Animal Welfare Professionals

 View Only
  • 1.  (Free) App to manage people, animals, food distributions for pet food pantry programs soon available

    Posted 10-01-2025 05:28 PM

    I've posted in several discussion threads. The app I am building is close to being finished (well, for version 1) and brave shelters can try it. The only prerequisites are a Windows 10 or 11 PC with the Microsoft Access database program. This is part of Office in Microsoft 365 subscriptions so many of you already have it. If not, Microsoft has a free "runtime only" version you can install. If you want to have multiple people using it at the same time you'd also need a network with a share drive. It can also be configured to use a database in the cloud; Microsoft provides a $2000 annual credit for their service to qualified nonprofits, so that'd be basically free.

    Briefly:

    • Maintains a list of people who use the program. You can upload data from a spreadsheet if you already have a list. Going forward new people are added using a form.
    • Maintains an inventory of animals owned by each person (dogs, cats, cat colonies). During or after each visit you can remove animals they no longer have and add any new ones. A report shows how many animals each person had over time (by month) so you can monitor for possible abusers or puppy mills.
    • Maintains a list of food distributed to each person by species and type. You define the types you want to track e.g. "Dry dog food", "Dog food gallon bag", "Cat food large can", etc. You also define the equivalent number of pounds for each type (e.g., 0.25 lb for large can, 10 lb for gallon bag). A report shows the types of food distributed over time (by month) with equivalent total pounds. During or after each visit you can record what quantities of each type were provided on the specified date.
    • "Raw" data (e.g., list of people, list of all food distributions, list of pets owned with date entered and date removed if applicable), etc. can be exported to Excel spreadsheets if you want to do your own analysis or tracking.
    • You can define a list of sites if you are a multi-site organization, in which case clients are assigned to a site. This allows reporting by site.

    It's kind of a hobby of mine, so any shelter can use it for free. The whole thing runs on your computers so there are no costs for anything like support or infrastructure (unless you want to use Microsoft Azure databases).

    I'll try to post a more comprehensive description. In the meantime if interested comment or PM.

    Thanks!


    #AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
    #DataandTechnology
    #PetSupportServices*

    ------------------------------
    Peter Isakson
    Volunteer
    Brandywine Valley SPCA
    PA
    ------------------------------



  • 2.  RE: (Free) App to manage people, animals, food distributions for pet food pantry programs soon available

    Posted 19 days ago

    Peter

    Thank you for creating & sharing this dashboard!

    I am the secretary for a Pet Food Pantry and we are looking for a new database system to use. We currently use an excel spreadsheet, however we have out grown it and need something more put together & less clustered.  Does your database have a way to keep track of proof of need for each person?



    ------------------------------
    Emily Dorenkamp
    Rescue & Pantry Secretary /Foster
    Jefferson County Pet Food Pantry
    MO
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: (Free) App to manage people, animals, food distributions for pet food pantry programs soon available

    Posted 19 days ago

    Hi, the app (an Access app) does not now have this feature. I suppose I could add it, but that would depend on what you use as "proof of need". That may be a paper form they fill out? If so, you'd have to scan it to the PC. I am pretty sure Access has a way of attaching files such as a scnned-in PDF to a record in its database, but I have not yet explored this. If the proof-of-need is (say) something in a web based system, a document in a cloud file system like Microsoft OneDrive or Google Docs, etc. it would be possible to add a place (probably part of the "person" record) to save the URL that opens that document.



    ------------------------------
    Peter Isakson
    Volunteer
    Brandywine Valley SPCA
    PA
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: (Free) App to manage people, animals, food distributions for pet food pantry programs soon available

    Posted 18 days ago

    Very nice, thank you for sharing, Peter!  It's always exciting to see tools being be built for shelters for better data.

    Just a quick note for anyone who's currently using Google Workspace for Nonprofits - our team has been working with the AppSheet platform to build out a program to help us better manage, track, and pull reports for our Care Connection Program, which includes food distribution to both individuals and partner agencies.  We've just started migrating over to it, so there's not much here yet, but we're very excited.  We also have had help in creating reports that should making reporting Community Services for Shelter Animals Count much easier for us.

    It's been helpful for us since it connects directly to our existing Google Sheets and Forms.


    ------------------------------
    Samantha Burnett
    Sr. Director, Special Projects
    Nexus Animals
    OK
    ------------------------------