Michigan · Nonprofit
GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL
GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL (Michigan) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,391,796 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN ($570,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $2.3M
What Great Lakes Women's Business Council does
Mission
Great Lakes Women's Business Council is committed to empowering small businesses economically through business development training, vendor certification, business-to-business networking and access to capital assistance programs. We provide effective business tools and remove barriers that hinder development of successful, sustainable businesses. Our work strengthens the community by building partnerships and leveraging resources that increase business growth opportunities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Loan program - provide small business loans to start-up and existing business owners in southeastern michigan. Program addresses needs of low-income, minority and women business owners. Loan portfolio is funded primarily by sba and local government.
$798,665 spentof which $26,000 as grants$128,883 earned by the program30% of program spendingWomen's business enterprise certification - provides certification program for women owned businesses, including technical assistance, counseling and recognition of business achievements.
$1,266,638 spent$893,575 earned by the program47% of program spendingBusiness development initiatives - provide comprehensive training, technical assistance and peer group counseling for women, loan recipients, and other individuals who desire to start a small business.
$577,157 spent$4,225 earned by the program22% of program spendingMemberships
$34,516 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,676,976.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $4.5M to $5.4M (+18%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 11% · 2019 17% · 2020 29% · 2021 32% · 2022 45% · 2023 44% · 2024 31% · 2025 28%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Michelle Richards
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $160k → $245k.
2 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.7M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Women's Business Enterprise National Council). These are real filings, and they are not money GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL raised.
From the IRS filings of GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
50% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 84% · 2018 87% · 2019 87% · 2020 100% · 2021 53% · 2022 84% · 2023 73% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $650k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Government funding GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.0M on record.
- Small Business Administration$4.3M
- Department of the Treasury$700k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL?
- GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL (Michigan) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,391,796 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN ($570,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $1,391,796 in grants to GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN is the largest funder on record, with $570,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREAT LAKES WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 8 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing