Applying to operate under HYY
All associations run by the students of the University of Helsinki do not automatically operate under HYY. Only organisations that have been accepted into HYY’s organisation register may use the organisational services provided by HYY and apply for HYY’s grants for organisations. There are currently around 250 different organisations operating under HYY.
General instructions on founding an organisation as well as model rules can be found on the website of the Finnish Patent and Registration Office. Organisations can be accepted to operate under HYY if they fulfil the Rules for organisations operating under HYY.
Application process
New organisations are accepted to operate under HYY twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn. The application period ends in September in the autumn and February in the spring – at 3 pm on HYY’s Services Office’s last opening day of the month in both cases. In the spring, organisations applying to operate under HYY can also apply for an operating grant using the same application.
Organisations applying to become new organisations operating under HYY must fill in an electronic application form in the TAHLO system on HYY’s website and submit the required attachments either through TAHLO or to HYY’s Services Office as well as inform HYY’s specialist in organisations about applying (by sending a message to jarjestosihteeri@hyy.fi). The organisations’ applications are processed by HYY’s Financial Committee, and the information on the organisation being accepted or rejected is usually given around one month after the application period ends.
The instructions for TAHLO also feature instructions on registering new associations.
Attachments required for the application:
- Budget for the present year
- Action plan for the present year
- Rules of the organisation
- Extract of the minutes from the organisation’s founding meeting or its charter
- List of members. For HYY’s members, their University of Helsinki student number must be marked on the list.
Model documents made to help you draft the attachments for your application have been collected on the page ‘Templates related to grants’. HYY’s website also has further information on applying to operate under HYY (https://hyy.fi/en/guides/help-for-organisational-activities#applying-to-operate-under-hyy).
What should new organisations do first
Get your communications in order
Set up an email list for your board. @helsinki.fi lists are available from the University.
HYY uses various email lists, and you should consider adding members of your board to the lists that are relevant to your organisation’s operations. It is especially important to add the board’s email list to the hyy-jarjestot email list. Please note that HYY automatically updates the recipients of the lists based on the information submitted through TAHLO only at the start of March, when TAHLO has closed.
Having a collective email list for the board that is managed by the organisation itself is thus useful because the organisation can update the recipients of the list itself when its volunteers change. This way, important information sent through HYY’s email lists at the beginning of the year does not get sent to your old officers until HYY updates its lists in March. Information sent at the beginning of the year includes information on the operating grants, for instance.
Other channels we recommend following include HYY’s website and the ‘HYYn Järjestöasiat’ FB page.
Keep up to date with current issues
HYY offers various services, grants and training for the organisations operating under it. To find out what is going on in HYY right now, check out HYY’s website and the ‘HYYn järjestöasiat’ FB page.
HYY’s operations are based on solid routines established over the course of decades, which means that some things do not change:
- TAHLO opens at the beginning of February at the latest and closes in late February or early March. As a rule of thumb, you can thus both update the present year’s contact information in TAHLO and apply for the operating grant (as well as the organisation paper grant) in February.
- NOTE: We also collect the organisations’ introduction texts for the student calendar through TAHLO!
- The reservation rounds for Alina Hall are organised twice a year, usually in March in the spring and in October in the autumn.
- Training for treasurers is organised at the beginning of the year (a training session for treasurers is usually organised as part of the Tuning Day in February) and at the end of the year (an evening on financial statements is often held in November–December).
- There is also usually at least one large training event in February, held under the name ‘Tuning Day’ in recent years. This event includes training covering a wide variety of the different sectors of organisational activities.
HYY’s Student Organisations Committee traditionally organises the Seminar for Chairpersons at the beginning of the year (usually in late January) and at the end of the year (usually in November–December). In the seminars, the chairs of organisations – whether in the position for the first time or already experienced veterans – get to take part in workshops and training sessions with different themes. The event is also a good chance to meet the chairs of other organisations and create networks. The seminar held at the beginning of the year focuses especially on running the administration smoothly and supporting group formation within the board, whereas the seminar held later in the year touches on themes that are relevant to organisations at the time of changing their board.