Guiding Eyes for the Blind

Legal name: Guiding Eyes for the Blind Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131854606
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2022
Location
Yorktown Heights, NY, United States
Phone
(800) 942-0149; (914) 245-4024
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Blind/Visually Impaired Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$56,354,631
Expenses
$37,603,218
Assets
$162,337,656
Liabilities
$5,950,859

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

Leadership & pay

32 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EDUARDO ANDRADE (DIRECTOR/INTERIM PRESIDENT & CEO (AS OF 4/25))
  • THOMAS PANEK (PRESIDENT & CEO (THRU 4/25))

Highest reported compensation

  • THOMAS PANEK (PRESIDENT & CEO (THRU 4/25)): $544,678 total reported compensation
  • ELENA CONSALVO (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $298,292 total reported compensation
  • DANIELLE ROTH (CFO/ASSISTANT TREAS. (THRU 8/24)): $281,339 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Guiding Eyes for the Blind is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides guide dogs to people with vision loss and provides all services completely free of charge. It can cost up to $50,000 annually to train and care for a guide dog throughout its working lifetime with a person who is blind.** As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we provide all services completely free of charge to people who are blind or with vision loss. At Guiding Eyes, we rely upon the contributions of our generous donors to fulfill our mission. Video: Our mission in action Please accept functional, analytics, advertisement cookies to access this content.

What it reported doing in 2024

Residential and graduate services - client experience team is the primary point of contact for applicants, students, and graduates from initial application, through training, ongoing team support, retirement, and re-application. It consists of individuals with diverse backgrounds and significant experience in one or more of the following areas guide dog mobility instruction, guide dog handling, blind and low vision rehab, advocacy, customer success and communication. This team fields phone call, email, sms, written communication and after-hours emergency calls with guiding eyes for the blind's applicants, students and graduates. Client success rates and satisfaction is monitored through automated surveys and other feedback mechanisms managed by the client experience team. Working closely with other departments within the organization to ensure a positive and productive customer experience and that our graduate teams are safe and effective. (see on schedule o)

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 54.8%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 73.7%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • 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; 77th 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: 33.3%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.32; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 54.8% of revenue deployed · 73.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $27.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $545K · 32 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.6M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 14 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.