The Spark
Most partnerships start with a yes.
Ours began with a no.
When we first approached Turning Tables Denmark (TTDK) to offer funding support, they declined. Their reason? The timing wasn’t right.
Back then, TTDK was in the middle of something big. They had just secured permission to convert a disused chapel into a youth-led cultural lab. It was a hard-won achievement, but also a massive project that stretched their bandwidth to the limit.
“We were growing fast,” Martin from TTDK recalled. “But our internal scaffolding needed to keep up. We needed a pause before we could say yes.”
So we paused too and in a world of busy schedules and fast deadlines, we chose to wait. Then we restarted the conversation at just the right time, with one clear desire: to understand them.
TTDK was evolving from a small, project-based team to a medium-sized organization with a bold, long-term vision. But transitions like this are never easy. The challenges were clear: scaling responsibly, stabilizing their team, securing financial sustainability, and putting systems in place to support it all.
“We took a step back to ask ourselves: What kind of partner do we need to be right now? That reflection shaped one of our most defining partnerships.” - Carol
The Courtship
The turning point came when we used our in-house 360° tool with TTDK for a full organizational review.
"It took a lot of time. And it wasn’t easy. But it helped us define who we were - and where we needed to grow. We still use the framework to track our progress till today,” Martin told us later on.
Together, we mapped five shared outcomes:
We didn’t want our grant to be a traditional type, supporting only short-term goals. For us, it was about creating space for TTDK to reflect, experiment, and sustain themselves for the long run.
With core funding in place, TTDK was able to hire for three pivotal roles: business developent, HR, and production. They also invested in leadership and social work development across the team.
The Love That Held It Together
In this partnership, we didn’t want to lead. We wanted to walk alongside TTDK in the spirit of collaboration.
To do that, we needed to show up - not just at strategy calls, but in the everyday. So, our Denmark-based teammate, Alex, began spending two days a week at TTDK - painting chapel walls, joining meetings, and helping out with daily tasks.
“At first, the idea felt unusual. But over time, we saw how valuable it was. Having Alex around became a natural part of our rhythm - and honestly, it made ‘reporting’ feel less formal, because he already knew our everyday. The team never saw him as ‘ECCA.’ He was just Alex and it felt natural for us to be completely transparent and open with him (and ECCA) about all our shortcomings and challenges.” - Martin
The journey wasn’t smooth. Renovations of the chapel and two cultural labs were delayed, along with several milestones in our planning. But our close working relationship allowed us to adapt fast.
To support this, we also set up a quarterly steering group together with another co-funder, Bikubenfonden. This wasn’t just for governance, it was part of a shared experiment to explore how funders can collaborate better and make things easier for partners.
It was a deliberate effort to challenge traditional funder-grantee dynamics and reimagine what collaborative, trust-based funding could look like.
PC: TTDK
“No other funder was interested in our core,” Martin shared. “ECCA was the first.”
The song that describes our relationship:
Gør Noget (Do something) by Tibe and Laila
They grew in popularity as a third space
for the youth, and flourished
into ecosystems of belonging.
PC: TTDK
PC: TTDK
In 2024 alone, 391 youths visited and worked regularly in the labs. 35 of them were hired as assistant instructors, photographers, and production crew for events.
Melis
PC: TTDK
“You can make music, take pictures, record podcasts, film how to cook food—whatever you dream up,” says Melis, 14. “And there are really nice people… like Necmiye. She’s the best.”
PC: TTDK
Over time, the young people weren’t just attending. They were taking ownership and co-designing programs too, shaping the culture together. The results? Joyfully unpredictable: rap tracks about chewing gum, photo series on cultural identity, short films about local kebab shops.
“It’s a perfect place to be creative and meet new people,” says Necmiye, 15, a youth mentor at the Æblehaven Lab. “There’s always a chance to learn something new.”
Necmiye
PC: TTDK
One standout project?
Forenet (“United”) - a photo book by youth at Brøndby Strand in collaboration with Denmark’s beloved Brøndby IF football club. Shot, curated, and narrated entirely by children, it captures what football means to their community.
Projects like these don’t just build skills. They build a voice. Confidence. Identity.
“You’re called ECCA Family Foundation, right? That’s what we feel like with you. It’s like a family. Our relationship with you is so different and we really love that about you” – Tore Qvist, Turning Tables
The Lesson
This was never just about funding a program. It was about investing in an organization’s ability to grow - on their own terms.
They say love is patient and seeks to understand, and this collaboration taught us exactly that - the value of giving space and waiting for the right time.
The experience has been a truly transformative one for us, as we learnt to approach funding in a whole new light. And it all started with a “no.”
The ones who’ve grown with us
Our long-term partners and the journeys we went on together
