Most small rescues don’t have a development office. They have one exhausted person trying to remember whether they thanked the woman who covered a vet bill last month. Donations are the fuel that keeps a rescue running, and losing track of them costs more than the dollars, it costs the relationships that bring donors back.

What to record

• Who, how much, and when. The basics, and enough for a proper thank-you and a year-end tax receipt.
• Type of gift. One-time, recurring, in-kind supplies, or sponsorship of a specific cat. Each needs slightly different follow-up.
• Recurring vs. one-time. Your monthly donors are your foundation. Knowing who they are means you can protect that relationship.
• Sponsorships. If someone’s sponsoring a particular cat’s care, tie the gift to that cat so you can send updates. Nothing keeps a sponsor like a photo of the kitten they’re helping.

Why the follow-through matters

A donor who gets a prompt thank-you and an occasional update gives again. A donor who hears nothing assumes their gift vanished into a void. The difference isn’t the size of your rescue, it’s having the record in front of you to act on. Grant applications lean on this data too, funders want to see your support base, not just your expenses.

Purralytics tracks donations, recurring gifts, and sponsorships alongside the cats they support, so the thank-you, the receipt, and the update are all a few clicks away instead of a memory you’re hoping to reconstruct. See how it works, free.