Everything You Need to Run
Your Rescue Right.

Account Setup

Getting your organization set up on Rescue Tracker takes less than 10 minutes. Here's exactly what to do, step by step.

📝 Step 1 — Register Your Organization

⚙️ Step 2 — Configure Basic Settings

Before adding animals, go to Settings and fill in:

• Organization Name — shown on your public portal
• Phone & Email — shown to potential adopters
• Physical Address — used for donor receipts and home visit radius
• Logo URL — paste a CDN link to your logo (Imgur, Cloudflare Images, etc.)
• Brand Color — customizes your portal hero gradient
• Portal Mode → Full — required to go live and show animals publicly

👥 Step 3 — Invite Your Team

Go to Settings → Staff & Permissions and send invite links. Roles:

Organization Profile

Your organization profile controls what the public sees on your subdomain and what appears in the app sidebar. It also feeds your EIN verification, donor receipts, and directory listing.

📋 Profile Fields Reference

Adding Your First Animal

Animals are the core of Rescue Tracker. Here's how to add your first one and get it live on your public portal within minutes.

Managing Animals

Every animal in your care has a full profile: status tracking, medical records, photos, documents, adoption history, and internal notes — all in one place.

🔄 Animal Status Reference

📸 Photos & Media

Up to 10 photos per animal. Stored securely on Backblaze B2 cloud storage, served via CDN. The first photo in the list becomes the primary card thumbnail. Reorder photos by dragging.

📎 Documents

Attach PDFs or images — intake forms, vet releases, transport papers, surrender agreements. Visible to logged-in staff only, never public.

🏷️ Tags & Notes

Add timestamped internal notes (with author) for team communication. Add public tags like "Cat-Friendly", "Good with Kids", "Needs Quiet Home" — these display on the animal's public page.

📊 Activity Timeline

Every animal has a full audit trail — intake event, medical visits (from Vet Ingest), status changes, foster placements, and adoption history — displayed in chronological order.

Adoption Applications

Rescue Tracker includes a complete online adoption application system. Potential adopters fill out a multi-section form on your public portal — you review, communicate, and process entirely from the staff dashboard.

🌐 How Applicants Apply

1. Visitor browses yourslug.rescuetracker.org
2. Clicks on an available animal → "Apply to Adopt"
3. Completes the 10-section application (household, pets, references, vet info, housing)
4. Application submits instantly to your dashboard
5. You receive a notification and review from the Adoptions section

📥 Reviewing Applications

Vet Record Ingest

Vet Record Ingest is one of Rescue Tracker's most powerful features. Instead of manually transcribing vet visit notes, you simply forward emails from your veterinary clinic to a dedicated address — and the system automatically parses, classifies, and attaches records to the right animal.

📬 Step 1 — Get Your Ingest Email Address

📧 Step 2 — Route Emails to Your Ingest Address

Two ways to do this:

🔧 Setting Up Auto-Forward in Gmail

🤖 Step 3 — How the Parser Works

When an email arrives at your ingest address, it goes through a 4-stage processing pipeline:

🔎 What Gets Extracted

⚠️ When a Match Fails

If the parser can't confidently match the email to an animal (ambiguous name, animal not in your registry, etc.), the email goes into the Unmatched Inbox in your Vet Records section. From there you can:

• Manually assign it to the correct animal
• Create a new animal record directly from the email
• Dismiss it if it's not relevant

PayPal REST API Setup

Connecting your PayPal account enables a fully hosted donation checkout directly on your public portal. Donors give without ever leaving your page. Every donation is automatically logged in your Donations dashboard with the donor's name, amount, date, and PayPal transaction ID.

🔑 Step 1 — Create a PayPal REST App

🔧 Step 2 — Enter Credentials in Rescue Tracker

💳 Step 3 — How Donations Flow (End to End)

🔍 Step 4 — Test with Sandbox Mode

To run a full end-to-end test without real money:

1. Switch Mode to Sandbox in the PayPal REST API settings
2. Enter your Sandbox Client ID and Secret (from the Sandbox tab in developer.paypal.com)
3. Save and visit your /donate page
4. Use a PayPal Sandbox buyer account to complete a test donation
5. Verify it appears in your Rescue Tracker Donations dashboard
6. Switch back to Live and save with your Live credentials when done

❓ Troubleshooting

Your Public Subdomain

Every organization gets a branded public subdomain at yourslug.rescuetracker.org. This is your public face — where adopters browse animals, submit applications, and donate.

🌐 What Your Portal Includes

• Hero banner — org name, brand color gradient, logo, tagline
• Animal listings — all Available and Pending animals as browsable cards
• Individual animal pages — full profile, photo gallery, and "Apply to Adopt" button
• Online adoption application — 10-section form, submits to your dashboard
• Donation page at /donate — powered by your PayPal REST API credentials
• Volunteer application at /volunteer
• Contact info — phone, email, address, social media links

🎨 Customizing Your Portal

Go to Settings → Color Theme and pick your brand color using the color picker or preset swatches. This becomes your hero banner gradient instantly. Update your org name, logo, address, phone, and social links in Settings → Organization — all changes go live immediately.

