Development Coordinator

Job Description

Job Description

The Development Coordinator serves as the operational backbone of SEAL’s Development & External Relations team and reports to the Head Development and External Relations Officer. This role ensures fundraising, grant development, donor cultivation, communications, business development, and strategic initiatives move forward efficiently through proactive project management, operational excellence, and precise digital systems management. Collaborating across multiple departments, the coordinator manages timelines, oversees project workflows, maintains Salesforce and other development systems, supports donor and grant operations, and continuously improves the processes that enable SEAL to scale its impact.

This position is ideal for someone who thrives on bringing structure to complex projects, enjoys improving systems, embraces technology, and takes pride in helping teams succeed.

This hybrid position is based in California. You will work from home and in the field, with the expectation to travel 5-15% throughout the year.

For more than 15 years, SEAL has worked with school districts, county offices of education, schools, preschool LEAs, teachers, families, California Department of Education, and many other education champions to advance educational outcomes of English Learners and Dual Language Learners. It all began with Dr. Laurie Olsen and Sobrato Philanthropies whose strong belief that all children should have access to opportunities for growth and success led to designing, piloting and eventually creating the SEAL you know today.

Our vision at SEAL is simple, yet impactful: schools prepare all English Learners and Dual Language Learners to learn, lead and thrive. Our core values focus on nurturing the intellectual and linguistic brilliance of young children, celebrating the importance of family culture and language in education, and supporting teachers through professional development and evidence-based instructional practices.

We work across California and nationally, partnering with preschools, elementary schools, districts, county offices and other educational stakeholders to ensure culturally and linguistically diverse children thrive. Extensive research has shown that SEAL both enhances teaching methods and leads to higher engagement and improved language and academic results among English Learners and Dual Language Learners. We’ve impacted hundreds of classrooms, thousands of teachers, tens of thousands of students—and counting. The number of school districts successfully implementing SEAL grows each year.

SEAL addresses systemic inequities by transforming classrooms into joyful, rigorous, and language-affirming environments. Our Theory of Action drives impact across three integrated levels:

• Direct Impact: Building the capacity of teachers and leaders through specialized professional learning.

• Ecosystem Impact: Partnering with education organizations to embed MLL expertise into programs, tools, and training.

• Field Impact: Leading advocacy and awareness to elevate high-quality instructional practices at scale.

To learn more about SEAL, please visit SEAL.org.

Equity is a core value at SEAL. At SEAL, our commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion reflects SEAL's mission: "To Prepare All English Learners to learn, thrive, and lead." Equity is a core value at SEAL and we believe that diversity fosters equity. We're passionate about creating a workplace where all forms of diversity, age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, perspective, and experience are seen as real value for the organization. To carry out our mission we actively recruit a workforce that reflects the SEAL community we serve, and as part of which, everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work. Our mission drives our innovation and connects us more closely to our partners and the communities we serve. Together, we act fearlessly, learn from each other, improve constantly, and continue to build a culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices, backgrounds, and cultures of our team members. These principles guide how we build our teams, cultivate leaders and develop an organization that embraces multiple approaches and points of view. We support an inclusive environment where team members feel empowered to share their experiences and ideas. We believe that non-profit organizations can be powerful platforms for social change and that our higher purpose is to drive equity for all.

This role is expected to build systems that improve efficiency and collaboration, identify opportunities to automate manual processes, recommend technology solutions that strengthen operations, document workflows that improve institutional knowledge, support adoption of new digital tools across the department, and bring curiosity, creativity, and a continuous improvement mindset to the role.

In this role, your work will include:

Development Operations (30%)

• Coordinate the day-to-day operations of the Development & External Relations department.

• Develop and maintain project plans, timelines, and workflows across fundraising, grants, events as well as marketing/business development cross functional projects as needed.

• Monitor department priorities, proactively identify risks, and ensure deadlines remain on track.

• Coordinate cross-functional meetings, agendas, action items, and follow-up.

• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures and internal documentation.

• Recommend improvements that increase efficiency, collaboration, and organizational effectiveness.

Project Management (20%)

• Serve as project manager for development initiatives using Monday.com and other project management tools.

• Maintain development work plans and monitor progress across multiple concurrent projects.

