Meet Tracy Babler

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tracy Babler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Tracy, so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?

As a professional grantwriter, my job requires a ton of output. I usually have to produce 1-3 pieces of new writing per day, often multi-page documents that don’t just have to communicate—they have to be persuasive enough to attract grant funding for my clients.

It would be easy to fall into the trap of saying these are not creative projects. They require a significant amount of cutting and pasting, meetings going over our strategy, and the drudgery of filling out online forms that, at face value, don’t allow me the freedom to tell a story.

When my work starts to feel like an endless cycle of repurposing content, I have to dig deep and access my creativity by reminding myself what is important—the critical work my clients do to advance racial and economic justice in my community every day. My writing is never about me. It’s about my relationships with my clients, my deep belief that they can change the world for the better, and my unwavering commitment to sharing their truths in the proposals I write.

When I remember the “why” of what I do every day, I can overcome creative blocks and refocus on the job of convincing the reader to invest in the transformative potential of the work I’m writing about.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

For 20+ years, I have been a professional grantwriter serving nonprofits that advance racial, economic and environmental justice in the Twin Cities region. I founded Tracy Babler & Associates LLC in 2012 and have since built up a team of six additional professionals who support our nonprofit clients in the areas of grantwriting and communications.

Over the years, I found that we were getting more grantwriting inquiries than we could possibly handle as a small team, and, unfortunately, I ran out of other consultants to refer nonprofits to. It occurred to me that there were many more nonprofits out there that needed grantwriting expertise than there were qualified grantwriters. We need more grantwriters who have the skills to raise real money for nonprofit organizations, and especially folks who represent the communities they write about.

That’s why, in 2023, I launched Nonprofit Grant Magic, a comprehensive grantwriting training program that trains new grantwriters and supports them in the fundraising journey. Since then, we have trained 181 grantwriters (and counting) and have provided free training to more than 30,000 people who are exploring the grantwriting profession. I’m thrilled to be training more people to do this important, often underappreciated, work that fuels community change around the country.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Resilience: In grantwriting, you get a lot of rejection. You’ll write many grant proposals that are turned down, and you’ll get tough feedback on your proposals that is easy to take personally. Over time, I’ve developed the resilience to see that rejection is feedback, and it’s not a commentary of my inherent value as a writer. It also helps to remember that well-written proposals get rejected all the time, so I focus on working with my clients to strengthen the fundamental ideas we’re presenting and the strategy we’re deploying with each proposal.

2. Comfort with risk: It’s risky to start a small business, and each new hire brings additional risk. We’re constantly balancing the demand for our work with the risk of growing too fast and losing sight of the in-depth client relationships that make us good at our jobs. I’ve hired the wrong people, signed contracts with the wrong clients, and burnt myself out trying new things with marginal successes. I’ve become comfortable with the risk of failure by keeping my values at the center of all the new decisions I take. If I do values-aligned work and it fails, that’s OK. It’s when I stray from my values and failed that I have a problem.

3. Curiosity: As a writer, I don’t take anything at face value. I’m always digging deeper to find out why something is the way it is. I’m often interviewing subject matter experts, so curiosity can be embarrassing sometimes. I have to ask them to explain their complex work to me like I’m a kindergartner so I can explain it to a mainstream audience in ways that capture the important details without getting into the weeds (or, in the nonprofit world, the acronyms). If I don’t ask enough questions, I won’t produce a good piece of writing.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’m looking for more great writers who have the curiosity and drive to become grantwriters. I love to work with people who come to grantwriting from different professions like teaching, journalism, marketing, or copywriting because they already have the writing skills they need, and they are often excited to apply those skills to fulfilling and meaningful nonprofit work. Our students are now working as freelance grantwriters, professional nonprofit grantwriters, and founders of organizations who now know how to raise money for their critical community work. We’re just getting started and I’m excited to see where this training component of our work will go next!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photos by studioTart.

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
Are you walking a path—or wandering?

The answer to whether you are walking or wandering often changes from season to season

Highlighter Series
What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?

With so many high-achievers in our community it was super interesting to learn about the

Highlighter Series
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?

We asked some of the wisest people we know what they would tell their younger