The Wildflower Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812826681
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
6503059951
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,326,983
Expenses
$7,640,058
Assets
$12,195,097
Liabilities
$3,663,528

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MATTHEW KRAMER (CEO)
  • MAIA BLANKENSHIP (LEAD LINK - CHARTER REPLICATION AND CO-CEO BLACK W)

Highest reported compensation

  • MATTHEW KRAMER (CEO): $365,200 total reported compensation
  • ISABELLE BIBBLER (CFO): $332,735 total reported compensation
  • MAIA BLANKENSHIP (LEAD LINK - CHARTER REPLICATION AND CO-CEO BLACK W): $285,127 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Wildflower foundation works to ensure every child can learn in a high-quality, beautiful environment designed by local teachers to reflect their communities. We support a decentralized network of small, community-embedded, teacher-led montessori schools, preparing educators to design, launch, and lead schools that blend proven montessori methods with innovations in leadership and family partnership. As both a charter management organization and an incubator for nonprofit early learning and k12 schools, wildflower provides founders with tools, technology, coaching, professional development, access to capital, and a community of practice. This support helps schools start strong, operate sustainably, and remain affordable through public funding and tiered tuition models.

What it reported doing in 2024

School startup and administration support:1) regional supports - establishing an on-the-ground presence in communities including recruiting teachers, navigating regulatory hurdles, establishing partnerships & fundraising, operations coaching and personal leadership development coaching.2) national supports - creating and adapting our school startup journey framework, creating additional teacher-facing software tools, and establishing business processes and/or partnerships to simplify startup and ongoing administration, fundraising and developing alternative financing structures to generate renewable startup capital for a growing number of schools.charter school incubation and support: as a national charter management organization (cmo), wildflower provides comprehensive support to local educators, families, and community leaders in the design, authorization, and launch of public charter schools operating under a teacher-led, community-embedded montessori model. Our services include technical assistance across the charter development lifecycle - encompassing authorization strategy, regulatory compliance, operational planning, technology and resources, and knowledge sharing - to ensure that each school meets regulator requirements while implementing innovative, responsive educational programming.network support and accountabilitywe believe that every teacher's deep commitment to making their school exceptional is our most valuable asset for making the network of schools exceptional. We have developed a set of processes by which teacher leaders work together to support and hold a mirror up to each other, and we are working to help refine those processes and develop tools to support them. We are also at the beginning stages of supporting the codification and sharing of wisdom beyond nearby schools through convenings and network technology.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 74% for direct work, and 26% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 85
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.2%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -20.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.6; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.2% of revenue deployed · 78.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $365K · 13 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $418K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 47 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 39 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.