🔒 Portal Modes

🔗 Sharing Your Donate Link

From your staff dashboard, go to Settings → PayPal REST API. If your credentials are connected, you'll see a green "PayPal Connected" banner with two buttons:

• 🔗 View Donate Page — opens your live donation page in a new tab
• 📋 Copy Link — copies the full URL to clipboard for sharing on social media, email campaigns, or your own website

Volunteers

Rescue Tracker makes it easy to recruit, onboard, and manage your volunteer team. Volunteers apply through your public portal, get reviewed by staff, and can be assigned to specific animals, fosters, or events.

📝 Volunteer Application Flow

1. Volunteer visits yourslug.rescuetracker.org/volunteer
2. Fills out the volunteer application (availability, experience, references, skills)
3. Staff reviews in the dashboard under Volunteers
4. Staff approves — volunteer receives a confirmation email
5. Approved volunteers can be assigned to animals, foster homes, transport runs, or events

🔑 Volunteer Roles

Mobile App (PWA)

Rescue Tracker is available as a Progressive Web App (PWA) — install it from your browser with no app store required. It works on iPhone, Android, and desktop. The install experience feels native: full-screen, home screen icon, and offline support.

🍎 Installing on iPhone (iOS)

🤖 Installing on Android

Plans & Billing

Rescue Tracker offers flexible plans for organizations of every size — from single-volunteer rescues to large multi-location shelters. All plans start with a 14-day free trial.

Foster Network

Your foster network is the backbone of your rescue's capacity. Rescue Tracker lets you manage every foster placement — from application through reunion — in one place, with full animal tracking and communication throughout.

📋 Foster Application Flow

🏠 Placing an Animal in Foster

📊 Foster Dashboard View

Foster volunteers log in to app.rescuetracker.org and see a scoped view — only their currently fostered animals. They can:

• Log daily notes (weight changes, behavioral observations, health flags)
• Upload photos directly to the animal's gallery
• Mark animals as ready for adoption events
• Request a vet visit through the platform

📍 Foster Placement History

Every animal maintains a complete placement history — who fostered them, for how long, and any notes from that period. This is invaluable for understanding behavioral context before adoption placement. You can view this timeline on the animal profile under Activity → Foster History.

🔄 Ending a Foster Placement

Staff & Permissions

Rescue Tracker uses a role-based access control (RBAC) system so you can give each team member exactly the right level of access — no more, no less. Every action is logged with the staff member's name and timestamp.

🔑 Role Overview

📨 Inviting Team Members

🔒 Permission Details by Module

🛡️ Security Features

• Session timeout: Inactive sessions expire after 8 hours
• Audit log: Every login, record change, and deletion is logged with timestamp and IP
• 2FA: Admins and Owners can enable two-factor authentication via SMS
• Single-org scoping: Staff cannot see or access any other organization's data
• Instant revoke: Revoking access logs the user out of all active sessions immediately

Medical Records

Every animal in Rescue Tracker has a complete medical history — vaccinations, treatments, surgeries, diagnoses, and medications — all in one place. Records can be added manually or auto-populated via Vet Record Ingest.

📋 Medical Record Types

➕ Adding a Medical Record Manually

💊 Medication Tracker

Ongoing medications get a special active indicator on the animal's profile card — a small 💊 badge visible in list view — so staff can immediately identify which animals are currently on treatment. When a medication's end date passes, it automatically moves to the "Past Medications" section.

💉 Vaccination Status Dashboard

The medical records tab shows a vaccination summary card at the top — a quick visual of which core vaccines are current (green ✅), upcoming (amber ⚠️), or overdue (red ❌). Core vaccines tracked by default:

• Dogs: Rabies, DHPP (DA2PP), Bordetella, Leptospirosis, Canine Influenza
• Cats: Rabies, FVRCP, FeLV

🖨️ Medical Export

You can export a complete medical history for any animal as a clean PDF — useful for adoption packets, transport paperwork, or vet handoffs. Go to the animal profile → Medical Records → "Export PDF".

🔗 Integration with Vet Ingest

When Vet Record Ingest processes an email, it creates records here automatically. You can edit any auto-generated record to correct names, dosages, or dates. The original email is always stored as a reference attachment on the record.

Managing Donations

The Donations module gives you a complete view of every gift your organization has received — online PayPal donations, manually logged cash/check gifts, and recurring giving history — all in one place.

