Preamble

According to OSDEL’s articles of association, its objectives include the fulfilment of the cultural and social needs of its contractual members. More specifically, in accordance with Article 2 of the articles of association and the effective Distribution Regulation, OSDEL may allocate up to 25% of its revenue for cultural and social objectives.

In order to ensure the most effective fulfilment of cultural and social objectives, and to guarantee transparency, equal treatment and accountability in the management of the relevant funds, OSDEL’s Board of Directors adopted the following regulation under a decision taken in February 2017.

A. Cultural objectives

1.1. Within the framework of cultural objectives, OSDEL subsidises the following actions:

• Actions promoting the love of reading.
• Actions by authors and publishers that promote the dissemination of Greek works abroad.
• Actions by emerging authors aimed at training and education in the fields of culture, literature and the arts.
• Research that contributes to the mapping of the book market.
• Publications and actions fostering a culture favourable to the protection of copyright and contributing to the fight against the unlawful copying of literary works.
• Awards for emerging authors, translators and journalists in recognition of works and achievements of exceptional merit and significance.
• Organisation and support of scientific conferences to advance the objectives of OSDEL, as well as literature and the arts in general.
• Promotion of domestic book production abroad, through participation in international fora and exhibitions.
• Support for cultural actions linked to the advancement of OSDEL’s mission and culture in our country.
• Support for non-commercial publications of broader cultural value.
• Support for artistic, training and educational events focusing on books, literary works and authors.

The Board of Directors, by its decision, may add, cancel or modify various categories of actions.

1.2 Beneficiaries

Cultural or other entities operating in the form of a non-profit civil corporation or association may submit a grant application.

Where collaboration between multiple entities is involved, the application shall be submitted by the principal implementing body and be accompanied by a collaboration agreement signed by the collaborating parties.

2. Deadlines – Procedure

2.1. Determination of subsidised action categories

At the beginning of each year, the Board of Directors shall determined an annual budget for grants, as well as the priorities of the objectives and actions it wishes to support. Each objective or action is assigned a specific code, on the basis of which proposals are submitted by the interested parties.

2.1. Call for proposals

Following approval by the Board of Directors, the call for proposals is posted on the Organisation’s website and simultaneously published in any other appropriate medium deemed necessary (press, social media, etc.).

The call for proposals shall specify, among other things, the intended objective, potential categories of actions for which proposals are sought, the deadline for submission of proposals, the time period of implementation, the maximum amount of the grant per proposal, and any other terms and procedures governing the grant.

2.2 Applications

Grant applications are submitted each year during a specified period of time determined by the Board of Directors and indicated in the call for proposals.

The application form is available on the organisation’s website ( www.osdel.gr ) during the submission period.

2.3 Proposals

Submitted proposals should state the following:

a. The specific code and details of the content of the action to be implemented (content, means of implementation, procedure, methodology, duration, etc.).

b. A detailed budget of the cost of the action, as well as the requested grant amount, which cannot exceed the amount specified in the call for proposals for the corresponding action.

c. The reciprocal benefits for OSDEL, which will enhance its reputation and visibility.

d. The entity’s background and activities.

3. Evaluation

3.1 Grant committee

A five‑member grant committee shall be appointed by decision of the Board of Directors for a term of up to two years, consisting of one Board of Directors member, the Director of OSDEL, and three distinguished persons from the fields of the arts, science, and books in general. The committee shall determine:

a) the objectives-pillars of the various categories of actions;

b) the detailed budget to be allocated for each category of actions;

c) the maximum grant per action, based on the total budget.

3.2 Verification of grant eligibility

The formal requirements and the completeness of supporting documentation shall be verified by OSDEL’s services. In the event of any missing documents in the file, the applicant shall be notified to provide the necessary information. If the applicant fails to submit the necessary information within the specified period of time, their application shall be excluded from further evaluation. Late submissions shall not be considered.

Applications shall then evaluated by the competent committee of OSDEL, in accordance with the following criteria:

Clarity, completeness and substantiation of the proposed idea.

