Development Coordinator (contract role)

Wildflower Schools seeks Development Coordination (contracted services) to support the operational backbone of our national fundraising work. Over the next two years, Wildflower is focused on growing its funder pipeline and evolving our fundraising approaches to support network expansion. This role will bring consistency, accuracy, and care to the systems that support that work. We are a small, close team that operates with a high level of productivity, care and responsiveness to one another and to our funders. We are seeking a teammate who will contribute with a strong sense of ownership, attention to detail, and a commitment to kindness, compassion, curiosity, continuous growth, and initiative. The ideal candidate brings experience in development operations, a strong systems orientation, and the ability to create and manage their own priorities while staying responsive and collaborative as new needs arise in a decentralized, nonhierarchical environment.

Who We Are

Wildflower Schools is a network of beautiful teacher-led, Montessori microschools serving children from infancy through high school through nonprofit and public charter programs. The Wildflower model combines time-tested, research-supported Montessori methods with promising new ideas around tiny human-scaled schools, family and community partnership, intentional diversity, teacher empowerment, and data-driven instruction.

How We Work

At Wildflower, we are committed to the liberation of every human being, every community, and the human spirit, so that we may all live in harmony with our individual purpose and the world around us, free from oppression and able to follow life’s unfolding journey. We are a decentralized and nonhierarchical organization, rooted deeply in our values of Connectedness and Growth; our norms of Anti-Bias Anti-Racist and Unity, Autonomy with Support, and Awareness and Compassion; and the 9 Principles that guide our schools’ design.

Engagement Type: Independent Contractor (1099); Estimated effort: 15–20 hours per week

Coordination : The contractor will set their own schedule but must be available for occasional synchronous meetings during business hours

Primary Point of Contact: Erica Cantoni

Ideal Start Date: Spring 2026

Deliverables / Scope of Services

The contractor will provide the following services:

Gift processing and financial administration

• Process donations across platforms and maintain accurate, timely records
• Prepare/distribute tax acknowledgment letters in coordination with relationship owners
• Reconcile revenue with the Finance team; provide necessary documentation and data for audit compliance
• Monitor and report on grant budgets status and flag reporting deadlines

CRM and data management

• Maintain and strengthen development data in Wildflower’s CRM
• Execute reporting, segmentation, and pipeline visibility through data analysis
• Produce data analysis and internal impact reports for donor communications

Donor communications and reporting

• Manage technical execution and distribution of donor communications
• Depending on level of experience, develop donor collateral, decks, one pagers and newsletters as requested

Prospect research and pipeline support

• Support prospect research to inform donor cultivation and pipeline development

Logistics and coordination

• Manage the logistics of donor meetings, site visits, and funder-related travel
• Manage the logistics of small events and conferences

Systems and process improvement

• Consult with the Development team to provide recommendations for system infrastructure improvements
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, accuracy, and visibility across workflows
• Support efforts to better leverage AI, automation, and existing software tools
• Support the expansion of tools and systems to amplify school-level fundraising

Special Projects

• As necessary to advance the development of operating and growth capital to support Wildflower’s second decade of work and scale

Your Experience + Strengths

• The successful contractor will possess the necessary equipment, insurance, and professional expertise to perform these services independently.
• Experience in a nonprofit development coordinator, fundraising operations, or similar role, including gift processing, CRM management and grant reporting
• Comfort with financial coding, reconciliation, and compliance tracking
• Experience supporting prospect research / analysis of funder alignment
• Experience with CRMs (Airtable, Copper, similar), giving platforms, prospect research tools, Flodesk or similar communication platforms, Canva, and Google Suite is a plus
• Comfort experimenting with AI tools to improve workflows is a bonus; curiosity and interest in continued exploration are highly valued
• High degree of comfort working independently and self-directing – while remaining responsive to team needs and advice in a decentralized, nonhierarchical environment
• Kindness, candor, and honesty about your own capacity and needs, along with an orientation toward continuous growth
• Genuine commitment to Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist values
• Strong attention to detail and a systems-oriented approach

Term of Engagement

This is a project-based contract position funded by a grant and is currently scoped through September 1, 2027. Our budget for these services is $35–$50/hr depending on the contractor’s professional experience and the technical scope of the proposal. The contractor is responsible for providing their own equipment (laptop, internet, etc.), managing all applicable taxes and insurance, and determining their own methods and specific schedule for meeting the defined deliverables.

Learn More

Please send a summary of your experience and description of your proposal to Erica Cantoni at erica.cantoni@wildflowerschools.org.

Wildflower does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, sex or gender, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, status with regard to public assistance, or in any other way based on personal identity markers that do not relate to the capacity of an individual person to carry out the responsibilities of a role.

Primarily flexible schedule with a few set business hours a week required for synchronous meetings