Grants
Instructions for grant recipients
General instructions for grant recipients
All applicants will be notified of the Foundation’s decision via email.
Grant recipients will recieve detailed instructions on the payment of the grant via email.
Recipients must provide the Foundation with a written account of how the grant has been utilized. Additionally, recipients must, if necessary, provide an interim report to the Foundation on the progress of their research within one year of the grant period’s commencement. The final report must be submitted through the application system one year after the grant period’s commencement. Failure to submit a report will impact future grant applications negatively.
Recipients of multi-year grants are obliged to annually give a report on the progress of the project to the foundation. The deadline for the first report is within one year of beginning the grant work period.
The grant must be utilized within the following year of receiving it. If the grant is not utilized within this period, it is considered returned to the foundation.
If the grant is used to pay for auxiliary labor, the recipient is responsible for ensuring that the statutory tax withholdings are made and that pension and labour insurance payments are taken care of.
Grant recipients should mention the grant in their tax declaration. The Foundation annually sends a statutory notification of awarded grants to the Tax Authority (Vero).
Grant recipients should promptly inform the Foundation of any changes in their email address.
Changes in the purpose of the grant
If the research plan or the requested trip cannot be carried out, or if funding has been obtained from another source, or if the costs of the trip have been lower than planned, the unused funds must be returned to the Foundation.
It is also possible to submit an application for a change in the purpose of the grant. The application for the change, along with the motivation, should be sent to the Foundation’s director.
The postponement of the commencement of the grant period due to reasons such as parental leave or other similar situations is always separately agreed upon with the Foundation’s director.
Social security and taxation
Since 2009, it has been mandatory for grant-funded researchers to take a pension through the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution (Mela) in Finland. The insurance costs amount to approximately 15 % of the personal grant. Further information is available on Mela’s website: www.mela.fi.
The insurance obligation applies to grant recipients residing in Finland, who have received a working grant from a Finnish institution. The grant should cover at least four months of artistic or scientific work in Finland and correspond to an annual income of at least 4 605 euros (the level for 2025). Under certain conditions, grant work abroad and work performed by foreigners in Finland with a Finnish grant are also subject to the insurance obligation. The insurance obligation applies to both individual recipients and persons working with a grant in a group. Individuals under 18 years of age, over 68 years of age, or retirees cannot take out insurance. The insurance obligation does not apply to grants solely intended to cover expenses, such as travel grants.
The annual amount for tax-exempt grants is equivalent to the amount for the state’s tax-exempt artist grant (26 988.24 euros in 2026). See further information: www.vero.fi.
From 2019, scholarships, fellowships, and grants are considered income for the taxation year in which they have been paid out.