Mission
Our mission is to champion a thriving pet welfare community in the East Side Pet District. We strive to create a community of healthy pets and empowered pet owners through judgement-free, equitable access to pet resources.
Ruling year
2004
Executive Director
Alisha Vianello
Main address
725 North 15th Street
East St. Louis, IL 62205 USA
Formerly known as
PJs Pet Guardians
EIN
26-0096240
NTEE code
Animal Protection and Welfare (includes Humane Societies and SPCAs) (D20)
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
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Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
In the East St. Louis metropolitan area, over 45% of the population lives below the poverty line. Gateway Pet Guardians provides necessary resources to pet owners. The community is also a resource desert. There is no veterinarian or pet supply store. In 2020, the East St. Louis metro area had a 96% overall save rate . We impacted 3,480 animals in 2020, a 27% increase from the previous year. We completed 782 adoptions, which is 56% more adoptions than in 2019. We provided a total of $41,827 in emergency veterinary services to the community.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Community Outreach Program
Over the years, our community partnerships have grown
stronger as more residents know we are here to help address the homeless
animal population. In 2012, we launched our spay/neuter program and formalized community
outreach efforts the following year. As a result, the community saw a radical
decline in the number of stray animals. Since then, animal intake at our local animal control has massively
decreased. In 2020, we moved operations to a former elementary school in the heart of East St. Louis, allowing us to better serve our community through accessible resources such as a low-cost veterinary clinic, pet supply retail store and professional grooming services.
Where we work
Awards
What's Right with the Region 2021
Focus St. Louis
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of animals rescued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Community Outreach Program
Type of Metric
Context - describing the issue we work on
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Since 2018, we have dedicated all of our resources to East Side Pet District. We ONLY take in animals from East St. Louis, Alorton, Centreville, Washington Park, Cahokia and Fairmont City.
Number of animal adoptions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of animals vaccinated
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Community Outreach Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We vaccinate owned pets in the communities we serve, East Side Pet District through weekly vaccination clinics and monthly drive through clinics.
Number of animals spayed and neutered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Community Outreach Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
These are TOTAL sterilization surgeries for community owned pets and community cats.
TNR sterilizations (trap, neuter and return)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Community Outreach Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
These are community cat sterilizations. As our efforts were successful in controlling the stray dog population, the cat population has increased. This program is crucial for saving cat's lives.
Number of pets microchipped
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Community Outreach Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These are owned pets that received a microchip through GPG
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
In addition to assisting residents with critical tools, vaccinations and services to care for their pets, Gateway Pet Guardians transfers animals from St. Clair County Animal Services, rescues stray animals from the community and accepts surrendered pets from residents Our goal is to assist in creating a no-kill community by prevention intake into area shelters and transferring from our county's euthanasia list.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Gateway Pet Guardians uses a multi-faceted approach. Aside from transferring animals from the euthanasia list at St. Clair County Animal Services, staff and volunteers work tirelessly to prevent intake into local shelters. Spay/neuter programming, veterinary care, tnr, grooming and supplying pet resources to families in need are a few of the programs to keep pets with their families and out of shelters.
Additionally, Gateway Pet Guardians targets transferring pets from East St. Louis metro area from St. Clair County Animal Services to make the biggest impact possible in our service area. To increase the number of animals returning home, GPG has also implemented a lost pet team to target our community and attempt to find the lost pet's owner.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In 2020 we moved into the region we serve, East St. Louis, IL. We have a 54,000 sq ft facility with a state of the art veterinary center, a pet store and spa, an adoption floor and intake suites, and enhanced community programs like our pet food distribution and weekend drive-through vaccination and microchip clinics. We have expanded our team to 17 staff, including a Community Support Manager who works exclusively with the human part of the family. We are expanding our Board of Directors in 2021, entering a new strategic planning cycle, and incorporating the work of a new racial equity committee.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
By reducing the length of stay in our shelter by 45 days, we are able to increase intake by 48% and save $184,872.
We established the first-ever vet clinic in East St. Louis, offering subsidized veterinary care to more than 500 pets since opening in August.
In 2020 we became the largest transfer partner for St. Clair County Animal Services and became the Rescue Bank Affiliate partner for St. Louis region.
Last year we prevented 1,352,694 unwanted pets from being born through the spay/neuter of 642 dogs and cats, thus saving St. Clair County $135,269,400 ($100 basic care estimate per animal).
We earned the Points of Light Service Enterprise certification
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Residents of the East St. Louis pet district
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We recently removed a required question about employment on our "become a pet foster" application because it was increasing the barrier to participation for community members
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Gateway Pet Guardians
Board of directorsas of 05/03/2023
Jennifer Dolce
Angie Schaefer
Kristen Burger
Laura Placio
Sophya Raza
MaryAnne Taylor Crate
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 05/03/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
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