Gateway Pet Guardians
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 260096240
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2011
- Location
- East Saint Louis, IL, USA
- Phone
- 6186878007
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,624,380
- Expenses
- $2,946,828
- Assets
- $2,228,426
- Liabilities
- $258,483
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jennifer Dolce (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Alisha Vianello (Executive Dir.): $69,498 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Provide affordable, accessible, quality pet resources and champion a thriving pet welfare community to the over 55,000 people who live in the East Side Pet District - East St. Louis, Cahokia Heights Washington Park and Fairmont City.
What it reported doing in 2025
Community Program: At GPG, we firmly believe that every family should be able to have the companionship of a pet even if they have financial restrictions. In 2025, GPG expanded its public clinic to 4 days per week and doubled veterinary staff hours. A total of 944 pets received medical treatment, 477 owned pets and community cats were spayed/neutered at no cost to the owner, and 478 cats were processed through the trap-neuter-return program. Additionally, 1,496 pets received free or low-cost life-saving vaccines, 550 received microchips, and 239 dogs received heartworm treatment. GPG's Pet Spa groomed 1,062 pets during the year. The organization conducted 1,437 community outreach visits, averaging 119 per month. GPG also launched a new Finder-to-Foster program and began providing Emotional Support Animal letter assistance. GPG has become a community partner providing services that were previously never provided in East St. Louis and provides them at a price that is affordable and attainable for pet owners in need.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 55
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.4%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 82.6%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 18.7%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.5% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.4% of revenue deployed · 82.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.