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For the grantee

Congratulations, you have received a grant! On this page you will find instructions on how to use your grant.

Grantee checklist

The checklist summarises the most relevant advice for grantees. However, be sure to read the grant guidelines below carefully.

  1. Take a moment to enjoy your achievement and share information about your grant
    When talking about the grant on social media, use the tags #kulttuurirahastontuella or #skr2026 (the year the grant was awarded).
  2. Familiarise yourself with the grantee guidelines
    Read the notification email and Guidelines for Grantees. The email notification includes important dates regarding the payment of the grant. When reading the guidelines, focus especially on the time limits regarding the payment and the use of the grant and the reporting schedule. If you have received a multi-year grant, also familiarize yourself with the relevant guidelines.
  3. Draw up a payment schedule
    When you withdraw the grant money, it means that you start working or using the expenditure grant. Read the grant documents in the Online Services for Grantees and draw up your payment schedule. A proposal for instalment payments does not need to be completed in one sitting. Do request for the grant payment or its first instalment within three years of the date the grant was awarded on.
  4. Remember the insurances
    If the grant has been awarded for a minimum of 4 months’ work, submit an insurance application to MELA (The Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution) within 3 months of the payment of the first grant instalment. MELA will invoice you for the insurance.
  5. Use the grant for the purpose it is intended for
    You may only use the grant for the purpose it was applied for and awarded. If necessary, you may apply to change the purpose of use in the Online Services for Grantees before the payment of the grant and/or before the work or project phase subject to the change will be implemented. Take into consideration possible limitations included in the grant guidelines or the grant decision.
  6. Check taxation on MyTax (OmaVero)
    The Cultural Foundation is a private foundation and the grant it pays will show in the tax proposal as liable to taxation. Remember to check the prefilled tax return on MyTax (OmaVero). To revise it, consult the tax authority for instructions.
  7. Report the Use of the Grant
    Remember that the report on the use of a grant must be submitted within a year of the date the last instalment was paid. The grant must be fully used by that time. The Online Services for Grantees has a form for the purpose of reporting the use of a grant.
  8. Share Your Source of Funding
    Mention the grant and the Finnish Cultural Foundation or the regional fund that awarded it in different contexts and include the source of funding in a scientific thesis or publication, concert programme, exhibition catalogue or another similar document. The logo of the fund that awarded the grant must be used in press releases, websites, brochures, and publications, etc. Download printable logos here.

Guidelines for Grantees

Grantee guidelines apply to all grant recipients and to the use of grants. In addition, special purpose grants have their own instructions, detailed in the application guidelines and in grant decisions.

1. General Principles for Using Grants

The grant must be used according to the plan laid out in the grant application and in accordance with the grant decision.

The grant may only be used by the individual, working group or organisation named in the grant decision.

It is not necessary to notify the Cultural Foundation upon accepting the grant.

You may begin work funded by the grant and start using an expenditure grant as follows:

  • Grants awarded in the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s October call: from February onwards at the earliest.
  • Mobility grants for artists, arts journalists and curators: from March, July or November following the grant decision, at the earliest.
  • Residency grants: according to the schedule of the residency programme.
  • Second-, third- and fourth-year instalments of multi-year grants: from the date of the decision on the subsequent grant year, at the earliest.

Timeline for using the grant:

  • The grant must be activated and its first instalment drawn within three years of its award date.
  • The last grant instalment must be activated and drawn within five years of its award date.
  • The final instalment of the final year of a multi-year grant must be drawn within five years of the grant being awarded for the first year.

We may grant an extension to the three- and five-year deadlines only for exceptional reasons, such as serious illness or multiple consecutive periods of family leave. Extension requests are made on the Grantee Service. Receiving another grant or employment is not grounds for an extension.

2. Types of Grants

The grant may be a working grant, an expenditure grant, or a combination of the two.

2.1. Working Grant

A working grant is intended to cover your living expenses for a specified period. It cannot be used during paid annual leave.

