As an organisation made up of young people and with young people as your target group, you can apply for funding to use Ungdomsøen. You can apply for funding for an activity, an event or a project where you think Ungdomsøen would be a fantastic setting, or for your trip where you visit and stay overnight at Ungdomsøen.
Apply to
• Nordea-fonden's local fund. Nordea-fonden is Ungdomsøen's largest donor and is very keen to support activities, projects and visits to Ungdomsøen. This can be on a larger scale, such as when Buster Film Festival held a democracy event at Ungdomsøen for 100 young people in autumn 2019. Or on a smaller scale, if you want to go on a trip with 15 people and would like transport, accommodation and food covered.
• Tuborgfondet. They support events, ideas and projects within four areas
– Labour market – from youth to working life
– Entrepreneurship – room for green ideas
– Democracy – the voice and participation of the next generation
– Creative industries – emerging talent in rhythmic music
They also have a fund aimed at young people aged 16–30, Drømmepuljen (the Dream Fund), where young people in the target group can apply for up to DKK 100,000 and get an answer within 1 week.
• The City of Copenhagen. They have a wide range of funds. Remember to highlight how your idea benefits the city's young people / associations when you apply here.
• Search the funding landscape yourselves at aktivfundraising.dk. It can be a good idea to start by applying to smaller foundations that get fewer applicants and are therefore easier to apply to.
Tips and tricks for a good process
1. Start in good time. Most foundations and funds take 2–3 months to reply
2. Read the foundations' guidelines and what they focus on
3. Talk through the following and make short notes on each point:
– What activities do you want to do?
– Why do you want to do them / What is the purpose?
– Who is the target group / Who will take part?
– When will you do the activity?
– What does the activity cost / what will the money be spent on? Be realistic. Foundations receive many applications. The closer you apply to the maximum, the greater the risk of a no or of getting less than you applied for
– What do you think will come out of the activity once it is over?
– Do you have partners? Foundations look favourably on that.
4. When you have a short answer to each point, you are welcome to send it to Ungdomsøen – we will give you quick comments. Maybe we can tip off the foundation/fund that a great project is on its way
5. After that, it is a good idea to call the contact person at the foundation/fund and tell them briefly about it. Ask whether the idea sounds interesting to them. Is there anything you should focus on? When is their next deadline? When can you expect an answer?
6. Write the application using the foundations' templates. Remember to describe how your idea fits the foundations' focus areas. You can send it to several foundations, as long as you remember to adjust the applications to suit each one
7. Feel free to send it to Ungdomsøen for comments, good advice and recommendations for partners, but remember that we need 14 days to comment unless we have agreed otherwise in advance
8. Submit the application and keep your fingers crossed