More on Certification
Members shared the following resources on getting certified as a “Woman-Owned Business”
From Deborah Kluge of ProposalWriter.com
At the federal level, there is no formal certification for women-owned businesses. There is federal certification for minority-owned businesses — small disadvantaged businesses (also called 8(a) — but if you are a white woman, you are not considered a minority. However, some small businesses owned by white women have gotten federally certified as a small disadvantaged business by providing evidence that they are socially disadvantaged.
Here are some links to sites which explain some of this, including how to apply, costs, etc:
http://www.ezcertify.com/certificationfacts/index.asp#General%20Certification%20Facts
http://www.ezcertify.com/certificationfacts/index.asp#SBA%20SDB%20Certification%20Facts
http://www.sba.gov/8abd/indexfaqs.html
http://www.sba.gov/certifications/
http://www.onlinewbc.gov/about_us.html
Certification requirements are often quite different at the state and local levels. Each state has its own requirements regarding certification. These sites might help:
http://www.mwbe.com/cert/agencies.htm
http://www.mwbe.com/cert/certification.htm
From Alice Wilson of NonProfitVA
This website may be of some interest:
http://www.wbenc.org/certification/
From Ronda
Criteria for WBE Certification
http://www.wbdc.org/tools/certify/certify_apply.asp
WBE Database
http://www.wbdc.org/database/database.asp