For rescues, shelters, sanctuaries and farms

Volunteer management software for animal rescues

VolunteerFlow brings your volunteers, care shifts, animal records and paperwork into one system, so your team spends less time on spreadsheets and more time with the animals.

30-day free trial
No credit card required
Animal Management included in Impact
Sound familiar?

Animal care is hard enough without the admin

Many rescues and shelters run on a patchwork of tools, and every one of them costs coordinator hours.

Volunteer spreadsheets

Contact lists, availability and notes spread across tabs that only one person understands.

A separate scheduling tool

Kennel, feeding and event shifts live somewhere else, so rosters drift out of date.

Disconnected animal records

Vaccines, medications and vet notes sit in folders nobody can find during a busy shift.

Manual reminders

Coordinators text and email volunteers one by one before every shift.

Hours nobody can total

Paper sign-in sheets make grant and board reports a weekend project.

Documents everywhere

Waivers, certifications and training records scattered across inboxes and filing cabinets.

Event coordination

Adoption events and fundraisers need extra hands, and filling every slot takes days.

Repeated admin work

The same questions, the same forms and the same follow-ups every week.

Volunteer management

Know every volunteer, not just their email

One profile per volunteer, with the fields your organization actually needs.

  • Custom profile fields and tags, such as dog walker, cat room or barn crew
  • People groups for teams and cohorts
  • Merge duplicate records without losing history
  • A self-service volunteer portal for profiles, sign-ups, training, waivers and hour history

Plans: All plans. Programs are on Flow and Impact.

Animal Management

Your animals and your volunteers, in the same system

Animal records sit next to the volunteers who care for them. Staff see the full picture; volunteers see what they need for today's shift.

Animal profiles

  • Breed, age, sex, markings, photo, weight, microchip and intake date
  • Status: available, in care, fostered, medical hold, adopted
  • Species groups, tags and location
  • A custom intake form, saved with each animal

Medical and care

  • Vaccines with the date given and next due date
  • Medications with dosage and schedule
  • Allergies, conditions and vet notes, plus uploaded documents
  • Care instructions marked normal, important or urgent, which volunteers acknowledge

Daily activity

  • Volunteers log walks, feeding, water, cleaning, grooming, socialization, training and transport
  • Each entry records who, when, notes and an optional photo
  • You choose which volunteers see animals in the portal, using tags

Appointments and adoptions

  • Vet, grooming, adoption and intake appointments with email reminders
  • Adoption records with adopter contact details and agreement reference
  • Adoption records are staff-only and never shown to volunteers
  • Printable animal profile sheets
Plans: Animal Management is included in Impact. On Launch or Flow you can request it as an add-on. Your free trial on Impact includes it from day one. Compare plans
Volunteer operations

Everything behind a well-staffed shift

Recruit, screen, schedule, remind and thank the people who keep your animals cared for.

Scheduling and events

Cover recurring care shifts and one-off adoption events from the same calendar.

  • Events with shifts and capacity limits
  • Waitlists that promote the next volunteer when a spot opens
  • Standing assignments for recurring roles, and sign-up for a whole series
  • Shift swaps with staff approval, and conflict detection
  • Add-to-Google-Calendar links for volunteers

Plans: Events and shifts on all plans. Swaps, conflict detection and group registration on Flow and Impact.

Volunteer hours and attendance

Replace the clipboard at the front desk.

  • Check in and out with a QR code or link, including group and walk-in check-in
  • Kiosk stations for a shared tablet at the shelter
  • Manual attendance when someone forgets to check in
  • An hours log staff can approve or flag
  • Volunteers see their own hour history in the portal

Plans: QR check-in on all plans. The hours log and approvals are on Flow and Impact.

Applications and vetting

Screen people before they work with animals.

  • Application forms you build, shared by public link or invite
  • A vetting board with Applied, Screening, Background, Interview, Approved and Rejected stages
  • Approval workflows for reviewers
  • Background checks through Checkr or Sterling

Plans: Vetting and approval workflows on Flow and Impact. Direct background checks on Impact.

Documents and compliance

Know who has signed what, and what is about to expire.

  • Waivers with signature capture, expiry dates and per-event waivers
  • Certifications with expiry dates; volunteers can submit them for staff to verify
  • Training courses with assignments and expiring completions; a module can grant a certification
  • A file library shared to the volunteer portal

Plans: Training on all plans. Waivers, certifications and the file library on Flow and Impact.

Communication

Stop sending shift reminders by hand.

  • Email and SMS messages, sent now or scheduled
  • Automatic shift reminders by email or SMS, with opt-out
  • Push notifications through the VolunteerFlow mobile app
  • Announcements and reusable email templates

Plans: Email, SMS and reminders on all plans (SMS credits vary by plan). Announcements and email templates on Flow and Impact.

Reporting

Answer the board, the grant officer and your own questions.

  • A report builder covering volunteers, events, attendance, hours, applications and training
  • Animal, appointment and treatment reports when Animal Management is on
  • A grant report that totals hours for any date range
  • Scheduled reports by email, and retention analytics
  • CSV export

Plans: CSV export on all plans. The report builder and analytics on Flow and Impact.

Switching and importing

Bring your history with you instead of starting from zero.

  • Import volunteers from CSV or Excel files, with a duplicate review step
  • Import past hours, event history, sign-ups and groups
  • Import animals from CSV or Excel, reviewing each row before it is saved

Plans: Volunteer and history imports on all plans. Animal import comes with Animal Management.

Want the full list? See all VolunteerFlow features or read how setup works. Coming from spreadsheets or another system? Read about switching to VolunteerFlow.

Who we are

Built by people who serve

Disabled military veteran-owned

VolunteerFlow is built and run by a disabled military veteran-owned business that knows what depending on volunteers feels like.

Try every feature free for 30 days

Start on Impact to use Animal Management alongside scheduling, vetting, waivers and reporting. No credit card is needed, and you pick the plan that fits when the trial ends.

See it with your own animals

Tell us how your rescue runs today and we will walk you through VolunteerFlow with your shifts, your volunteers and your animals in mind.

Common questions

Questions from animal organizations

Is Animal Management included in every plan?

Animal Management is included in the Impact plan. Organizations on Launch or Flow can request it as an add-on and our team turns it on for them. Start your free trial on Impact to try it straight away.

Can volunteers log animal care themselves?

Yes. Volunteers you give access to can log walks, feeding, cleaning, socialization and other activities from the volunteer portal, with notes and an optional photo. They can also read and acknowledge care instructions. You decide who has access using volunteer tags, such as a Kennel tag.

Can we track vaccinations and medications?

Yes. Each animal can have vaccine records with the date given and next due date, medications with dosage and schedule, and allergy, condition and vet notes. You can attach documents such as vet records to the animal.

Does VolunteerFlow handle adoption applications or a public adoptable-animals page?

Not today. VolunteerFlow records completed adoptions (adopter contact details, date and agreement reference) and adoption appointments, but it does not publish adoptable animals to your website or take adoption applications.

Can we bring over our existing volunteer and animal records?

Yes. You can import volunteers, past hours, event history and animals from CSV or Excel files. Each import has a review step so you can catch duplicates or problems before anything is saved.

Can volunteers sign waivers before they work with animals?

Yes. Waivers support signature capture, expiry dates and waivers tied to specific events, so you can see who has signed and whose waiver is running out. Waivers are on the Flow and Impact plans.

How does the free trial work?

The trial lasts 30 days and does not need a credit card. Choosing Impact at sign-up includes Animal Management and every other feature on this page. Your data is yours, and you can export it at any time.

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