Animal shelter fundraising software built for adoption day
Givebear is animal shelter fundraising software with lobby and adoption-event donation kiosks, sponsor-a-pet recurring giving, and fund routing for medical, spay-neuter, and foster programs. Tap-to-pay, online widget, donor CRM, and automatic receipts on one platform.
Last updated July 2026 by Fatih
Quick answer
Animal shelter fundraising software should take gifts where adopters and visitors actually are: the lobby counter and the adoption event table. Givebear puts a donation kiosk there, lets donors choose medical, spay-neuter, or foster funds, and offers monthly sponsor-a-pet giving. The same funds sit behind the donation form on your website, and every gift gets a receipt and a donor record.
Key takeaways
- Ask families leaving with a new pet; that is when a gift to the medical fund is most likely.
- Keep grant-restricted money, such as spay-neuter funding, in its own fund.
- The battery floor-stand kiosk runs about four hours away from an outlet for off-site adoption events.
Who this is for
- Humane societies and municipal shelters with adoption events, an intake lobby, or an on-site clinic
- Foster-based rescues that rely on monthly sponsor-a-pet giving
- Development staff who report restricted medical, spay-neuter, and foster funds separately
Capture the adoption-day moment before it walks out the door
A kiosk on the adoption table catches the gift while the feeling is fresh; a website address on a card handed over at the door usually gets forgotten. The floor stand runs on a battery, so it works at an off-site event at a pet store.
When the donor enters an email, the gift is tied to a person, which means a thank-you and, a few weeks later, an invitation to sponsor a pet monthly.
A shelter's strongest giving moment is the minute a family meets the animal they are taking home. Givebear puts a kiosk on the adoption-event table or the lobby counter, so that family can add a gift to the medical fund before they leave, by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. The gift goes into the same donor record as their online and monthly giving.
Donors pick the fund on the screen, so a spay-neuter gift, an emergency medical gift, and a foster-care gift are each reported on their own. When a grant restricts how money may be spent, the totals are already separate. The same funds appear on the giving form on your website.
How do designated funds stay audit-ready?
Shelters often hold restricted money at the same time: a spay-neuter clinic grant, an emergency medical appeal, a foster fund, and general operations. Donors choose the fund before they pay, and each fund is reported and exported on its own.
When the board asks for medical-fund totals or a funder asks how its grant was used, the answer is a fund report, not a spreadsheet exercise.
Recurring sponsorship that does not quietly lapse
Sponsor-a-pet works best as a monthly gift. A one-time adoption-day donor can switch to monthly on the kiosk or the giving page.
When a monthly charge fails, Stripe retries it and Givebear emails the sponsor with a link to update their card, so a foster sponsorship does not end just because a card expired.
Emergency vet bill appeals and keeping adoption fees separate
When an injured intake arrives and the estimate lands, a campaign page with a progress bar, one link, and suggested amounts tied to the real bill (for example, toward X-rays or anesthesia) gives people a clear way to help. Post the recovery update to the same donors when the goal is met; they are good candidates for a monthly sponsorship.
Adoption fees pay for a service and are generally not deductible, while a gift on top of the fee is. Collect the fee outside the donation flow so the receipt covers only the gift.
Practical use cases
- A kiosk at the adoption-event table and the lobby checkout for a medical-fund gift on the way out.
- A monthly sponsor-a-pet option offered on the kiosk and the giving page.
- Separate funds for spay-neuter, emergency medical, foster care, and general operations.
- A campaign page for one animal's surgery, shared as a single link.
Key features
- Kiosk for the lobby or a battery floor stand for adoption events
- Monthly sponsor-a-pet giving
- Funds for medical, spay-neuter, foster, and general operations
- Giving form for your website using the same funds
- Email receipts and annual giving statements
The kiosk. From $999, paid once.
A 21.5" touchscreen with a tap-to-pay reader, on a wall mount or a battery floor stand. Gifts on it carry your plan's platform fee and land in the same funds as online giving.
Common questions
How do donation kiosks work at an off-site adoption event?
Can donors designate gifts to a medical, spay-neuter, or foster fund?
How does sponsor-a-pet recurring giving work?
Are adoption fees tax deductible?
Are receipts ready for tax season?
Related reading
See it with your own funds.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough. No slides and no hard sell: we set Givebear up around how your organization already gives.
- Your funds, set up the way your treasurer reports them
- Where a kiosk would go, and what it costs
- The reports your board will actually see
Rather set it up yourself? Start free
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