The municipality of Tuusula supports families with children in paying for leisure activities through associations.

For two years, the municipality of Tuusula has had a relatively new form of subsidy: hobby fee support. The municipality supports associations and other organisers of leisure activities with a subsidy intended to reduce the leisure activity fees of children and young people in Tuusula on financial, social and health grounds. The subsidy requires reciprocity from the applicant association. The grant awarded may not be used as additional funding for activities that increase costs; instead, the association may implement measures to reduce costs in its activities.     

Associations can apply for hobby subsidies annually between 1 and 31 January via the online service. In 2026, a total of €20,000 in hobby subsidies will be distributed to associations. The grant application forms will be available online from the beginning of 2026.  

The associations continue to distribute hobby subsidies to families with children and young people and are also committed to reducing hobby costs through their own activities. The subsidy granted by the municipality may, for example, be part of the association’s own support fund, which disadvantaged families can apply for directly from the association. In this way, both the municipality and the association work together to support families with children in paying hobby fees. Alternatively, the association can allocate hobby fee support directly to families who benefit most from the support for financial, social and health reasons, for example, if the family has recurring difficulties in paying for their child’s hobby or related expenses.  

From the perspective of equality, the goal should be to ensure that children and young people have access to a wide range of leisure activities for as long as possible and at reasonable prices, without the cost of these activities becoming a barrier to participation. The total cost of leisure activities consists of many different types of costs, which can vary greatly depending on the activity. Club activities and hobbies involve mandatory and fixed costs, such as instructors’ salaries, competition costs, equipment and facility fees. The municipality also supports associations by contributing to facility fees, specifically for children’s and young people’s hobbies, so that facility fees do not increase the cost of hobbies for families.  

Keeping the costs of leisure activities reasonable is the responsibility of all parties involved in leisure activities, so that the financial situation does not threaten the equal opportunities of children and young people to participate in leisure activities. Those involved in organising leisure activities must therefore work together to ensure that participation fees do not become a barrier to participation. The municipality of Tuusula wants to do its part to make sure that hobbies are accessible to all kids and young people, including from a financial point of view.  

One of the objectives of Tuusula’s Child-Friendly Municipality initiative is to improve the accessibility of hobbies and leisure activities for children and young people. The hobby subsidy supports this goal by making hobbies more affordable for children and young people.  

Read more about hobby subsidies on the Tuusula municipality subsidy page:   

Further information:
Leisure Services Planner Mari Hietapakka, +358 40 314 2226, mari.hietapakka@tuusula.fi  

This content has been translated using AI