Illinois · Nonprofit
WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER
WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (Illinois) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,590,347 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($22,306,292). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $15M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $30M
- Net assets
- $7.2M
What Women's Business Development Center does
Mission
The mission of the Women's Business Development Center (wbdc) is to support and accelerate business development and growth, serving all business owners to strengthen their participation in, and impact on, the economy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The access to capital program focuses on helping business owners develop a better understanding of their business finances by providing financial assessment and counseling, loan application assistance as well as equity options, and direct lending. Additionally, on behalf of various government agencies, the wbdc administered government pandemic relief programs. In 2024, approximately $50,000,000 was distributed to grantees and partners. In total, 18,669 persons served during fiscal year.
$56,872,310 spentof which $51,916,175 as grants$97,063 earned by the program92% of program spendingThe established business program serves established businesses who would like to grow their business and build capacity. Services include workshops, certification services, assistance with corporate and government contracting, and business advising. 2,372 persons served during fiscal year.
$1,613,771 spentof which $313,000 as grants$3,736 earned by the program3% of program spendingThe emerging business program serves individuals who want to start a business or are in the early stages of growing their business by providing business development counseling and workshops. 1,951 persons served during fiscal year.
$1,218,536 spent2% of program spendingThe wbdc provides women's business enterprise (wbe) certification to women-owned businesses in a nine state midwest region through a partnership with the women's business enterprise national council (wbenc). 2,492 persons certified during fiscal year.
$1,126,635 spent$1,785,979 earned by the program2% of program spendingThe wbdc hosts an annual midwest business program for it's midwest region. 520 persons attended and were served during fiscal year.
$360,345 spent$73,123 earned by the program1% of program spendingThe wbdc provided technical assistance and capacity building services for disproportionately impacted nonprofits, helping to stabilize and scale their operations. These included webinars on nonprofit management topics, small group discussions on issues of current interest to nonprofit managers and individualized counseling for nonprofit staff members. In total, 247 persons served during fiscal year.
$318,857 spent1% of program spendingThe childhood education entrepreneurship services are designed to provide business insights to prospective and existing childcare enterpreneurs for home and center-based businesses. We provide business development counseling and workshops. 433 persons served during fiscal year.
$285,420 spent0% of program spendingThe veterans program serves active duty service members, guard, reserve, veterans and their family members who want to start a business or grow an existing business through business development counseling and workshops. 45 persons served during fiscal year.
$14,535 spent0% of program spending
The 8 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $61,810,409.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 $7.0M to $36M (+404%).
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: 2017 28% · 2018 27% · 2019 21% · 2020 34% · 2021 89% · 2022 65% · 2023 67% · 2024 91% · 2025 72%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $545k → $949k.
8 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 funders by total. 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
WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
85% 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 WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 34% · 2019 26% · 2020 40% · 2021 95% · 2022 43% · 2023 33% — 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
43% of WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
78% of WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $6.6M that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 11 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.2M on record.
- Small Business Administration$4.8M
- Department of Transportation$451k
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 WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER: 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 WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER?
- WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (Illinois) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,590,347 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($22,306,292). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $29,590,347 in grants to WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $22,306,292 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WOMEN'S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 40 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