Hidden Gems: Meet Kirsten Hubbard of Ghost Writer

Like all great stories, Ghost Writer was born of heartbreak. Having poured heart and soul into nonprofit endeavors on earth-shattering missions I deeply believed in, over and over I saw those missions facing the same barriers and roadblocks that failed to allow great solutions by passionate people take root. Until the realization dawned on me – these failures were not about one particular organization, or board member, or situation. This was industry-wide failure. Nonprofits are set up to fail – they are handed the most desperate social ails of our times – problems with outcomes that cannot be quantified on any one P&L report but whose impact effects every P&L report in the country. Nonprofits are then deprived of resources to solve those problems and oppressed by archaic mindsets of “charity.” Heartbroken and disillusioned, I disconnected from the nonprofit world I onceloved.

Then, at a seminar I didn’t want to be at, I heard what I most needed to hear: your life’s purpose is easy to find – it’s at the intersection of your talents, skills, and heartbreak. Identifying talents and skills is easy. Following your heartbreak is much more difficult. The question is: do you have the courage to walk into that hearbreak?

Yes, I decided I did. I went to work creating a model that uplifted those earth-shattering missions I so beleived in, creating entry points to services desperately needed to support and scale great solutions. Ghost Writer wasn’t born of a desire to own a business or be an entrepreneur (I bristled at the term for years). At its core, it’s not about me, or our co-creators, or even the individual nonprofits we serve. Ghost Writer is about changing the way we resource and think about social issues. It’s about pivoting the new freelance economy to serve our communities better.

The truest thing I have ever known is that if you stand alone, the right people will join you. Our team is now a dozen strong – absolute superstars – contractors, part-timers, and full-timers. If they are superstars, we will find a way to work with them.

Together, these superstars have created a portfolio of data and outcomes and ROIs that prove investments in development, marketing, and strategies result in real-world bottom-line changes, and those services can be made accessible to all nonprofits. Many organizations we have worked with have moved from “small” to “mid-sized” nonprofits – an enormous change in revenue, and, more importantly, capacity to scale mission. And when nonprofits have more equitable access to do their work, whether it be in human services or education or health care or arts and culture, I truly believe that will translate into more equitable communities.

In that hope, I  found salve to my heartbreak.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I suspect the challenges Ghost Writer faces mirror those of other entrepreneurs: balancing capacity with growth, sometimes vulnerable cash flow, setting and maintaining strategic focus, building consistent high-quality standards across a growing organization, and a love/hate thing with technology.

Increasingly we have long conversations about morals and ethics: what ground do we stand on, where do we spend our energy and resources, what do we embrace, and how do we express that? When what you are doing is truly entrepreneurial work – pushing boundaries and challenging status quo – there is an increased responsibility for considering intended and unintended outcomes, and you need to build space for thoughtful consideration. I’m not sure many businesses build in that time. This is where the people around you, and the relational investment in honest dialogue and a “co-creator,“ rather than “co-worker,“ mindset is most important. People need to trust you as a co-creator enough to tell you you’re wrong!

The costliest mistakes I have made thus far, for the benefit of those earlier on in the entrepreneurial process, are losing focus and not addressing issues my gut told me were issues quickly enough.

Personally, my biggest challenge is stepping out publicly. Unlike many founders, I have long resisted the role of being “the public face” of Ghost Writer. That feels very disingenuous considering the team who has built it, and for my vision of Ghost Writer as an independent living idea, transcending personhood.

Having just completed my first novel, now turning to other writing projects, and founding a new nonprofit, I am forced into bravery by being more “out there.” To a reclusive writer most comfortable hidden from the world in a big leather writing chair in front of the fire with a dog at my feet, doing ‘social’ feels very raw, vulnerable, and exhausting. I am most grateful to VoyageBaltimore for offering a safe sanctuary for my expression. The timing is surely beyond coincidence.

We’ve been impressed with Ghost Writer LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Ghost Writer’s mission is “writing a better human story.” It expresses that mission through several divisions. Ghost Writer is a consortium of co-creators working with purpose and passion to change the world.

Ghost Writer’s Marketing and Development division amplifies the missions of organizations by packaging grant writing, marketing, public relations, donor database services, and social media management. For less than the price of hiring one person, with one skill set, organizations resource-share an entire team of writers, researchers, editors, graphic designers, database gurus, and social media experts to create an entire flexible development team available to meet their needs when they need it.

Ghost Writer’s unique model allows nonprofits access to the highly-specialized skill sets such as grant writing, graphic design, and database management which would otherwise be outside of their reach. The model resource-shares, with organizations choosing packages of time to meet their budget, having the flexibility to pull down services as they need them.

The Executive Services division supports organizations through strategic planning, board development and training, workshops like Grant Writing 101, speaking engagements, surveys, and other ad hoc services aimed at building capacity.

The name Ghost Writer is very purposeful – we do capacity- and resource-building that allows nonprofit staff and boards to do what they do best – their mission! It is never a good use of an executive director or board member’s time to spend  hours researching grants! Their time is better spent as the face of the organization and engaged with activities that support mission.

Ghost Writer has expanded to include working with for-profit organizations to build public/private solutions and to include a creative and professional writing division, writing copy, articles, blogs, and even scripts!

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
The muted fondness of childhood memories follows me vividly today.

The gallantry of sportsmanship mesmerized me, even while girls were discouraged from playing. My Catholic elementary school had a white line down the middle of the playground seperating boys from girls. The boys ‘side has playground equipment and footballs and soccor balls. The girls were only given hopscotch. I pouted every day, hoovering that white line and luring the boys to throw the ball over the line.