A working grant includes customary expenses for travel, materials, equipment, and workspace (approx. 15% of the grant amount). It also includes the statutory MYEL insurance contributions, as well as the health insurance contribution and YLE tax both levied in taxation and based on the MYEL earned income.

While receiving a full-time (100%) working grant, you may not simultaneously receive other equivalent funding, such as another working grant or a salary paid for full-time work. However, you may engage in other work for up to 25% of your working time.

While receiving a part-time working grant (75%, 50% or 25%), you may simultaneously receive another part-time working grant or engage in part-time work.

The total working time spent on grant-funded work, other work and other part-time working grants may not exceed 125% of full-time working hours.

Examples of permitted working time combinations:

  • 100% working grant + 25% other work = permitted
  • 75% working grant + 50% part-time work = permitted
  • 50% working grant + 75% part-time work = permitted
  • 50% working grant + 50% part-time working grant = permitted
  • 75% working grant + 75% part-time work = not permitted, as the total working time would amount to 150%

A 25% working grant is intended for carrying out a limited body of work. It is not intended to supplement a salary or to serve as a general supplement to earned income.

A short-term working grant is intended for continuous or intermittent work lasting less than four months in total.

Grantees awarded a working grant for at least four months must indicate in the Grantee Service the percentage of working time to be allocated to grant-funded work. The available options are the percentage categories described above. This information is provided either in the grant payment request (for grants awarded on or after 1 February 2026) or via the messaging function in the Grantee Service.

Use of a working grant contrary to these guidelines may result in recovery of the grant.

2.1.1. Insurance Related to Working Grants

MYEL Insurance

The Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution of Finland (MELA) handles grant recipient social security regarding pension, accident, and group life insurance.

Statutory insurance contributions amount to about 15–20% of a working grant. If you have been awarded a working grant for at least four months, you must take out insurance through MELA. The insurance must cover the period specified in the grant decision, even if the work is not carried out continuously. It is also possible to insure short-term work.

When the grant money is first drawn, the Finnish Cultural Foundation sends MELA an automatic notification of the start of the grant period, if the grant includes a working grant of at least four months.

For more information, please contact MELA customer service at +358 29 435 2650, vakuutus(at)mela.fi, or the MELA website.

The Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution of Finland (MELA)

Supplementary Personal Insurance to MYEL

The Finnish Cultural Foundation has offered grantees receiving a full-time annual working grant the option of taking a voluntary personal insurance to supplement their statutory social security. This insurance has been administered by Söderberg & Partners Oy. However, the Cultural Foundation will no longer offer insurance for grants awarded after February 1, 2026. Any existing confirmed insurance policies will remain valid until the end of their respective insurance period.

Söderberg & Partners Ltd
Siru Elman
Töölönkatu 4
00100 HELSINKI
050 4135 802
info.ba(at)soderbergpartners.com

Söderberg & Partners Ltd

2.2. Expenditure Grant

An expenditure grant must be used in accordance with the plan presented in the application and the grant decision. You may use the grant for all expenses included in the budget, unless otherwise specified in the grant decision or the application guidelines.

In reporting an expenditure grant, expenses are itemised by type. Receipts need not be submitted. Expense types are:

  • travel expenses (incl. accommodation), residencies
  • material and equipment expenses, tools, instruments
  • salaries and fees with side costs for both persons engaged in artistic/scientific work and as auxiliary labour costs
  • premise, hall, gallery, and workspace rental
  • possible overhead expenses

3. Grant Payments

Submit your grant payment request via the Grantee Service. The grant will be paid to the IBAN-formatted bank account provided in the service. Payments are made from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s account on the first working day of each month and on Wednesdays. Instalments scheduled for July are paid during the last week of June.

Working grants awarded on or after 1 February 2026 for at least four months of work are paid in monthly instalments. The system calculates the amount of each instalment based on the working time percentage you specify. Corresponding grants awarded before that date are paid in instalments of at least EUR 2,000.

An expenditure grant and a working grant awarded for short-term work (less than four months) may be drawn in one or more instalments of at least EUR 2,000, according to the needs of the purpose for which the grant was awarded and the schedule of its use.

