Instructions for Kone Foundation grant recipients
Acceptance of the grant
Grant payment
Use of the grant and deferral of payment
Funding from other sources
Social security
Taxation
Filing of research materials
Reporting on the progress of the funded research
Availability of Saari residency for the researchers
Acceptance of the grant
Successful applicants need not inform Kone Foundation of their decision to accept the grant allocated to them. Those accepting the grant should however contact the Foundation on matters related to grant payment (see below).
If for any reason the applicant is unable to accept the allocated grant, he or she should contact Kone Foundation as soon as possible.
Grant payment
Kone Foundation grants are always paid monthly, on the third working day of each month. Successful applicants are kindly asked to provide their bank account details and social security number to the Kone Foundation office no later than two weeks before monthly grant payments are due to commence. Grants are payable to a Finnish bank account only.
Recipients of research grants
Payment of research grants to first-time recipients commences in January. Continuation grants are paid from the end of the previous funding period, unless the recipient has requested some alternative arrangement.
If the grant recipient wishes payments to commence in January, his or her bank account number and social security number should be provided no later than 15 December. Applicants should do so by signing in to the Foundation’s website on the Notification of Payment Details page (in Finnish).
To access the page, applicants must enter the same username and password used in making the grant application. The application number must also be entered; this is to be found on the letter of notification sent to successful applicants.
Other grant recipients
Recipients of project grants, book grants and other grants must make payment arrangements by contacting Kone Foundation in advance. If required, advice on how to send bank account details and the social security number safely can be obtained from the Kone Foundation office.
Use of the grant and deferral of payment
To receive the research grant, recipients must be working on the relevant research full-time. It is in the responsibility of the recipient to defer grant payments for the duration of paid work, military service, maternity or paternity leave, and suchlike.
In all cases in which recipients wish to make changes to grant payment arrangements, we kindly ask they do so at least two weeks before the required change is due to come into effect.
Funding must be used within three years of its being granted. Grants may only be used to fund the project for which funding was originally sought.
There is room for flexibility about extensions to the period in which the grant is used, in cases where grant payment is deferred due to military service, maternal or paternal leave, or for caring for a child below three years of age.
Funding from other sources
Kone Foundation grant recipients must provide details of any other grants received during the funding period.
Social security
New legislation concerning social security for those working on grants has come into force on 1 January 2009. The Farmers' Social Insurance Institution (Maatalousyrittäjien eläkelaitos, Mela) provides pension, accident and group life insurance coverage. Statutory insurance payments are approximately 14% of the monthly grant.
Kone Foundation will inform the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution (Maatalousyrittäjien eläkelaitos, Mela) of individuals or groups who have received funding for periods of four months or more, and whose grants exceed the minimum level for pension payments (which for 2009 is €1093.49).
It is the responsibility of the aforementioned grant recipients to contact Mela to arrange pension coverage. In the case of workgroups or projects, this is the responsibility of the group or project leader.
Mela provides notification of the grant recipient’s pension payments directly to the tax authorities. Please do not send receipts of pension fund payments to Kone Foundation.
Further information on social security for grant recipients can be obtained from the Farmers' Social Insurance Institution Mela, www.mela.fi | Info | In English, or by telephone at +358 (0)20 630 0500.
Taxation
Grants are tax exempt up to the amount equivalent to the Finnish state grants for artists (currently €18 702,60).
Kone Foundation notifies the Finnish taxation authorities in January of each year of the grants paid out during the previous year.
Kone Foundation grant recipients need not send a tax deduction card to the Foundation. Neither does the Foundation make any tax deductions from the grants, even in cases in which the amount of funding already paid to the recipient within the same calendar year exceeds the maximum tax-exempt amount.
All grant recipients must inform the taxation authorities in his or her annual tax submissions of any grant the total annual amount of which exceeds the maximum tax-exempt amount. Information on possible tax-deductible expenses can be obtained from the taxation authorities.
Further information of taxation matters regarding grants:
National Board of Taxes, www.vero.fi | In English
Council of Finnish Foundations, www.saatiopalvelu.fi | In English
Filing of research materials
Kone Foundation recommends that data collected in the process of carrying out research funded by the Foundation be archived for possible future use. Information on possibilities for filing data can be obtained from, amongst other institutions, the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) | In English.
Reporting on the progress of the funded research
Grant recipients must provide a free-form report of the progress achieved on the funded project within two months of the final grant instalment being paid, or when the project has ended. However, the report must be provided at the latest within one year of the funding being paid.
The final report should be 3–10 pages long and must indicate the main findings of the research or project. The report should also state clearly the date of admission of funding, and also the period or periods during which the funding was used. The report should be posted to the Kone Foundation office. The short progress reports included in the continuation grant applications do not eliminate the need for a final report.
Availability of Saari residency for the researchers
Saari Residence is a manor owned and maintained by Kone Foundation as a research and production facility for researchers and artists. The Residence is located in Mietoinen, around 30 km from the city of Turku. Researchers who receive Kone Foundation grants can apply for 1-2-month residencies. Such stays are particularly well suited for intensive work on finalizing doctoral or post-doctoral research.
Researchers should not fill out the online application form but instead contact Saari Residence executive director Hanna Nurminen by email to discuss the possibility of staying at the residence (hanna.nurminen(at)koneensaatio.fi).
Read more about Saari Residence.