Free · Open · Built by a sanctuary
Everything your animal nonprofit needs to run, in one place.
Sanctuary Toolkit is free, open-source management software for animal sanctuaries, rescues, and shelters. Track animal health, manage volunteers, run a sign-in kiosk, maintain facilities, find grants, and build a knowledge base — all in one place.
Built around lifelong care
Sanctuary Toolkit is built around the day-to-day reality of caring for animals: detailed medical histories, recurring medications, daily feed and training, volunteers, facilities, and grants. It works just as well for animal shelters and rescues who want the same depth of records — and it's free for all of them.
Animal Health Records
Track every resident's health history, medications, treatments, feed, training, and vet visits. Print a complete record any time.
Volunteer Management
Public application form, recurring shift scheduling, per-area approvals, shift logs, and reminder emails.
Sign-In Kiosk
Self-service kiosk for visitors and volunteers. Frees up staff and gives you accurate attendance data automatically.
Facilities & Vehicles
Work orders, recurring maintenance, vehicle / equipment tracking, mileage logs, and a kanban project board.
Sanctuary Connect
Community feed and animal placement board to coordinate with other sanctuaries and rescues.
Grants & Development
AI-assisted grant research, a fundraising calendar, project kanban, and a common grant document library.
Knowledge Base
A sanctuary wiki with rich text, AI search, comments, revision history, and volunteer-visible pages.
Built by a sanctuary, free for any animal nonprofit
Sanctuary Toolkit is built and maintained by Sweet Farm, a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal sanctuary in Himrod, New York. It's completely free for sanctuaries, rescues, shelters, and any other animal-focused nonprofit to use — and your data stays yours, we have no interest in selling it, ever.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Sanctuary Toolkit really free?
- Yes. Sanctuary Toolkit is free for any animal sanctuary or rescue to use, with no per-user fees, no trial, and no upsell. It is built and maintained by Sweet Farm, a 501(c)(3) non-profit sanctuary, and funded as part of our mission rather than as a commercial product.
- Who is Sanctuary Toolkit for?
- Any animal nonprofit — sanctuaries, farm sanctuaries, rescues, and shelters — that needs to manage animal care, volunteers, facilities, grant fundraising, and a knowledge base in one place. The depth of medical recordkeeping makes it especially useful for organizations with long-term residents, but the operational tools work for anyone caring for animals.
- How does it compare to software like Shelterluv or RescueGroups?
- Shelterluv and RescueGroups are excellent at adoption pipelines and intake workflows. Sanctuary Toolkit complements that with deeper medical recordkeeping (recurring medications, treatments, feed, training) plus the broader operations animal nonprofits run on every day: volunteers, facilities, grants, and a knowledge base. Many organizations use both side-by-side.
- Do I have to use every feature?
- No. Each sanctuary can enable just the apps they need — animal health alone, or health plus volunteers plus facilities, or the whole suite. New features are off by default and can be turned on at any time.
- Where does my data live and who owns it?
- Your data is yours. Sanctuary Toolkit is built by a fellow sanctuary, not a venture-backed startup — we have no interest in selling, monetizing, or sharing your records. Data is backed up nightly with 14-day retention.
- How do I get started?
- Request access from the sign-up page. We review every request to keep the community focused on real sanctuaries and rescues, and approved sanctuaries get an email with a link to set their password and start using the platform.
Ready to bring your organization online?
Request access in under a minute. Approved organizations get an email with a link to set a password and start using the platform.