Women's Business Enterprise National Council
ActiveCivil Rights & Advocacy
About Women's Business Enterprise National Council
WBENC certifies and advances women-owned businesses and drives supplier diversity through certification, programs, education, and corporate partnerships to promote economic growth for women entrepreneurs.
Focus Areas
Certification & verification of women-owned businessesSupplier diversityEntrepreneurship supportExecutive education and trainingNetworking and corporate engagementScholarships and grants
Who They Fund
women-owned businesseswomen entrepreneurssmall business owners seeking WBENC certification
Funding Style
fee subsidycapacity building (organizational certification)
About Women's Business Enterprise National Council
Women's Business Enterprise National Council centers its grantmaking on subsidizing WBENC certification work, with repeat awards flowing to regional partner organizations that help women-owned businesses obtain and maintain certification. The largest recent grant in the data is $319,512 to the Women's Business Development Center Midwest in Chicago, part of a pattern that also includes $315,733 to that same organization in 2024. Other substantial awards went to the Women's Business Enterprise Council West in Mesa, Arizona, and the Women's Business Enterprise Center East in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, all with the same certification-support purpose. That narrow use of funds points to WBENC’s role as an infrastructure funder for women-owned business accreditation. Rather than funding individual entrepreneurs directly through these grants, the council channels support to the intermediaries that process certification, verification, and related business support. The recent grant list shows awards across multiple years, including 2023, 2024, and 2025, with recurring support to organizations such as the Greater Women's Business Council in Atlanta and the Women's Business Enterprise Council Metro NY in New York. The pattern is consistent with WBENC’s broader mission to advance women-owned businesses and supplier diversity through certification and program support.
What Women's Business Enterprise National Council Funds
A defining cause area is certification and verification of women-owned businesses. In the recent grants list, the Women's Business Development Center Midwest in Chicago received $319,512 in 2025 and $315,733 in 2024, both labeled to subsidize WBENC certification work. A second area is the network of regional certifying councils that carry that work into local markets. The Women's Business Enterprise Council West in Mesa received $311,292 in 2024 and $302,422 in 2025 for the same purpose, while the Women's Business Enterprise Center East in Philadelphia received $250,433 in 2024 and $239,720 in 2025. The grant record also shows support for supplier-diversity infrastructure in major business centers. Greater Women's Business Council in Atlanta, Women's Business Enterprise Council Metro NY in New York, and Women's Business Council Southwest in Irving each appear with certification subsidies, showing a focus on the systems that connect women-owned firms to procurement and accreditation pathways.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$2.8M
Total Assets
$12.8M
Total Revenue
$16.9M
Total Expenses
$18M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $148K and $225K, with a median of $169K.
25th Percentile
$148K
Median
$169K
75th Percentile
$225K
Geographic Reach
National13 states funded
About 7% of grants go to recipients in TX.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
JILL SASSO
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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