Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi! I am a new volunteer coordinator and we are soon shifting to shelterluv for all of our shelter needs. Is there a volunteer database/program/functionality on shelterluv? If not what do you use? Basically just need to track contacts, send emails/texts, track what area they are volunteering in, basic stuff. Thanks!

#CaseManagement*
#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)

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Jessica Johnson
Volunteer
Humane Society of Ray County
MO
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Hi! We also use ShelterLuv and overall it is fantastic. I believe there is a volunteer component, but we use BetterImpact for all volunteer management. The main benefit with BetterImpact is the scheduling aspect, which you may not need. There's a bit of a learning curve with it but once you get the hang of it it's so helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions!

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Sean Johnson
Shelter Operations Director
Paws and Claws Cat Rescue
IL
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Hi Jessica,

We also use ShelterLuv.  For volunteer management, we use Volgistics (Vicnet).  I do not know the cost but in the last year or so they also added a mobile app component.  It is very convenient to use.  You can sign up for volunteer shifts, see how many other volunteers are scheduled for certain shifts and log your volunteer hours on the app.  

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Jenna Ricci
Volunteer
Rocky Mountain Feline Rescue
CO
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Hi, we've been on ShelterLuv for several years, and while we think it's an excellent program, one of the gaps is the lack of any volunteer management.  Unless they are adding that functionality in their new version (and I've seen no indication that they are), you will need a separate program for that.

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Cindy Huth
Volunteer
Denison Animal Welfare Group (DAWG)
TX
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We use ShellterLuv and it is pretty convenient for the rescue and can be used by everyone. We have a seperate volunteer website which isn't really user friendly and it's expensive. It is just helpful because it links to our website to get volunteers to sign up and schedule. We are hoping to get something better in the future. We also use SLACK as a communicator for separate channels and one is for volunteers.

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Stefanie Schmidt
Animal Welfare Specialist
Hearts Alive Village
NV
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Hi Jessica, I'm Kyle, the founder and creator of PawPlacer (www.pawplacer.com). We built PawPlacer, a management platform built for shelters and rescues of all sizes. We've been heads down building over the last few years and now have more than 250 features.

Reading through the replies, it sounds like many organizations are running into the same issue: using one platform for animal management, another for volunteer scheduling, another for communication, and another for forms. It works, but it also means managing multiple subscriptions and keeping information synchronized across different systems.

We built PawPlacer because we kept hearing the same frustrations. Rescues aren't short on heart; they're short on time, and a lot of that time gets spent re-entering information across multiple tools.

Along with full pet profiles, medical records, adoptions, fosters, donations, and reporting, PawPlacer includes volunteer management with applications, contact management, custom forms, role tracking, task boards, a shared calendar, and permission levels, all connected to the rest of your organization. Since everything lives in one place, volunteers, adopters, fosters, donors, and staff all become part of the same unified system.

It also includes public pet search, embeddable forms, Petfinder and GetBuddy syncing, flyer generation, a REST API and SDK for developers, and reporting with full data export when you need it.

We built PawPlacer around feedback from shelters and rescues of all sizes, and we're constantly adding features based on what organizations actually need. I'd genuinely love to hear your thoughts on volunteer management and any features you feel are missing from the tools you're using today. Feel free to check out a full comparison chart we put together below as well.

Feature	PawPlacer	Shelterluv	Petstablished	RescueGroups	PetPoint	Chameleon	Shelter Manager	Pawlytics
Cost to Rescue*	FREE	$2000/year	$576/year*	Quote	Quote	Quote	~$350/year	$1,000/Year
Free Forever	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🟡	🟡
White-Glove Data Migration & Onboarding	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟡	🔴	🟡
National Adoption Network	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Integrated Adoption Platform (Listings • Applications • Messaging • Social Sharing)	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟡	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
AI Pet Matching	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Post-Adoption AI Veterinarian & Trainer	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Team Chat (Slack-style)	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Online Fundraising	🟢	🟡	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Website Wishlists	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Flyer & Template Designer	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Transport Coordination	🟢	🟡	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Event Management	🟢	🟡	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Animal Management	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Medical Management	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟢
Adoption Management	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Foster Management	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟢
Volunteer Management	🟢	🟡	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟢
Donor CRM & Fundraising	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟡	🔴	🟡
Owner Surrenders	🟢	🟡	🟡	🔴	🟢	🟢	🔴	🟡
Forms & Workflow Builder	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟢	🔴	🟢
People CRM	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟡
Task & Workflow Management	🟢	🟢	🔴	🔴	🟡	🟡	🔴	🟡
Customizable Dashboard	🟢	🟢	🟡	🔴	🟡	🔴	🔴	🟢
Scheduling & Calendar	🟢	🟡	🔴	🔴	🟡	🟢	🔴	🟡
Reporting & Analytics	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟡
Website & Public Listings	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡	🔴	🔴	🟡
Marketing & Flyers	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟡	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Payments & Donations	🟢	🟢	🟡	🔴	🟡	🟡	🔴	🟡
API and SDK	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟡	🟡
Mobile / Responsive	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟢
Administration & Security	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟢	🟢	🟡	🟡
*Pricing Notes
Based on yearly cost serving 1,000 adoptions
PawPlacer: Free forever. No subscription fees, no per-adoption fees, and no feature tiers.
Shelterluv: Charges $2 per completed adoption with no annual subscription fee.
Petstablished*: Standard subscription is $48/month ($576/year). This fee may be waived for organizations that use Petstablished's integrated payment processing and meet certain program requirements.
RescueGroups, PetPoint, and Chameleon: Pricing is customized and generally available only through a sales quote.
Shelter Manager: Hosted plans typically start around $350/year, depending on deployment and options.
Pawlytics: Tiered pricing beginning at $29/month, increasing with adoption volume.

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Kyle Leighton
Founder
PawPlacer
NY
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