About Us

The Sunlight Loan Fund is a Community Development Financial Institution (“CDFI”) that invests in the creation and growth of teacher-led Montessori microschools, focusing on underserved communities.

 

The Sunlight Loan Fund's mission is to provide loans and technical assistance services to support the launch and success of Montessori schools serving children, from infants to 12th grade, across the United States, with a focus on communities where Montessori facilities are in high need, that have higher rates of low income households, and where access to capital to finance new facilities is inadequate.

 

Wildflower has issued $5.2 million of loans to 49 schools with no defaults to date and expects to issue $7 million of loans over the next 3 years. While Wildflower provides low-interest loans to Emerging Teacher Leaders, we limit the total size of the loan to the amount a school can pay back over a reasonable period of time while also paying its Teacher Leaders well. We also typically ask Teacher Leaders to take responsibility for a share of the fundraising to start their school, typically 10-33% of the total startup costs.