Apply for discretionary government grants – Applyforgrants.fi

To apply for government grants and handle other grant-related matters, you must log in to the Applyforgrants.fi service. You can use the following identification methods:

• your personal bank ID
• a mobile ID
• an electronic identity card.

The right to act on behalf of an association, company, or private individual is verified from the authorisation register maintained by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s Suomi.fi e-Authorization service. You can also access the Applyforgrants.fi service with specific roles that entitle you to use the service. These roles must be registered in the Finnish Trade Register, Business Information System (BIS), or Finnish Register of Associations. See more detailed instructions on verifying your identity in the service.

You can also make use of other roles that entitle you to access the Applyforgrants.fi service. These roles must be registered in

• the Finnish Trade Register
• the Business Information System (BIS), or
• the Finnish Register of Associations.

For more detailed instructions, see the Suomi.fi identification tab.

Browsing the call notices does not require logging in to the service. Any user information (Personal Information and Personal Matters) will only be displayed to those who have logged in to the service.

More information about Suomi.fi e-Authorizations

Once you have logged in to the service, you can access the Personal Information view from the main menu (top-left corner) where you can view and edit your information. Some information can only be edited by a user who has been granted the “Applying for subsidies and managing information” mandate role. This information includes banking details. A government grant authority cannot maintain this type of information in its own system.  The purpose of this restriction is to reduce the risk of abuse in the payment of discretionary government grants.

We also use information stored in other official registers when filling in the applicant’s personal information, which is why this information cannot be edited within the service. To edit the information, visit the source register. After you have edited your information and logged back in to the Applyforgrants.fi service, your updated information will be displayed in the service. This type of information includes the applicant’s name, address, and business ID.

Your customer profile should only include those contact persons who are responsible for all applications and grant matters made on behalf of your association. The contact details stored in the customer profile are automatically copied to new applications. However, they can still be edited within each application. All notifications related to the processing of your grant matter, such as requests for supplementary information and the decision made on your application, are sent by email to all designated contact persons in your application.

If you update the details of a contact person in the Personal Information view, these updates will not apply to any existing applications, and the changes must be updated separately to each application. The updated information will be added to any new application forms that are opened after the change.

The Personal Information view will be developed to meet the needs of different applicant groups with the expansion of the Applyforgrants.fi service’s userbase.

When you are logged in to the service, you can view and edit information related to your services in the Personal Matters view that can be accessed via the main menu (top-left corner). Your service activity is divided into three sections. You can access your applications in each section by selecting the name you entered for the application in the Application column, and you can reorder your rows with the arrow buttons on the title bar.

1. The In Progress section displays all incomplete applications. If an application is not signed and submitted to the responsible authority within the application period, it will remain in this section. Currently, it is not possible to delete any incomplete applications from the service.
2. The Grant matters section displays all pending and resolved applications. You can monitor the progress of your applications based on the information in the Status column.
3. The Received Grants section displays all applications that have been approved.

You can use the Grant Matters and Received Grants sections to perform other actions, such as supplement your applications, respond to a request for supplementary information, apply for the payment of your grant, and submit reports.

You can view the details of a call for government grant applications by selecting it from the list of calls on the front page.

Each call includes

• a call notice
• the standard terms related to the use of the grant
• the application form.

Currently, the application form is only displayed to users who are logged in to the service.

A call notice can also be published in advance before the beginning of its application period, in which case it may lack certain information.

The structure of the call notice is the same in all calls for government grant applications.

The service also includes call notices with only a limited amount of published information. In these cases, the full call notice can be found in the government grant authority’s own service or on its website, and the link to the full notice is included in the call published in the Applyforgrants.fi service. Applying for these calls and the related actions are carried out in the authority’s own service.

Applying for a grant requires logging in to the service. You can log in to the service via the call notice’s “Apply for the grant” tab or at the top-right corner of the page.

You can begin filling in your application using any Suomi.fi mandate role that permits you to apply for government grants.

The basic structure of the application form is the same in all calls for government grant applications, but the discretionary government grant you apply for determines the information requested in the form. The forms contain mandatory questions given by the government grant authority, and these must be answered before you can submit your application. You can view the completion status of your application in the Application Management view.

Give your application a descriptive and unique name

Before you can open the application form, you must give your application a short and unique name. The name of your application will also be used to identify your application in the event that you or your organisation decides to submit several applications to a single call. You can freely change the name of your application until the application has been signed.

