How the Evaluation of Grant Applications Works

Johanna Sippo

19.12.2025

In a stakeholder survey conducted earlier this year, a clear wish emerged to increase openness and transparency, especially around evaluation. We are responding to this wish: in our upcoming newsletters, we will address the questions raised in the survey and describe in more detail how our evaluation process works. Here is an overview of how the application proceeds from submission through to the final decision.

1. Receiving Applications
   Applications can be submitted year-round through the application portal. There are no separate application periods. The call is continuously open. Grants are awarded four times a year.
   
   
2. Pre-screening of Application
   When an application arrives, the foundation first verifies that it meets the eligibility criteria. For example, the foundation supports working groups and organizations, not individual researchers or artists.
   
   
3. Expert Review
   The foundation uses peer review, in which independent experts in the field first assess and score the applications individually against the foundation’s criteria. The assessments are then discussed together and a proposal is made on which projects should be funded.
   
   
4. Committee Work
   Next, the applications are processed in the foundation’s expert and working committees. The committees review the experts’ proposal and decide which projects will be forwarded to the board for a decision.
   
   
5. Board Meeting
   At the board meeting, decisions are made on which projects will receive funding.
   
   
6. Publication of Results
   Each applicant receives a personal email with the decision on their application, whether or not funding is granted. The foundation publishes the awarded grants approximately one week after the board meeting.