Animal Welfare Professionals

Good morning,

I am in a bit of a pickle and just looking for peoples feedback or suggestions.

I have been using Rescuegroups.org software since 2012 and use it for everything, website, online forms, data management and its a good all in one shop, however, it does have it's issues - but nothing is ever going to be perfect. It is extremely cost effective in only being $100 per year, for everything and they have excellent email support.

The rescue is expanding to do a lot of work in the community, mobile wellness clinics, pet pantry, we are an ambassador for the Greater Good Charities - GOODS Program and Shelterluv seems like it has a lot of options to offer a lot of what we need, the field services would allow info for the wellness clinics - they have forms, and other things - however, $2 an adoption, as low cost as it might seem, is significantly higher than rescuegroups. Based on average 250 adoptions per year - that is $500. We are a rescue, a kennel building and the odd foster home in a rural, low income county with no much help at all. The upkeep of the older kennel building is expensive and living in Maine heating costs in the winter are high - so money is definitely a strong consideration.

In an ideal world it would be great to run both software programs, the rescuegroups - everything is integrated into the website so switching to shelterluv would have its own extra work, keeping both would be more expensive, the $500+ per year and then paying for the website through rescuegroups also.

Then there is all the time I have spent creating forms and getting rescuegroups how I want it, which their form design is time consuming, but I really want the what appears to be "ease" of shelterluv. Rescue groups doesn't really have a great medical field - you can add journal entries, but again time consuming and you have to do for each individual dog, so when I get 40 dogs at one time, I have to update each individual record.

Most people pay cash or check for adoptions and we have a credit card reader for the rare person who wants to pay that way, so the extra donations through shelterluv would not be an incentive.

I am so torn - I am going to need something for the wellness clinic for storing information and keeping medical records, which was what led me to start looking at other options.

Does anyone have any experience with the two and can offer suggestions or thoughts??

Thanks in advance.

Jen

#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)
#CommunityPartnerships*
#DataandTechnology

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Jenny Cope - Fear Free Certified
President/Founder
Give a Dog a Home Rescue
Greater Goods Charities - GOODS Program Ambassador
501c3 Non- Profit Corp, Tax ID/EIN 27-5241306
State of Maine Shelter/Rescue Licence # F1463
State of Maine Registered Charity: CO11334
https://giveadogahome.rescuegroups.org/
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If most people pay for adoptions with cash or check, shelterluv is not an option for you.  They require us to maintain above 90% through the shelterluv pay portal which is cards.  If we drop below it becomes something crazy like $18 per adoption, not $2.

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Frances Alford
Director
Big Bend TNR Cat Rescue
Tallahassee FL
8507569776
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Oh wow, I didn't know that.

I actually had a call back from Shelterluv yesterday and they did say that they "strongly encourage" adoptions to be run through their pay system and I explained that 95% of people when adopting from GaDaH pay cash or check and they have the option to use a card as we have a card reader.

It is one of the things I do not like, trying to force people to pay with a card, also the $2 per adoption does cost a LOT more than what I am paying for rescuegroups. Shelterluv has some great features the integration with other shelters and also the Maddies Pet app which I really want to start using - and it makes it easier when it is all linked together - but now you have said about the extra costs, and the fact that they didn't even mention they charge more - makes me think that they are not open and honest and that is not good.

I really appreciate the feedback - thank you so much.

Jen

------------------------------
Jenny Cope - Fear Free Certified
President/Founder
Give a Dog a Home Rescue
Greater Goods Charities - GOODS Program Ambassador
501c3 Non- Profit Corp, Tax ID/EIN 27-5241306
State of Maine Shelter/Rescue Licence # F1463
State of Maine Registered Charity: CO11334
https://giveadogahome.rescuegroups.org/
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-12-2022 08:24 AM
From: Frances Alford
Subject: Software - Shelterluv - Rescuegroups

If most people pay for adoptions with cash or check, shelterluv is not an option for you.  They require us to maintain above 90% through the shelterluv pay portal which is cards.  If we drop below it becomes something crazy like $18 per adoption, not $2.

------------------------------
Frances Alford
Director
Big Bend TNR Cat Rescue
Tallahassee FL
8507569776
------------------------------

We moved to ShelterLuv last year.  On the plus side, the majority of our clients pay the credit card service fees as well as adding a donation of some sort in the checkout process, so we are actually "up" financially on transactions.  But it is true that they are very determined that you move your people to credit cards.  We were around 65-70% credit card when that rule came through.  They will work with you as long as you demonstrate that you're trying.  In some ways that has been helpful to our front desk work flow -- we do not do same day adoptions, so when someone is approved we have to schedule them to come in and complete the process.  Now we offer to email them a link in advance, so they can sign the contract and pay digitally, leaving them to only pick-up on our calendar.  Makes things easier.

All of that being said, with your percentage of cash/check, I would think ShelterLuv would be cost prohibitive.

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Johanna Humbert
Michiana Humane Society
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Hi Jen, I'm Kyle, the founder of PawPlacer (www.pawplacer.com). Reading your post, it sounds like your biggest concerns aren't really about adoption fees, they're about the time you've already invested, the cost of switching, and finding something that can support your wellness clinics and growing community programs without creating even more work.

That's actually one of the main reasons we built PawPlacer. We wanted rescues to be able to manage adoptions, medical records, wellness clinics, fosters, volunteers, donors, pet pantry programs, and custom forms in one place instead of stitching together multiple systems.

A few things that might be relevant:

• Robust medical records with vaccines, exams, medications, weight logs, documents, and bulk updates.
• Fully customizable forms for intake, wellness clinics, owner surrenders, fosters, adopters, volunteers, and anything else you need.
• Pet records, people, donations, tasks, calendars, reports, and communications all tied together.
• Petfinder syncing, embeddable website widgets, a public pet search, flyer generation, and an API if you ever need it.
• Import tools to help bring your existing data over rather than starting from scratch.

We have over 250 features now, but our biggest focus has always been saving rescues time. Like you said, none of these systems are perfect, but we spend a lot of time listening to rescue feedback and shipping improvements based on what organizations actually need.

Since cost is clearly an important factor, we're currently offering our highest-tier plan completely free, forever, to organizations that join over the next two months. There's no adoption fee or per-animal charge.

Even if you don't end up choosing us, I'd be happy to chat through your workflow and share what we've learned from helping other rescues make similar transitions. Good luck with the wellness clinics, they sound like they'll have a huge impact in your community. You can check out a full comparison we have below:

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
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-12-2022 11:41 AM
From: Johanna Humbert
Subject: Software - Shelterluv - Rescuegroups

We moved to ShelterLuv last year.  On the plus side, the majority of our clients pay the credit card service fees as well as adding a donation of some sort in the checkout process, so we are actually "up" financially on transactions.  But it is true that they are very determined that you move your people to credit cards.  We were around 65-70% credit card when that rule came through.  They will work with you as long as you demonstrate that you're trying.  In some ways that has been helpful to our front desk work flow -- we do not do same day adoptions, so when someone is approved we have to schedule them to come in and complete the process.  Now we offer to email them a link in advance, so they can sign the contract and pay digitally, leaving them to only pick-up on our calendar.  Makes things easier.

All of that being said, with your percentage of cash/check, I would think ShelterLuv would be cost prohibitive.

------------------------------
Johanna Humbert
Michiana Humane Society
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