If you are under 15 years of age or do not have Finnish online banking credentials, you must submit your grant payment request using a form. Upon request, we will send the form via secure email.

4. Grant Amendments

The Cultural Foundation understands that plans laid out in the grant application can evolve before or during the use of the grant.

You do not need to notify the Finnish Cultural Foundation of the following changes:

  • scaling the work or project plan in accordance with the overall funding received
  • changing venue or implementation location (e.g. a gallery or a university)
  • clarifying the purpose of use
  • budget reallocations (between cost types)
  • changes in the allocation of working time within the working group with short-term (less than 4-month) grants
  • work or project schedule adjustments

If your grant was awarded after 1 February 2026, you can make the following change to your working grant yourself in the Grantee Service:

  • working time percentage

Please contact us in the following situations:

  • change in the purpose of the grant
  • change in the working time percentage (this applies to grants awarded before 1 February 2026)
  • changes in the working group composition or the person responsible
  • change of an organisation’s contact person
  • non-use of a grant or its part
  • suspension of grant use due to, e.g. full-time employment, other equivalent funding, family or sick leave, or paid annual leave

A grant awarded for personal work cannot be applied to be moved to a different individual to use. A grant that has in its entirety been awarded for a certain purpose of use, for example for doctoral dissertation work, for postdoctoral research or as an expenditure grant, cannot be later applied to be used for a completely different purpose.

Contact with the Cultural Foundation is made on the Grantee Service. We will respond to change requests as soon as possible and within two weeks at the latest.

4.1. Working Time in Grant-funded Work

You may change a working grant awarded for full-time work (100%) to part-time work (75%, 50% or 25%). In this case, the amount of the grant remains unchanged, but the duration of the grant period is extended in proportion to the working time percentage.

Examples:

  • A six-month grant period is extended to 12 months if the working time percentage is 50%.
  • A 12-month grant period is extended to 24 months if the working time percentage is 50%.

You may also change a working grant awarded for part-time work to full-time work or change it to another permitted working time percentage. In this case, the duration of the grant period is extended or shortened according to the selected working time percentage.

When changing the working time percentage, please note the following:

4.2. Changes in Working Group Composition

If a member of a working group is unable to partly or fully use a working grant allocated to them, they must notify the person responsible of the working group of waiving the grant in writing. The person responsible submits the notification on the Grantee Service.

If a new member joins the working group, their name and degree or profession must be similarly submitted.

The person responsible may not make any grant payments to the new member of the working group until the change has been agreed upon with the Cultural Foundation.

If the person responsible of a working group changes, the former person responsible submits a written notification of the change on the Grantee Service. The notification is undersigned by both the former and new person responsible, and must contain the contact information, personal identification number, and degree or profession of the new person responsible.

4.3. Change of Organisation’s Contact Person

If the contact person of an organisation changes, the former contact person must submit the new contact person’s name, contact information, and personal identification number on the Grantee Service.

Alternatively, a representative with the authority to sign on behalf of the organisation may inform the Cultural Foundation of the new contact person’s contact information by secure email to apurahainfo(at)skr.fi or by phone to +358 (0)9 612 810.

4.4. Waiving the Grant

A grant or its portion must be waived, if:

  • the grantee receives corresponding funding elsewhere
  • the project or work fails to materialise for one reason or another
  • the project or work is completed sooner than planned or with a smaller budget.

Notify the Finnish Culture Foundation of the waiving of the grant on the Grantee Service.

4.5. Grant Repayment

If you suspend the use of the grant temporarily or permanently, return the grant to the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Nordea account FI7315723000011486.

Enter the grant number (eight characters), which can be found in the Grantee Service and in the grant decision, in the payment reference field, together with the text “temporary grant repayment” or “grant repayment and cancellation”.

Please agree the amount to be repaid with the Finnish Cultural Foundation in advance.

5. Grant Reporting

The report on the use of the grant is done when the grant has been fully used. In addition, large grants require a progress report, which is noted in the grant decision.

