Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
111687477
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2023
Location
Smithtown, NY, USA
Phone
6319309000
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,506,060
Expenses
$9,710,310
Assets
$71,733,739
Liabilities
$1,805,739

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN MILLER (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN MILLER (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $644,136 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL ROSEN (CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER): $272,062 total reported compensation
  • LAURA ENGLISH (CHIEF OF STAFF): $267,880 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The guide dog foundation for the blind, inc. Provides guide and service dogs free of charge to provide increased independence, enhanced mobility, and companionship to people who are blind, visually impaired or have other disablities. The guide dog foundation offers extensive public education vehicles to broaden society's understanding of vision, visual impairment, blindness, other disabilities, and disability rights.

What it reported doing in 2024

Breeding and puppy program -during fy 2025, the foundation supported 108 dogs in the breeding colony. The breeding colony is carefully selected after extensive screening and testing. During fy 2025, 362 puppies were added to the programs of the guide dog foundation and america's vetdogs. Puppies spend seven to eight weeks in our puppy nursery. From the nursery they spend approximately one year in the home of a volunteer puppy raiser or prison puppy program before coming back to the organization for formal training. During fy 2025 a total of 373 puppies were placed. 266 puppies were placed in puppy raiser homes and 107 puppies participated in our prison puppy program. The organization currently supports puppy raisers in nearly 20 states and has agreements with 14 prisons throughout Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Connecticut, Maine and Pennsylvania. During the time the puppies are in puppy raiser homes, we support the volunteer family through constant outreach, communication and training. We bring our volunteer regional puppy raiser coordinators on campus for training and support that they can share with their local regionally based puppy raising families. The professional puppy staff supports our puppy raising volunteers and our staff typically visits each prison weekly to follow up and train the inmate handlers who are carefully screened to ensure they are suitable candidates to participate in this program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 80
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.7%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 84.2%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 37.4%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.39; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.7% of revenue deployed · 84.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $8.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $644K · 30 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $772K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.