On this page, you will find answers to grantees' frequently asked questions.

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Requesting the deposit of the grant

What should I do to receive the grant?

You do not need to make a separate notification of accepting an awarded grant. If you decide to waive a grant, you must notify the Cultural Foundation without delay in the Online Service for Grantees.

How will the grant be transferred to my bank account?

To withdraw a grant sum, you must log in to the Online Service for Grantees with your Finnish online banking IDs. Use the service to make a payment proposal. When the proposal has been accepted, you will receive the exact dates of payment to your email.

Should I notify someone that I am going to start using the grant according to my plan in December?

Submitting a payment request in November will suffice.

I logged in to the Online Service for Grantees with my personal Finnish online banking IDs to make a payment request. I was notified that there is no grant in the system under my personal identity number. What should I do?

Notify the Finnish Cultural Foundation of your personal identity number (tel. +358 (0)9 612 810).

Why is the deposited grant not appearing in my bank account? I received an email informing me that I should have received it today, October 1.

The date of payment noted in the email refers to a date when the bank transfer is made from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Nordea bank account. This denotes the day on which payments are submitted from the Finnish Cultural Foundation to the bank to be processed. Bank transfers to other banking institutions may take up to two business days.

Where can I get a payment request form for the deposit of a grant of a registered organisation I am a part of? I lost the one sent to me earlier.

You may request a new form from the Central fund or the regional fund that awarded the grant by telephone or email. Grant recipients of grants awarded in 2021 and after can download the form from the Online Service for Grantees.

Can an expenditure grant awarded to my working group and I be deposited to a bank account of a supporting organisation?

The grant will be deposited into the account you enter in the Online service for grantees. If the account is not yours, please add an identifier to the message field of the payment for the recipient. Furthermore, please note that the grant has been awarded to you and your working group, and a notification of the grant will be made to the Finnish Tax Administration on your behalf in due course. You are also responsible for reporting the use of grant.

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Using the grant

In my application I stated I would start using the grant on August 1, but it looks like I am going to have to postpone using the grant by one year due to work or family reasons. How should I notify the Foundation?

If the grant has not yet been deposited, there is no need to notify the Foundation. It is sufficient that the grant be used within three years of the date it was awarded. If a deposit has already been made, notify the Foundation of a change in your circumstances through the messaging service on the Online Service for Grantees. You may also arrange for a return of a paid grant sum for the duration of a pause in the grant period. Furthermore, contact MELA to sort out the suspension of your insurance period.

Must I pay the university a university compensation? The grant decision specifies that the grant includes EUR 1,600 for the purpose of paying the university compensation.

The agreement between the Cultural Foundation and Finnish universities regarding the university compensation expired at the end of February 2022. If and when you arrange basic resources for conducting your work with a university after the agreement has expired, the university may not charge you university compensation on the basis of this agreement.

The university compensation agreement guaranteed, on a yearly basis, basic resources for grantees to conduct their work in university departments. The agreement was terminated because the university practice of collecting charges turned out to be non-uniform.

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Reporting the use of a grant

How do you report the use of a grant awarded to a registered organisation?

The report is submitted to the Online Service for Grantees. The report may be compiled by e.g. the contact person in the grant application or another person responsible for the project, using their personal Finnish online banking identifiers. Do note that the online banking IDs of a registered organisation cannot be used to report the use of grant. Nor is it possible to use the usernames with which you have signed up in the Online Application Service.

Will I receive confirmation of the approval of the report on grant use?

No separate notification of the approval of the report will be sent. If the report is lacking or requires further questions to be answered, you will be contacted.

When do I have to submit the report?

The report has to be submitted within a year of the final grant deposit date. For example, if you receive the only or final instalment of the grant in your account in June 2020, the awarding Central Fund or regional fund will expect your report at the latest by June 2021.

I forgot to submit the report on time - what should I do?

Compile and submit the report on the Online Service for Grantees as soon as possible or contact the awarding Central Fund or regional fund to clear the matter. An unreported grant that has expired prevents the awarding of a new grant, but even a late report will remedy the situation.

How do I report a multi-year grant?

Only the final year of a multi-year grant is reported in the Online Service for Grantees. The earlier grant years are reported (interim) when submitting a continuation application (See below: Multi-year grants)

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Taxation of the grant

Do I have to pay taxes for the grant?

A grant is, under certain prerequisites, exempt from taxes up to the amount of the annual Finnish Government artists’ grant. Refer to Guidelines for grantees and www.vero.fi for more information.

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Multi-year grants

I have been awarded the first year of a three-year grant. When and how should I apply for funding for the second year?

If the grant has been awarded to you in the October round of applications from the Central Fund, you may submit an application in the Online Application Service a few months before the start of the second year of the grant. The Online Service includes a separate continuation application for this purpose.

If the grant has been awarded to you in the January round of applications from a regional fund, you may apply for the second-year grant during the regional fund January round.

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This page was last updated on June 15, 2023.