Sections in an application form and the Application Management view

When you begin filling in a new application, you will be directed to the Application Management view. This view contains a list of links to the different sections in the application form. You can use this view to monitor the completion of each application section and sign and submit the completed application. The application form includes the following sections:

• Applicant information
• Objectives and effectiveness
• Practical implementation
• Cost estimate and funding
• Contact details

The applicant is responsible for keeping their contact details up to date throughout the government grant process. The contact persons and banking information specified in the application can be updated after the application has been submitted and during the use of the grant whenever there is a change in this information.

The contact details stored in the customer profile are automatically copied to the new application’s Contact Details section, where they can also be edited. Notifications concerning the processing of the grant matter (such as the details of the decision and requests for supplementary information) are sent by email to all contact persons named in the application.

Consenting to electronic notifications

You can give your consent to electronic notifications in the application form’s Contact Details section (Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector (13/2003, section 19). This consent is given on an application-specific basis and, when necessary, it can be changed during the government grant process.

How your information is saved

By default, all sections of the application form are displayed in the viewing mode. When you open a section for editing, it is locked from other users. If you have other people filling in the application, they can edit other sections at the same time. The name of the person editing a section is displayed at the top right corner of the locked section. In addition, a lock icon appears next to the section heading information on the left side of the application form.

If you wish to save your information during the editing process, press the Save button. The section will still remain locked for editing. Select the Save and Exit button to stop editing a section or when you want to stop filling in the application. This will allow other people to access the section that you had previously locked. A green confirmation message indicating that the information has been saved is displayed at the top of the screen.

Any locked sections that are in editing mode will be automatically unlocked after two hours. Otherwise, a locked section can only be unlocked by the user who locked it. Please note that having a locked section will prevent the application from being submitted.

The Exit Without Saving button is available when there are no unsaved changes in a section. This button will remove the lock that was placed while it was being edited.

Returning to an application

You can stop filling in an application at any point. To return to your application, select Personal Matters in the main menu (top-left corner). The Personal Matters view lists your applications under three sections. Any incomplete applications are displayed in the In Progress section. If you or your organisation has participated in a single call using several forms, use the application name to identify the correct form in the Application column. Use the arrow buttons on the title bar to reorder your columns.

Character counts and attachments

The maximum number of characters is specified in the text fields of each application form. This limit is displayed at the bottom right of each text field, e.g. 1500/1500, and this figure decreases as you enter characters into the field. If you paste text from another document, remember to check that your copied text does not exceed the field’s character limit.

You can expand the size of a text field by selecting and dragging the icon at the bottom right of the field.

Attachments

The maximum size of attachments is 25MB. Choose Select File to select an attachment from your files. If necessary, provide a brief description of the attachment and select the Upload Attachment button. Please note that you will not be able to later edit the description you gave to the attachment.

The permitted file formats are .xlsx, .docx, .jpeg, .jpg, .pptx, .png, and .pdf.

In some calls, the government grant authority may, for a justified reason, request attachments that contain confidential information. The grounds for secrecy are given in connection with the upload of the attachment. You will not be able to open such files in the Applyforgrants.fi service’s views after they have been attached to an application. This is because, in some cases, the information contained in the attachments may also be internally confidential within the applicant organisation. Any attachments in an application that have been marked as confidential will only be visible to those authority employees whose duties permit them to process said attachments.

An application can be signed and submitted by a person who has been granted the Suomi.fi mandate role “Applying for subsidies” or “Applying for subsidies and managing information”. The same is also possible without separate authorisation if the person has been assigned an official role that has been registered in the Finnish Trade Register, Business Information System (BIS), or Finnish Register of Associations. For more information, see the Suomi.fi e-Identification tab.

Before submitting your application, make sure that it has the number of signatures required by your organisation.

The application is signed in the Application Management view. The people who sign the application must have the authority to sign. Select the Sign button to sign the application. After this, the service will ask you to confirm your choice, after which the Application Management view will display the signatory’s name and timestamp.

If any changes need to be made to a signed application before its submission, each signatory must remove their signature before these changes can be made. You can freely change the name of your application until the application has been signed.

Submitting an application

You can submit your application by selecting the Submit Application button in the Application Management view. After the application has been submitted, the page will display a message confirming that the application has been received, and the same information is also emailed to the contact persons included in the application. The application form will be transferred to the Grant Matters section in the Personal Matters view.

Two or more signatories to an application

If the rules of your organisation state that an application must be signed by more than one person, the application’s signatories must sign the application one at a time in the Application Management view. Each signatory must log in to the service with their own Suomi.fi mandate, and the last signatory submits the application by selecting the Submit Application button. The service does not provide any instructions on who needs to sign the application, nor will it inform any missing signatories, as it does not have a source that could provide this type of information.

