Norway Pays NOK 90 Million In Pandemic Related Financial Aid

The Norwegian Lotteries and Foundations Authority has been at the forefront of protecting the local sports sector and the voluntary organisations. Their first financial aid drive provided much-needed income for those who had lost ticket income, participation fees and needed to cover venue and upkeep costs.

 NOK 90 Million in Crisis Support

Given the ongoing impact of the health crisis, the Foundation has made provision for an additional NOK 87,685,047 (€8.2 million) to be paid out to 848 applicants.

These fees will cover the running costs and expenses for more than 2900 events which were cancelled due to either forced closures or advice given by local authorities.

The current Crisis Package 2 will remain available to events that would have run up until August 31st and are expected to cover more than 4000 events in total.

 Finishing 2020 Strong

Realising that the market will not be able to fully recover from the months of inactivity the Lotteries and Foundations Authority has opened applications for a final financial support package.

Minister of Culture and Gender Equality Abid Q. Raja, said:

“The sports sector and voluntary organizations play an invaluable role in people's everyday lives and are an important meeting place in local communities across the country. I am glad that we are now extending the compensation scheme for volunteering and sport. This gives the sector more predictable income and I hope this contributes to them being able to carry out more activities in the future”

Applications for inclusion in Crisis Package 3 are open until 15 September 2020. A total of NOK 1 Billion (€94.2 million) has been earmarked to support applicants for losses incurred from 1 September to 31 December 2020.

According to Raja compensation in this year-end package will provide “compensation for lost income from, flea markets, rentals, ticket income from sports facilities and other offers”.

He added that premier sporting events will also be able to claim for the loss of projected ticket sales in addition to the aforementioned income streams.

 Get Creative in 2021

The Authority is very cognisant of the dangers of creating a handout mentality which is why it has a robust plan in place to begin reducing the percentage of losses which can be claimed.

Raja clarified the Authority’s stance by saying:

“We want to stimulate more activity, therefore there will be a gradual reduction in compensation for events that are completely cancelled. This means that it will pay to be creative and think alternatively so that events can be held despite the coronary restrictions.”

In practical terms, this means that events which run, albeit at a loss, can claim as much as 70% back whereas events which never reopen can only claim a maximum of 50%.

As we look to 2021 events which choose to stay closed will begin to see that current 50% level reduced even further while running events receive increased assistance and benefits.