• Coordinate grant proposal timelines and cross-functional deliverables.

• Track project dependencies and communicate upcoming deadlines.

• Escalate risks or delays early and recommend solutions.

• Prepare biweekly project status reports for department leadership.

Salesforce & Digital Systems (20%)

• Serve as the primary coordinator for Development Operations within Salesforce.

• Maintain accurate donor, prospect, grant, and corporate partner records.

• Generate dashboards, reports, and data summaries to support strategic decision-making.

• Partner with Communications, IT, and consultants to support ongoing Salesforce enhancements and Marketing Cloud initiatives.

• Monitor data quality and recommend process improvements.

• Support implementation of AI-enabled tools and other technology that improve efficiency.

• Maintain documentation for development systems and workflows.

Donor, Grant & Business Development Operations (20%)

• Donor Operations

  • Process gifts and pledges in a timely manner.

  • Ensure donor acknowledgements are prepared and distributed within organizational standards and industry best practices.

  • Coordinate donor stewardship activities and engagement calendars.

  • Prepare donor research, briefing materials, and meeting packets.

  • Support prospect research for individuals, corporations, and foundations.

• Grant Operations

  • Coordinate proposal timelines and submission schedules.

  • Assemble proposal packages and supporting documentation.

  • Maintain organizational attachments, templates, and grant files.

  • Coordinate grant submissions and reporting deadlines.

• Business Development Support

  • Support corporate partnership initiatives and sponsorship opportunities.

  • Coordinate meeting logistics and follow-up activities.

  • Maintain accurate records of partnership engagement within Salesforce.

Events & Administrative Coordination (10%)

• Coordinate logistics for fundraising events, donor convenings, corporate engagement opportunities, and stewardship activities.

• Manage invitations, RSVPs, meeting logistics, vendor coordination, and event materials.

• Support preparation of board and committee meeting materials.

• Coordinate Development and Finance reconciliation meetings related to gifts and grants.

• Maintain organized digital filing systems for development operations.

This is what’s required for the role…

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

• Four or more years of experience in nonprofit operations, development operations, project management, fundraising support, or related work.

• Demonstrated success managing multiple complex projects simultaneously.

• Experience using CRM systems (Salesforce preferred).

• Strong project management and organizational skills.

• Exceptional attention to detail.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.

• Ability to work independently while managing competing priorities.

• High degree of professionalism, diplomacy, discretion, and accountability.

• Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud experience.

• Monday.com or similar project management platform experience.

This is what’s desirable for the role…

• Marketing automation platform experience.

• Grant coordination experience.

• Donor database management experience.

• Event planning or donor stewardship experience.

• Experience in education or nonprofit organizations.

• Familiarity with AI productivity tools and digital workflow automation.

We expect all SEAL staff to be adept at…

SEAL has codified its expectations for success and core competencies in a shared competency model.

SEAL’s core competencies include:

• Adaptability and growth mindset

• Collaboration and teamwork

• Connection to mission and values

• Demonstrates a commitment to equity

• Effective communication

• Effective planning and follow-through

• Emotional intelligence

• Expertise in area of focus

• Presenting and facilitating

• Strategic and critical thinking

This hybrid position is based in California. You will work from home and in the field, with the expectation to travel 5-15% throughout the year.

The salary range starts at $86,000. Salary is commensurate with experience. Our highly competitive benefits package includes: 100% coverage for employee medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D, long and short-term disability benefits. 50% coverage for dependent(s) for medical, dental and vision benefits. Up to 6% 401k matching. Medical/Dependent Care FSA. Self Care Program and Telecommuting Ergonomics Program. 20 days of PTO/year.

Career Pathways

At SEAL, one can both take on additional leadership responsibilities within their current position, and move along a promotion pathway. In either case, we rely on our competency model and evidence about practice to guide those decisions.

At SEAL, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization in which we give voice to, and meet the needs of, the communities, teachers, and students we serve. We believe in lifelong learning and continuous improvement, and we are ever-evolving the processes through which we select and support team members and foster a culture of universal belonging and empowerment. SEAL encourages applications from individuals of diverse backgrounds and lived experiences, especially those from immigrant and English Learner communities, people of color and members of other historically marginalized groups. SEAL is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment.