Causes: Blind & Visually Impaired Centers, Disabilities, Eye Diseases, Blindness & Vision Impairments, Health, Human Services, Military & Veterans Organizations, Veterans

Mission: Southeastern Guide Dogs transforms lives by creating and nurturing extraordinary partnerships between people and dogs. Our organization operates the most advanced training facilities of any service dog organization in the world. Our experts breed, raise, and train elite working dogs—including guide dogs, service dogs, and skilled companion dogs—and provide life-changing services for people with vision loss, veterans with disabilities, and children with significant challenges such as vision loss or the loss of a parent in the military. Southeastern Guide Dogs has successfully created thousands of guide dog and service dog teams throughout the United States since our inception in 1982, and currently oversees the wellbeing of over 1,200 puppies and dogs. All of our services—which include state-of-the-art research on canine health and development; selective breeding; expert dog training; comprehensive on-campus student instruction; and the most robust alumni support program in North America—are provided at no cost to our clients. We rely 100% on private donations. Southeastern Guide Dogs has the distinction of being dually accredited by the two premier, global accreditation bodies: the International Guide Dog Federation and Assistance Dogs International.

Target demographics: People with visual impairments, veterans with disabilities, and children with significant challenges such as vision loss or loss of a parent in the military.

Direct beneficiaries per year: In the fiscal year 2022, we supported 590 active teams who gave us a 99.9% student satisfaction rating. We placed 42 guide dogs with vision loss and 40 dogs into careers benefiting veterans. We placed 10 skilled companion dogs with children with vision loss.

Geographic areas served: The continental U. S. and Alaska

Programs: Southeastern Guide Dogs supports three distinct programs featuring both guide dogs and service dogs. Our oldest program is our Guide Dog Program serving our clients with vision loss. We place over 70 of our extraordinary dogs annually with clients who have visual impairment. We raise dogs and train them in over 40 cues to help these clients navigate independently. In 2009, we recognized the need in our community to train some of our exceptional dogs as service dogs to partner with military veterans to assist them in managing post-traumatic stress disorder and other disabilities. Through our Veterans Program, we place over 40 dogs with veterans annually. We also place emotional support dogs, facility therapy dogs, and Gold Star Gamily dogs to support military veterans and their families. In 2019, we launched a new initiative to expand our services to children and teens. Our Children and Teens Program features a two-day, residential Guide Dogs Camp for teens aged 14-17 and their parents to learn about the benefits of guide dog ownership. We also lowered the age to receive a guide dog from 18 to 15, so that teens can begin working with a guide dog while still in high school. This program also includes Kids Companion Dogs for children with vision loss and Kids Therapy Dogs to assist children facing difficult situations. All of our programs are provided to our clients completely free of charge.