PLATINUM2022

FRIENDS OF STRAYS INC

St Petersburg, FL   |  www.friendsofstrays.org

Mission

Friends of Strays is a non-profit organization founded in 1978 in St. Petersburg, FL, dedicated to the care and adoption of homeless pets. Our mission is to inspire compassion for all animals, provide shelter and humane care to homeless animals, and promote adoptions and responsible pet guardianship in our community. Through our efforts, we envision a safe and loving home for every adoptable animal and humane treatment for all.

Ruling year info

1982

CEO

Dara Eckart

Main address

2911 47th Ave N

St Petersburg, FL 33714 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

59-2156540

NTEE code info

Other Services (D60)

Other Services (D60)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Friends of Strays is a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter that works to reduce the number of homeless and abandoned dogs and cats in Pinellas County, Florida.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Animal Rescue and Care

We provide care to over 1000 animals each year. Some of the abandoned animals that enter our doors are sick, injured or traumatized. Each animal receives the care that is necessary to make them feel safe and loved. Our trained staff gives each animal medical attention upon intake. It costs us an average of $800 to care for each animal including a Veterinarian exam, vaccinations, spay/neuter surgery, microchip, county license and daily care until they are placed into a new home.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Friends of Strays collects and delivers donated dog and cat food for distribution at the St. Petersburg Free Clinic. Community members in need can access not only free pet food to keep their pets at home where they belong, but also many other programs to help them through their current financial struggles. In 2019, Friends of Strays delivered more than 20,000lbs of pet food to the St. Petersburg Free Clinic for distribution.

Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Adults

Friends of Strays is proud to announce its new Safer At Home Fund, a resource for Pinellas County residents facing financial hardships. It is designed to offer an alternative to surrendering their beloved pet to a shelter by providing vouchers for free veterinary care and pet supplies.

Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Adults

Pinellas Cats Alive! is a Friends of Strays return-to-field (RTF) program that provides a lifesaving option for community cats that would have otherwise been euthanized, while continuing to work toward the goal of reducing the overall community cat population. Under the program, community cats that are surrendered to Friends of Strays are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, given basic medical care including flea and tick prevention, and then returned to their communities.

Population(s) Served

MEOW Now works with community cat caregivers to target colonies for the Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR) program. Volunteer trappers are available by appointment to help trap cats.
Caregivers who want to trap by themselves but cannot transport can also receive assistance from our MEOW Now volunteers.

MEOW Now is designed to work with community cat caregivers to target colonies for the TNVR program through volunteer-assisted trapping or through self-trapping and volunteer-assisted transport. This program is best suited for trapping multiple cats at a time from a colony that has a regular feeding schedule and a regular caregiver.

Population(s) Served

Where we work

Awards

Good 'Burger Award/Community Conscious: Large 2018

St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce

Good 'Burger Award/Essential 'Burger 2020

St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce

One Tampa Bay Award 2021

Tampa Bay Business Journal

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of animal adoptions

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Animal Rescue and Care

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Animal Intakes

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Animal Rescue and Care

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Number of animals admitted to the shelter receiving medical and daily care until adoption.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our mission is to inspire compassion for all animals, provide shelter and humane care to homeless animals, and promote adoptions and responsible pet guardianship in our community.

In order to reach our goals of reducing the homeless pet population in Pinellas County, Florida, we implement a range of services including spay/neuter, medical treatment, socialization and daily care until each animal is adopted as well as programs that educate the public about humane treatment and care of animals and programs to help keep pets at home where they belong.

Friends of Strays has the capacity to care and shelter for approximately 100 animals at any given time. We have 5 full time veterinary technicians and one full time medical manager to provide daily medical care to the animals in our care and employ a full time veterinarian who provides surgical and other high level medical services 5 days a week. We also offer reduced cost medical services to local rescue organizations and perform spay/neuter, vaccinations, and ear tipping for community cats in the county.

We have significantly improved the health of the pets in our care and have created a more comfortable environment for our cats by reducing the number of cats housed in the shelter and providing more time outside of their cages to allow for socialization. This has made for greater adoptability for our animals as they are happy and healthy. Potential adopters have noticed the change and our adoption numbers have increased since we have implemented our changes. In 2018, we undertook a reorganization of the physical space in our current building in order to expand our medical services to include low cost spay/neuter, vaccinations, microchipping, and wellness exams to rescue partners in our community and double the available space for adoptable dogs.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • 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 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

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, 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 tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

FRIENDS OF STRAYS INC
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

FRIENDS OF STRAYS INC

Board of directors
as of 11/02/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Mo Eppley

Alison Barlow

Elizabeth McMurray

Arin Greenwood

Eve Epstein

Benjamin Kirby

Rosa Lopez

Michael McKenny

Cathy Unruh

Sarah Penner

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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 ? Yes
  • 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

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 11/2/2022
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 01/04/2022

GuideStar 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

Data
  • 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.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • 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 measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • 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.