If any changes need to be made to a signed application before its submission, each signatory must remove their signature before these changes can be made. You can freely change the name of your application until it has been signed.

After the application has been submitted, the page will display a message confirming that the application has been received, and the same information is also emailed to the contact persons included in the application. The application form will be transferred to the Grant Matters section in the Personal Matters view.

You can download a PDF copy of a submitted application. The download button is available in the grant matter’s Application tab. You can find the list of grant matters in the Personal Matters view, which can be accessed via the main menu (top-left corner).

You can also use the same tab to print any requests for supplementary information and the supplemented applications you have submitted.

Supplementing an application requires logging in to the service. Signing and submitting a supplemented application requires either the “applying for subsidies” or “applying for subsidies and managing information” mandate, as these allow for signing an application.

The applicant is responsible for keeping their contact details up to date throughout the government grant process. The contact persons and banking information specified in the application can be updated after the application has been submitted and during the use of the grant whenever there is a change in this information.

Supplementing an application during the application period

You may voluntarily supplement your application during the application period. To supplement your application, open it in the Application tab’s Application Management view. This will allow you to edit the information and attachments stored in the different sections of the application. When you save your supplemented application, the system stores a draft copy of it.

The supplemented version must be signed like the original and submitted to the authority responsible for the call before the end of the application period. The valid version of the application is the latest version that has been signed and submitted to the authority.

Supplementing an application after the end of the application period

After the application period has ended, you can ask the authority responsible for the call to open your application for supplementation. Currently, this must be done outside the Applyforgrants.fi service, for example by sending an email to the authority in question. You can find the details of the call’s appointed contact person in the Basic Information view, which can be accessed by selecting the matter in the Grant Matters list in the Personal Matters view.

Responding to a request for supplementary information

The authority responsible for the call may ask you to supplement your application. You will be notified of this by email to the contact person addresses stored in the application. The email message will contain a link to the Applyforgrants.fi service. The request for supplementary information will also be available in the Basic Information view, which can be accessed by selecting the matter in the Grant Matters list in the Personal Matters view. For a more detailed description of the request for supplementary information, see the Application tab.

The request for supplementary information specifies the date and time by which you must sign and submit your supplemented application. The valid version of the application is the latest version that has been signed and submitted to the authority.

When an authority submits a request for supplementary information, they will usually only unlock the sections of the application that need to be supplemented. In this case, you will not be able to edit any of the other sections in the application. The instructions given by the authority will consist of a general message and other possible detailed instructions concerning specific sections in the application. These instructions are also displayed at the top of each section to be supplemented until the request for supplementary information has been fulfilled or the deadline for the request has been exceeded.

To respond to a request for supplementary information, select the Supplement button in the Basic Information view, or go to the Application tab and then to the sections of the application that the authority has unlocked for editing. You can save a draft of your response and return to it later through the Personal Matters view.

The supplemented application is signed and submitted in the Application Management view. If the rules of your organisation state that an application must be signed by more than one person, the application’s signatories must sign the application one at a time in the Application Management view. Each signatory must log in to the service with their own Suomi.fi mandate, and the last signatory submits the application by selecting the Submit Application button. The service does not provide any instructions on who needs to sign the application, nor will it inform any missing signatories, as it does not have a source that could provide this type of information.

The applicant is responsible for keeping their contact details up to date throughout the government grant process. The contact persons and banking information specified in the application can be updated after the application has been submitted and during the use of the grant whenever there is a change in this information.

When submitting your application, you must select the banking information that you have stored in the Personal Information view. If there are any changes to this information, you must first add your new banking information to your customer profile in the Personal Information view. To save this change, you must have the “Applying for subsidies and managing information” mandate.  The change must be made in the Contact Details section of the Grant Matter tab, and it must be made separately for each applicable grant matter. A government grant authority cannot maintain this type of information in its own system.  The purpose of this restriction is to reduce the risk of abuse in the payment of discretionary government grants.

Please note that the change in banking information should be made two working days in advance before the due date of the intended payment; otherwise the new information will not be saved in time for the next payment.

The Applyforgrants.fi service will inform you by email once your grant matter has been decided by the responsible call authority. This email will be sent to the contact persons specified in your application. The email will include a link to the Applyforgrants.fi service.

All received decision can be found in the Personal Matters view in the main menu (top-left corner). Your decisions are listed in the Grant Matters section, and your approved applications will also be included in the Received Grants section. To view the contents of a decision, select the application’s name in the Application column.