1. Contribution of the proposed idea to the advancement of the intended cultural objective, in accordance with the call for proposals.
2. Description of the way in which the actions are to be implemented.
3. Feasibility of implementing the proposal according to its budgetary data.
4. Reciprocal benefits – visibility of OSDEL.
5. Securing of financial resources from other entities.
6. The committee shall take into account the cultural, educational or other contribution of the entity to society at large, and its experience in the implementation of similar actions.

3.2.1. Decision

The committee shall decide on the acceptance or rejection of the applications, preparing a report that includes a brief rationale for each individual application, which shall duly justify:

a. the rejection of proposals,

b. the acceptance of the remaining proposals ranked in order of priority.

3.3 Approval by the Board of Directors

The Board of Directors shall review the legality and appropriateness of the committee’s decisions and either approve the decision or refer it back to the committee with comments for re-evaluation. The Board’s decision shall be communicated in writing to all prospective entities.

The Board of Directors reserves the right to cancel the procedure for any reason, to declare it unsuccessful, and to recommence it under the same or different terms. The Board of Directors may conduct the aforementioned procedure one or more times every year.

4. Obligations of grant recipients

The entities whose applications are accepted assume the obligations set out below. In the event of a breach of any of these obligations, the grant may be reduced or even withdrawn, and the entity may be excluded from the grant programme.

4.1 In the event of any deviation during implementation of the submitted proposal, the entity shall notify OSDEL and obtain the respective approval. If such changes significantly affect the evaluation of the proposal, they may lead to a revision of the grant amount or even to its withdrawal.

4.2 After the written notification of the Board of Directors’ decision, the subsidised entities shall sign a respective contract with OSDEL within 20 working days of the notification of this decision. If the grant recipients fail to respond and do not sign the contract within the aforementioned deadline, the next entity on the list shall be invited, if any. Otherwise, the Board of Directors may decide either to cancel the procedure for the respective category of cultural objective-action or to repeat the procedure with a new call for proposals.

4.3In all communications relating to the action, the grant recipient shall mention that the action is being carried out with the financial support of OSDEL. Before each stage of the implementation, the grant recipient must obtain the written approval of OSDEL for the display of images, logos, trademarks, as well as any other reference to the Organisation that is included in the reciprocal benefits and has been agreed for the materials of the event or action.

4.4 The grant recipient shall provide the corresponding accounting documents after completion of the actions. Payment of the approved amounts shall be made exclusively and only after submission of the aforementioned documents.

4.5 The grant recipient shall update OSDEL at least once a month, as well as whenever requested by OSDEL, on the implementation progress of the action.

4.6 After completion of the action, the grant recipient shall deliver a progress report of the implemented action, including a financial report.

4.7 After completion of the actions, the grant committee shall prepare an annual progress report, which shall be published on OSDEL’s website.

5. Exceptions

5.1 By way of exception, in urgent cases, the Board of Directors may proceed with the evaluation and approval of applications without following the above procedure, up to the amount of €5,000 per year.

5.2 Also by way of exception to the above, the Board of Directors may, at the beginning of each year, determine an annual amount available for financial support to associations of authors and/or book publishers, and more broadly to associations within the book sector, provided that they operate either for the protection of the professional interests of authors (writers, translators, journalists, illustrators) and/or publishers (of books or press), or for the promotion, support and dissemination of literary and visual works and their authors.

Criteria for financial support include the representativeness of the association with members who are also members of OSDEL, the quality and effectiveness of the association’s activities over at least the past three years, and compliance with the rules and procedures laid down by the law regarding the operation of the association’s governing bodies. For the evaluation of the above, the aforementioned associations must provide the following information:

a. their articles of association and a list of their financially compliant members;

b. minutes of their ordinary general meetings of the last three years;

c. a list of actions accompanied by the relevant publicity material;

d. election records of the last five years;

e. balance sheets of the last five years;

f. action planning for the current year;

g. details of any financial support received from OSDEL in the past, as well as the reasons for such support;

h. details of any financial support received from third parties and a description of the respective actions for which such support was received.

The Board of Directors shall decide on any potential financial support to associations within thirty days after receiving a fully documented application. The total amount allocated for the support of associations may not exceed the amount of €20,000 or the equivalent of 15% of the total annual amount allocated for cultural grants.