Organisational Development: Office and the Secretary General

One large theme throughout the second decade of EYP Finland has been professionalisation. Despite the fact that we are based on volunteering, the amount of work involved with the administration of a truly nation-wide and internationally connected youth organisation is a lot for young and unpaid board members. This decade has seen the realisation of two longterm goals: a permanent office building and a Secretary General, working full-time on the administrative work of EYP Finland.

In 2013, we set up our first office at Uudenmaankatu in Punavuori, Helsinki. This was the first step towards hiring paid staff. Successful fundraising in 2014 enabled the hiring of parttime project managers for the first time. Juho Nikko worked in this role during 2014 and 2015. However, financial resources were still too tight to allow the hiring of a permanent Secretary General. To improve the financial situation, in 2015 the office moved to a more affordable location in Lauttasaari, and we negotiated with the Ministry of Education and Culture to change our status from “associations who do youth work” into Annual Ball song

Meidän toimistoss’

made in the memory of Uudenmaankatu office and the building’s renovation difficulties (lyrics: Iida Lyly & Marja Pentikäinen)

Meidän toimistoss’, meidän toimistoss’, on suuri railo ikkunass’, ja se laajenee, ja se laajenee, siis kaikki teippaamaan.

Ykkösteippi (oikea käsi)

Meidän toimistoss’, meidän toimistoss’...

Ykkösteippi! Kakkosteippi! (vasen käsi)

Ykkösteippi! Kakkosteippi! Kolmosteippi! ( oikea jalka)

...Nelosteippi (vasen jalka)

Meidän toimistoss’, meidän toimistoss’, oli suuri railo ikkunass’, mut me teipattiin, ja lasi vaihdettiin, siis kaikki skoolaamaan. SKÅL!

“youth organisation”. The main difference between these categories is that youth organisations do youth work exclusively, while only a part of activities for organisations in the former category need to involve young people.

In 2016, the Ministry of Education and Culture significantly increased the size of the general grant to EYP Finland, finally enabling us to hire a full-time Secretary General. Maiju Tuomainen was hired in the summer of 2016, fulfilling a long-held dream and strategic objective that past boards had worked hard to achieve. Finally we had a fulltime employee in charge of administrative work, giving the board more time to focus on strategic leadership and ensuring the smooth transfer of knowledge and expertise between past and future boards. Other major steps towards professionalisation were outsourcing our finances to an accounting firm from 2015, and performing an external audit on the previous year’s financial statements from 2016.

The office of EYP Finland moved again in 2017 from Lauttasaari to its present location in Allianssi-talo in Pasila. This location was chosen for its excellent transport links, affordable rent, and connections with workers from Allianssi which is the umbrella organisation for youth organisations in Finland. We have been able to maintain a full-time Secretary General every year since 2016, in addition to which we have hired project workers to support the board during the busiest times of the year and coordinate projects such as Tunne Eurooppa and Nuorten Eurooppa. This has helped EYP Finland work more professionally and enabled us to reach wider audiences for our sessions and other activities. List of Secretaries General: • 2016-2018: Maiju Tuomainen • 2018-2019: Julia Kahelin • 2019-2020: Sinituuli Suominen • 2020-2021: Laura Silver • 2021-: Pieta Salonen Annual Ball song

Hallitusbiisi

commemorating the Secretary General and the challenging life of a board member (lyrics: Juuli Salonen, Teresa Artjoki, Henri Haapanala, Emmi Ilmanen, Matti Lötjönen)

Minä halusin palkata sihteerin, Joka tulisi meitä vielä jelppimään, eihän elämä paljoa antanut sateenkaari päättyi aina toimistolle kokouspöydän ääres nukkuville naurettiin

Dam-dididam-dididam-dididamdamdamdam-dam Dididam-dididam-dididamdamdamdam-dam

Minä lähdin hallitustoimintaan, Vaihdoin yöunet stressaavaan touhuun, Tähän jatkuvaan hallitustoimintaan, luen slackia auringon nousuun

Aivan rajoilla budjetin kulkien toivon tukien jostain vielä löytyvän enhän minäkään liikoja vaatisi pitäisin pienen jäsenyyden hinnan, istuntomaksut lottokupongilla kuittaisin