02.05.02/2025. Remember to include the required documents.

Open the paper form here.(external link, opens in a new window)

Fill in the online form here.(external link, opens in a new window)

The deadline for submitting the report is 31 May 2028. If you use the paper form, please use the case number 4547/02.05.02/2025. Remember to include the required documents.

Open the paper form here.(external link, opens in a new window)

Fill in the online form here.(external link, opens in a new window)