Financing our activities

Financing our activities in 2024

We finance our activities with donations, grants, public funding, and income from rental and investment activities. Although we publish books as part of our mission to share information, we established a subsidiary (Baltic Sea Services Oy) in 2020 to handle book sales.

The majority of the donations made in 2024 were for the Foundation’s activities as a whole. Donations enable us to ensure the growth, development and continuity of our activities.

The income and expenses of the Foundation’s ordinary activities are shown in the income statement. 2024:

• The operating deficit for maritime cultural activities totalled EUR 464,175 (EUR 655,541 in 2023).
• The operating deficit for marine environment activities was EUR 1,642,704 (EUR 1,545,182 in 2023).
• In the Foundation’s income statement, the surplus for the 2024 financial year after fund transfers was EUR 1,648,080 (EUR 973,402 in 2023).

At the end of 2024, the Foundation’s balance sheet total was EUR 16,160,221 (EUR 15,793,749 in 2023). Capital and reserves totalled EUR 15,352,020 (EUR 14,762,078 in 2023).

Maritime culture financing and expenses 2024

Income from Group companies from maritime cultural activities totalled EUR 25,799 (EUR 3,269 in 2023). This income mainly consists of the sale of books published by the Foundation to its subsidiary, Baltic Sea Services Oy. The Foundation received EUR 45,017 in donations (EUR 46,248 in 2023) and EUR 22,567 in grants (EUR 15,062 in 2023) targeted at maritime cultural activities.

Expenses for maritime cultural activities totalled EUR 558,538 (EUR 721,498 in 2023). These expenses include EUR 45,810 (EUR 11,838 in 2023) in costs for publishing activities, the costs of producing digital and physical exhibitions, and expenses related to The Baltic Sea Speaks discussions.

Our publishing activities mainly focused on publishing new books, and expenses therefore included image rights, payments to authors, and printing costs.

Expenses related to our collection totalled EUR 67,414 (EUR 159,160 in 2023), and included the costs of conservation, transferring the collection to the Finnish Heritage Agency’s Collections and Conservation Centre, and collection management software. An additional provision of EUR 15,000 has been made to cover the costs of cleaning and conserving the collection. We did not make any additions to our collection in 2024. The collection’s value in the balance sheet was EUR 735,897.

Marine environment financing and expenses 2024

Income from the Foundation’s marine environment activities totalled EUR 659,919 (EUR 493,748 in 2023). The Foundation received EUR 488,414 in public funding (EUR 185,670 in 2023), consisting of EU contributions and other public-sector support for projects.

Targeted donations for Baltic Sea protection were transferred to the Clean Baltic Sea II Fund. In the Foundation’s capital and reserves, this fund is treated as a separate dedicated fund whose capital may only be used for the purpose stated in the fund’s rules. This fund’s capital stood at EUR 0 (EUR 1,058,137 in 2023) on 31 December 2024.

The total deficit for marine environment activities in 2024 was EUR 1,642.704 (EUR 1,545,182 in 2023). EUR 1,058,137 of the fund was used (EUR 1,538,555 in 2023).

Expenses for marine environment activities totalled EUR 2,302,623 (EUR 2,038,930 in 2023). Expenses included salary expenses for the Foundation’s own experts and communications, costs related to raising awareness about the Baltic Sea, travel expenses, expert services, costs related to monitoring impacts on bodies of water, and logistics costs for manure phosphorus and gypsum transfer and the collection and transport of reeds.

The Foundation’s general expenses 2024

The John Nurminen Foundation’s general expenses totalled EUR 90,680 (EUR 70,323 in 2023), and consisted of EUR 63,105 in personnel costs (EUR 55,800 in 2023) and EUR 27,575 in other costs (EUR 14,523 in 2023). The remuneration and expenses of the Board of Directors and the Foundation’s management are shown under general expenses.

Fundraising income and expenses 2024

Most donations were made as general donations to the Foundation’s activities as a whole. They totalled EUR 2,759,259 (EUR 2,558,038 in 2023), which is in line with the Foundation’s strategy. In addition to these general donations, EUR 162,714 (EUR 307,028 in 2023) was donated to marine environment projects and EUR 45,017 (EUR 46,248 in 2023) to maritime cultural activities in 2024.

Fundraising expenses totalled EUR 786,072 (EUR 933,985 in 2023). These expenses include salary costs, costs for marketing campaigns and materials, and costs for the development and maintenance of payment systems and automation tools. The result for fundraising after expenses and appropriations was EUR 1,973,187 (1,667,495 in 2023).

Donated funds

Of the donations received 2024, 73 % were used for ordinary operations, that is, carrying out marine environment work and maritime cultural activities. 27 % of donated funds were allocated to general costs, such as fundraising and the Foundation’s general expenses. Donations are not used for investment or rental activities.

The Foundation’s asset management

We manage the Foundation’s assets in a systematic and productive manner. We do not actively trade in financial markets for short-term profit. The Board of Directors regularly monitors the Foundation’s return on investments.

We put the Foundation’s asset management out to tender in late autumn 2024 and, as a result, the Foundation’s asset management portfolio and the investment fund managed by Seligson & Co. were transferred to LähiTapiola at the beginning of 2025. However, we decided to leave our real estate fund with eQ in order to wait for better market developments before selling this fund. We seek to diversify our assets into low-risk investments. The result of our investment activities in 2024 was EUR 796,471 (EUR 19,206 in 2023).

Rental activities

The John Nurminen Foundation owns approximately 13 per cent of the share capital of Kiinteistö Oy Pasilankatu 2 in the West Pasila district of Helsinki. The Foundation’s premises are also located in this building (Huolintatalo). The premises owned by the Foundation are mainly leased out. At the end of 2024, the Foundation had around 85 m2 of premises that had not been leased out. Rental income totalled EUR 200,709 (EUR 158,991 in 2023), and the result for rental activities was EUR 17,843 (EUR 19,191 in 2023). The poor result for rental activities was due to one tenant’s payment difficulties. At the end of 2024, the Foundation had a total of EUR 37,444 in rent receivables, of which EUR 14,924 was in the process of collection.