How Zapier & Airtable Saved a Dog Rescue's Adoption Program
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Crisis
"We need something yesterday," Erika told us during our first call. Her bulldog rescue organization had been unable to process adoptions for 13 days after their custom-built system went down. With 40-50 dogs in their care and 20-25 new applications coming in monthly, they were stuck.
"I'll probably start crying... our organization, I mean, we just... we're bleeding money for the dogs right now." - Erika, Bulldog Haven
The Challenge
- Volunteers couldn't access adoption applications
- Their previous developer disappeared
- Google Sheets wasn't working: "It was a shit show. It was terrible."
- Manual processing was overwhelming: "I work 50-60 hours a week... and nobody else knows how to do this stuff."
A Simple Solution
Using Airtable and Zapier, we built a system that just worked. In just 5 hours, we created:
- A searchable database volunteers could actually use
- Automated application processing
- Simple filters for finding the right homes ("Do they have dogs? Do they have cats? Do they have stairs?")
- A way to keep everyone on the same page
"I know that this is ridiculously simple, but I'm in over my head." - Erika
The Impact
The rescue went from:
- Manually downloading and emailing applications
- No way to search or filter candidates
- Overwhelmed staff and volunteers
To:
- Automated application processing
- Easy searching and filtering
- Volunteer collaboration
- A system they could manage themselves
Why This Matters
Small nonprofits often struggle with systems that are either:
- Too basic (like Google Sheets) and cause data chaos
- Too complex and depend on a single developer
- Too expensive to maintain
They need solutions that are:
- Quick to implement
- Easy for volunteers to use
- Affordable to maintain
- Built on reliable platforms like Airtable and Zapier
"Money is truly an object with us, because we are just a small rescue." - Erika
The Bottom Line
What started as a crisis ended with a solution that got this rescue back to their real mission - saving dogs. Using trusted tools like Airtable and Zapier, we built something that just worked, without breaking the bank or requiring a computer science degree.
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