📊 Donations Dashboard

Your Donations dashboard shows:

• Total raised this month vs. prior month with trend indicator
• All-time total since account creation
• Recent donations feed — donor name, amount, date, payment method, PayPal transaction ID
• Top donors — ranked by total lifetime giving

💳 PayPal Donations (Automatic)

When a donor completes a PayPal donation on your public portal, the transaction is captured and automatically logged within seconds. Each record includes:

• Donor name and PayPal email
• Amount and currency
• Timestamp (in your org's timezone)
• PayPal Order ID and Capture ID (for your PayPal Business records reconciliation)
• IP address (logged for fraud review, not shown publicly)

✏️ Manual Donation Entry

For cash donations, checks, in-kind gifts, or donations received through other channels:

📧 Donor Receipts

For PayPal donations, an automated receipt email is sent immediately after payment. For manual entries, you can trigger a receipt email from the donation record by clicking "Send Receipt". Receipts include your org name, EIN, donation amount, and IRS 501(c)(3) language — ready for the donor's tax records.

📤 Export & Reporting

Export your full donation history as CSV from Donations → Export. Filters available: date range, payment type, donor name, amount range, and linked animal. Use this for your year-end donor acknowledgment letters and Form 990 preparation.

🔄 Reconciling with PayPal

Each PayPal donation logged in Rescue Tracker includes the PayPal Order ID. To cross-reference with your PayPal Business account: log into business.paypal.com → Activity → filter by date range → match by Order ID. The amounts should always reconcile exactly (PayPal's transaction fee is deducted from the deposited amount, not from what Rescue Tracker shows).

Donation Page

Your donation page lives at yourslug.rescuetracker.org/donate — a branded, fully hosted page where donors can give directly to your organization via PayPal, without leaving your portal.

🔗 Accessing & Sharing Your Donate Link

From your staff dashboard, go to Settings. If your PayPal REST API credentials are connected, you'll see a PayPal Connected banner at the top of the PayPal section with two action buttons:

• 🔗 View Donate Page — opens the live donation URL in a new tab
• 📋 Copy Link — copies https://yourslug.rescuetracker.org/donate to your clipboard for sharing

🎨 What the Donate Page Looks Like

The donation page automatically inherits your branding:

• Your organization name in the header
• Your brand color gradient (set in Settings → Color Theme)
• Your logo (if configured)
• A custom giving message (configurable in Settings → Donation Page)
• PayPal donation button — donor enters amount, clicks, logs into PayPal, done

💰 Suggested Donation Amounts

You can configure up to 4 preset donation amount buttons on the donate page (e.g. $10, $25, $50, $100). Donors can also enter a custom amount. Configure these in Settings → Donation Page → Suggested Amounts.

📱 Mobile-Optimized

The donation page is fully responsive — donors on phones have the same experience as desktop. PayPal's mobile checkout supports Apple Pay and Google Pay in addition to standard PayPal login.

🔒 Security

The donation page uses HTTPS (enforced), and payment processing is handled entirely by PayPal's PCI-DSS-compliant infrastructure. Rescue Tracker never touches raw card data — all payment details go directly through PayPal's secure servers. Your PayPal credentials are encrypted at rest with AES-256.

📊 Tracking Donations Back to Campaigns

Append a ?ref= parameter to your donate URL to track different campaigns in your donation log. Examples:

The ref value is stored on each donation record so you can filter your export by campaign source.

Home Visit Assessments

Rescue Tracker's Home Visit Assessment module gives your volunteers a structured, mobile-optimized form for conducting pre-adoption home evaluations. Submissions feed directly into the applicant's record and trigger an automated risk-scoring analysis.

📋 The 9-Step Assessment Form

📲 Conducting a Visit on Mobile

🎯 Automated Risk Scoring

When a home visit is submitted, Rescue Tracker automatically calculates a risk score using a weighted algorithm across all 9 sections. The score generates a risk tier:

Risk flags are automatically tagged when the algorithm detects patterns like prior surrenders, overcrowded housing, observable red flags, or safety concerns marked by the volunteer. Staff can override any risk tier with a documented reason.

Exporting Your Data

Rescue Tracker gives you full ownership of your data. Every module has export functionality — animals, applications, donations, vet records, volunteer rosters, and home visit assessments — all exportable to CSV or PDF on demand.

📤 Export Options by Module

📊 Annual Reporting Data

For your annual report, year-end summary, or board presentation, the most useful exports are:

• Animals CSV filtered by intake year and status=Adopted — gives total placements
• Donations CSV filtered by year — gives total fundraising with donor breakdown
• Volunteer CSV — shows total active volunteers for the year
• Animals CSV filtered by status=Medical Hold or deceased — gives medical case load

📁 Full Organization Backup

🗂️ Form 990 Preparation

The Donations export in CSV format includes all fields needed for your annual Form 990 preparation:

• Total receipts by payment type (online vs. in-person vs. in-kind)
• Individual donor records (name, amount, date)
• Transaction IDs for PayPal reconciliation
• Memorial and restricted gift flags

🔄 Migrating Away from Rescue Tracker

If you ever decide to leave the platform, here's the process:

1. Run a Full Organization Backup from Settings → Data
2. Download the ZIP — it contains every record in standard CSV format compatible with any spreadsheet or CRM
3. Cancel your subscription from Settings → Billing → Cancel Plan
4. Your data export access remains available for 30 days post-cancellation
5. After 30 days, data is permanently deleted from our servers per our privacy policy