Common Mistakes in Grant Applications (and How to Avoid Them)

​Description:
Closing out our Startup Funding Series, this session focuses on grant applications for European tech and innovation-driven startups. We will share the most common reasons grant applications get rejected, and how to fix them before you submit.

​What we'll cover:

• ​The most common reasons grant applications get rejected

• ​Mismatches between project scope and call requirements

• ​Weak or vague impact narratives

• ​Budget and eligibility errors that trip up first-time applicants

• ​Structuring a proposal for clarity and evaluator ease

• ​Sector-specific nuances for tech and deep-tech grant applications

• ​Building a pre-submission checklist you can reuse

​Speaker

​Kathreena Dimaya

​Kathreena is a grant writer and project management professional based in Madrid, with more than five years of experience supporting nonprofits, social enterprises, and public-serving organizations across Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

​She has written and managed over 20 competitive grant applications across public and foundation funding programmes in areas including education, healthcare, community development, youth programmes, and social impact, contributing to more than $150,000 in awarded funding.

​With a Master's degree in Project Management in International Cooperation and expertise in project cycle management, proposal development, partnership building, and EU-oriented project design, Kathreena helps organizations turn complex ideas into clear, compelling, and funder-ready proposals.