Rescue (shelter) software?

Any rescues here use any type of web based shelter software? I really think SEPRA needs this. Allie or Saira, do you guys use any? If so, what?

Brenda wrote:Any rescues here use any type of web based shelter software? I really think SEPRA needs this. Allie or Saira, do you guys use any? If so, what?

No, we just use Excel but I've been wondering about this too. If you find any, let me know!

We don't use any web-based software (I wish!).

We have a volunteer who updates the website, another who maintains the FB page, and another who enters the microchips into the Home Again website.

I am the keeper of the master spreadsheet that includes all incomings (managed by 3 volunteers), vet reports, fosters (1 volunteer coordinates), and adopted dogs (3 other volunteers). So I aggregate all the info and update the spreadsheet once or twice a week (depending on how many updates I have and how much time I have available during the week).

The spreadsheet contains foster status (available, medical hold, hospice, adoption pending), Heartguard due date (I send reminders to our fosters), foster contact info, microchip info and info about the dog. When a dog is adopted, I move it to a separate spreadsheet so we can keep track of how many have been adopted, how many are deceased, etc.

I'm tracking 100+ fosters on any given week, and with so many sources of info, it's important to have version control. So I'm the only one that actually updates the spreadsheet. I post a pdf to our fosters yahoo group whenever I make an update.

If you're looking for something like that, I can help you set it up. Just let me know. Any other questions...feel free to ask.

we use Excel now too and it's not an easy job. check out this software:

http://sheltermanager.sourceforge.net/about.php

Brenda wrote:we use Excel now too and it's not an easy job. check out this software:

http://sheltermanager.sourceforge.net/about.php

Wow that looks great. Yes, I agree. Excel is a giant pain, and now that we are going on year 5, it's getting really difficult to track/find our older pugs.

oh - I may look into that a little more and maybe test it out. I can report back on my findings if you'd like.

I'm a pretty decent user-tester when it comes to software, if I do say so myself.

yeah, please let me know how you guys like it. I really think we're going to try it too.

I downloaded this tonight and got frustrated just trying to figure out the set up! I think I am making it harder than it should be. And, I don't feel good, so not a good combination.

Brenda wrote:I downloaded this tonight and got frustrated just trying to figure out the set up! I think I am making it harder than it should be. And, I don't feel good, so not a good combination.

I've started futzing around with it - the key looks to be in customizing it to fit the rescue. I removed all the different breeds, colors, animal types, etc. so far.

I'll keep playing with it and see if I can learn it easily enough to replace excel. There is obviously a learning curve to it..but it can't be all that difficult.

I need to go send out my HG reminders for the week, then I'll play with it a bit more

that's what I was trying to do, customize it and got frustrated.

I'll wait for you guys to figure it out. I'll try to dl it this weekend and see!

We use a web-based software called Shelter Buddy at our shelter, but it's expensive. We're tracking 12,000+ animals annually, though, so definitely need those extras.

The one you guys are looking into looks great for the numbers you're most likely dealing with. I'll be curious to hear about your experiences with it -- we work with many, many rescue groups and I bet lots of them are looking for something like this.

We're trying out Rescuegroups.org at PRoNE. Just in the first days of it - its kind of clunky and not that easy to custom tailor, but its free The great thing about it is the voice mail system that comes with it (that component isn't free but its really cheap). It is designed more for shelters so heavier on animal management than applicant management, but we're hoping to make it work as excel and post-it notes just wasn't cutting it.