When you open an application, you will be directed to the Basic Information view in the Grant Matter tab. This view includes a link for downloading a PDF copy of the decision. The document’s appendices include instructions for submitting a request for an administrative review and the standard terms and conditions governing the use of the grant if you received it. This view also includes the contact details of the official who made the decision. The Decision tab displays the contents of the decision made on the grant matter. It includes the same contents as the file that you can download from the Application tab.

The second section of the Grant Matter tab contains the contact details and banking information related to the application, and the recipient of the grant is responsible for maintaining this information throughout the grant’s duration.

The Application tab contains the version of the application that was used to make the decision. You can also download a PDF copy of the submitted application for your own use.

Currently, all administrative review requests concerning the contents of a decision must be submitted outside the Applyforgrants.fi service. This can be done by, for example, sending an email to the authority that made the decision within the provided deadline.

All requests for changes to the contents of a decision must also be made outside the Applyforgrants.fi service for the time being, for example by email.

Information related to the payment and reporting of received grants is only displayed to users who are logged in to the Applyforgrants.fi service. Open the main menu (top-left corner), select the Personal Matters view and open the Received Grants list. Navigate to the desired grant matter by selecting the application’s name in the Application column. The information related to the payment and reporting of the grant can be found in the Payment and Reporting tab.

The decision concerning the discretionary government grant specifies the grant’s payment and reporting schedule. The grant can be paid according to the schedule set out in the decision without any separate payment applications. The grant can also be paid on the basis of actual costs, in which case the payment of the grant must be applied for according to the order specified in the reporting schedule (interim report).

A grant can include more than one reporting period, and these can be preceded by one grant payment that does not need to be applied for. This type of payment is treated as a paid advance in subsequent reports.

Submitting interim reports on the use of the grant, and payment applications

To start a new interim report, select the link for the current period in the grant matter’s Payment and Reporting tab. Select the Create New Report button to edit the report.

You cannot submit a report for a new period if you have not submitted the report for the previous period, or if the related decision on the payment of the grant is still under preparation by the authority.

The reports are used to provide relevant information for the reporting period. Currently, all information on your organisation’s activities must be provided as an attachment. The actual costs for the period are entered in the reporting form’s fields, and the cost estimates approved by the grant decision are presented next to these fields. The report is the same for all periods to be reported, and the approved costs for each period are accumulated in the form’s “Previously approved costs” field.

The authority will provide instructions on how to report your costs in the standard terms and conditions attached to the grant decision. If necessary, you can find the contact person for the authority in the Grant Matter tab’s Basic Information view.

The reporting form also includes information on all other funding received for the same purpose.

The report cannot be submitted until the reporting period has ended. The report must be submitted within a month after the end of the reporting period.

The buttons for signing and submitting the report, i.e. the application for the payment of the government grant, are available at the bottom of the report view. If the rules of your organisation state that an application must be signed by more than one person, the application’s signatories must sign the application one at a time in this view. Each signatory must log in to the service with their own Suomi.fi mandate, and the last signatory submits the application by selecting the Submit Application button. The service does not provide any instructions on who needs to sign the report, nor will it inform any missing signatories, as it does not have a source that could provide this type of information.

The final report specified in the grant decision includes the details of the activities for the entire grant period, as well as the payment application for the costs of the last reporting period.

The payment decision can be downloaded from the view for the reporting period marked as resolved, which is available via the grant matter’s Payment and Reporting tab.

The final report specified in the grant decision includes the details of the activities for the entire grant period. It may also include the payment application for the costs of the last reporting period.

The final report can be submitted when the reporting period (the usage period for the grant) has ended. The authority has specified the deadline for the final report as part of its decision on the grant matter.

You will not be able to submit your final report if the interim report preceding it has not been submitted, or the related decision on the payment of the grant is still under preparation by the authority.

To open the Final Report, select its link in the grant matter’s Payment and Reporting tab.

The final report consists of four sections corresponding to the sections of your application. For the time being, all final reports are similar in content, which is why the government grant authority may employ other solutions for collecting the necessary information for the final report.

For instructions on whether the attachments requested in the final report form are mandatory, contact the authority. If necessary, you can find the contact person for the authority in the Grant Matter tab’s Basic Information view.

The final report is signed and submitted in the Summary and Submission section. If the rules of your organisation state that an application must be signed by more than one person, the application’s signatories must sign the application one at a time in this section. Each signatory must log in to the service with their own Suomi.fi mandate, and the last signatory submits the Final Report by selecting the Submit Report button. The service does not provide any instructions on who needs to sign the report, nor will it inform any missing signatories, as it does not have a source that could provide this type of information.