FAQ | January

The Kordelin Foundation’s Major Cultural Projects, as well as grants from the City Funds and Dedicated Funds, are open for applications in January.

Major Cultural Projects are our key projects, the highlights of our work. We enable timely and ambitious projects of social, scientific, educational and/or artistic significance. The projects aim to create change and activities with an impact that extends beyond the grant period.

City Funds support projects that strengthen local identity and bring people together. The foundation has nine city funds across Finland. The grants will be awarded every other year (even years).

Dedicated Funds grants are currently awarded from the Gust. Komppa Fund, which operates in the field of chemistry. Individual applicants, working groups, and organizations are eligible to apply. More information: January application

The foundation has guidelines governing the use of artificial intelligence, to which all of our experts are committed.

Experts evaluating applications are not permitted to disclose applications or their contents to third parties. The use of third-party AI applications — such as generative language models — is not allowed in the processing of application materials. This includes, for example, translating or evaluating applications or preparing summaries.

The more information on our privacy statements in available on our website: Privacy statement.

The Board of the Alfred Kordelin Foundation will make decisions on grant awards in April. We will notify all applicants of the decisions via email during April.

We support ambitious projects that aim for breakthroughs and have social, scientific, educational and/or artistic significance. A Major Cultural Project advances its field by creating new knowledge, new approaches, content or, for example, new expertise.

In the arts, this may mean, for example, broadening the audience base or developing new international activities or collaboration. In science projects, in addition to producing knowledge, emphasis is placed on how research-based knowledge is applied in practice. Public education projects seek solutions to a current social phenomenon or challenge. Major Cultural Projects may also be multidisciplinary.

The evaluation emphasizes the project’s long-term objectives and the step forward that the grant could enable.

The grant is intended for organizations and is awarded for a two-year period. The grant amount is EUR 100,000–300,000. Applicants may also apply for a smaller grant where justified.

No minimum has been set for the applicant’s own funding share. However, a clearly defined self-financing indicates the organization’s own commitment to the project.

The projects aim to create change and activities with an impact that extends beyond the grant period. Applicants should look several years ahead and set clear goals and frameworks for the future.

The evaluation emphasizes the project’s long-term objectives and the step forward that the grant could enable. The aim is for the project to lead, for example, to a new partnership, further funding, wider adoption of a model or another lasting change. It is essential that the knowledge, results, expertise, models, methods or, for example, networks created during the project remain in place after the project has ended.

What will the project achieve and why is it important? Will the activity require follow-up funding after the grant period and how will that be arranged? Who will be responsible for the activity after the funding period ends? Be prepared to answer these questions already at the application stage.

A newly founded association can apply for a grant. If, at the time of application, you do not have an activity report and financial statements confirmed by auditors, please attach another comprehensive, free-form explanation of your organization’s finances and operations.

With the confirmation of interest, you confirm that the partners you mentioned in the application commit to the project. The confirmation should clearly indicate the parties involved and the nature of the cooperation. If there are several partners, attach all confirmation of interest in one attachment file (pdf). The content format of the document is free (e.g. e-mail as a pdf-file). Do not submit contracts.

Take time to consider the basic questions: Why is the project being done, what added value will the activity produce, who will benefit and how will the activity radiate into its environment? The work plan is typically about five pages long. Use clear, general language.

No. Grants can only be applied for by organisations that have a Finnish business ID (Y-tunnus).

If the applicant is a university and the applicant’s annual report and financial statements are publicly available online, please attach to the application a document that directs (e.g. via a link) directly to the online material.

Only projects that have previously been awarded with the Major Cultural Projects Grant may apply for Bridge Funding. Funding may be awarded to projects to support their continuity and impact.  For more detailed information, please read the grant description.

Grants can be applied for by private individuals and registered collectives that hold a business identifier. Applicants need to be Finnish or operate in Finland. Working groups may apply if the official applicant for a grant is a collective, e.g. an association, cooperative, or a company. City Funds do not award personal working grants.

The city fund grants of the Foundation are now larger than previously and will in future be available every other year – next time in 2026. With the larger grants the Foundation wants to enable larger project entities and longer-term work and operations. The change stems from the Foundation’s new strategy: the Foundation’s funding supports long-term and goal-oriented work and responds to societal challenges.

The grants support projects that promote the common good, build dialogue and create new forms of activity and cooperation. The outcome of the project may for example consist of a public event, performance, concert series or public artwork. What is central is that the project and its outcome are made visible and experienced by the area’s residents.

The Foundation requires the applicant to show already at the application stage that a project partner has expressed interest in the project. This can be done by attaching a PDF document such as an email received from the partner. Conformation of interest may for example be requested from a producer, distributor or publisher. The document should clearly indicate the parties involved, the nature of the cooperation and the partner’s interest to collaborate with the applicant. Contracts should not be submitted.

There is no prohibition on submitting more than one application, but we encourage applicants to prioritise and submit only one application per applicant.

No. The city fund grants are meant to support local art and cultural activities in which as many people as possible may participate.

The share of possbile overhead expenses claimed by registered collective may not exceed 5% of the project’s total costs applied from Kordelin Foundation.

Sending the application requires that you have attached all the mandatory attachments required in your application on the “Attachments” tab. Make sure all attachments are included and that you have selected the correct attachment type for each file.

Check that the attachment is in .pdf format, and that it does not exceed the maximum size of 3MB. Make the file smaller and/or create the .pdf file again if necessary.

No they can’t. The application and all its attachments must be submitted by the end of the application period through the grant online service. We do not accept late attachments.

You can edit your application within the application period by following these instructions:

1. Log in to the service.
2. The status of your application is “Submitted”.
3. Select “Open” next to your application.
4. At the bottom of the application form, you will see the option “Cancel the submission of your application to the Alfred Kordelin Foundation”. Click this option.
5. The form asks if you want to cancel the submission. Proceed as instructed.
6. The application now has the status ”Incomplete”, and can be edited. Make your changes and save.
7. Finally, resubmit the application by clicking “Send application to the Alfred Kordelin Foundation”.
8. An application has been successfully submitted when its status is “Submitted”.

The application form can be filled in Finnish or English. The questions in the application form are available in these languages.