5.1. Grant Report

Submit a report on the use of the grant within one year of drawing the last grant instalment or according to a schedule detailed in the grant decision. The grant money must be fully used by that time.

Complete the grant report in the Grantee Service. Do not attach receipts to the report.

Failure to submit a report disqualifies the recipient from receiving future grants.

5.2. Progress Report for Large Grants

If your grant amounts to EUR 80,000 or more and has a duration of at least 24 months, you must submit a progress report on its use.

You may draw no more than 75% of the grant before the progress report has been submitted and approved. The grant may also be subject to a progress reporting requirement that differs from the conditions described above.

Complete the progress report in the Grantee Service.

The processing time for progress reports is approximately two weeks. We will notify the project contact person by email once the report has been approved.

The progress report does not replace the grant report submitted after the grant has been used.

6. Communications Regarding the Grant

Acknowledge the grant and the Finnish Cultural Foundation or regional fund that awarded it in relevant contexts. Credit the funder in academic theses and publications, concert programmes, exhibition catalogues and similar materials. Use the logo of the fund that awarded the grant in press releases, on websites, in brochures, publications and other communications materials.

Printable logos of the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Central Fund and the Regional Funds may be found here.

On social media, use the hashtags #kulttuurirahastontuella or #skr2026 (the year the grant was awarded).

In foreign-language contexts, use the following translations of the Finnish Cultural Foundation:

  • Suomen Kulttuurirahasto
  • Finska Kulturfonden
  • Finnische Kulturstiftung
  • Fondation Finlandaise pour la Culture
  • Fundación Finlandesa para la Cultura
  • Fondazione Culturale Finlandese

7. Tax Considerations

Grants awarded for studies, scientific research, or artistic work are tax-exempt up to the amount equivalent to the state artist grant.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation reports grants and prizes awarded to individuals to the Finnish Tax Administration if at least EUR 1,000 of the awarded amount has been paid during the tax year (Finnish Tax Administration Decision 1052/2003). We submit the report in January following the end of the tax year. The report includes, among other things, the grantee’s name, personal identity code, address, the purpose of the grant and the amount paid during the tax year.

Grants are deemed as income for the tax year during which they are paid. Therefore, it is advisable to time grant withdrawals so that only the amount intended to be used during the tax year is withdrawn.

A grant paid by the Cultural Foundation appears in the grant recipient’s pre-completed tax return as a taxable grant – even if the grant is tax exempt.

We report grants awarded to working groups to the Finnish Tax Administration as follows:

  • grants awarded before 1 February 2026 are reported under the personal ID number of the person responsible of the working group
  • working grants of at least four months awarded on or after 1 February 2026 are reported under the personal ID number of the working group member
  • short‑term working grants and expenditure grants awarded on or after 1 February 2026 are reported under the personal ID number of the person responsible of the working group.

The person responsible may make changes to the tax return on MyTax (OmaVero) or by using a separate form, according to the instructions of the Tax Administration. A member of the working group who has received a grant must check their own taxation and, if necessary, report any grant that may be missing from it.

More information on the taxation of grants and awards may be found on the website of The Tax Administration and The Association of Finnish Foundations.

8. Contact Information

Questions related to grant instalments, the grant payment schedule, and other matters concerning the use of the grant will be handled through the Grantee Service.

Contact persons:

Central Fund grants
Jaana Ortju

Grant reports for Central Fund grants and continuation applications for Central Fund multi-year grants
Olli Vallinheimo

Regional Fund grants
Sari Ilomäki

Grant reports for Regional Fund grant
see the regional fund in question

Mobility grants for Artists, Art Journalists and Art Curators
see the individual grant pages here

Grants for Artists’ Residencies
see the individual grant pages here

Translating World Literature into Finnish – A grant for Publishers
see the individual grant pages here

World on Stage grants
see the individual grant pages here

Foundations’ PoDoCo Programme, Post doc pool, New Classics
see the individual grant pages here