The Real Reason Full-Service Shelter Software Platforms Don’t Work

After 25 years in the animal welfare technology space, as both a user and a product designer, I’ve seen the best and worst of animal shelter software. While I’m not directly involved in shelter technology today, I still have skin in the game. I care deeply for the animal welfare mission, and through my work with BarkPass, I remain part of the broader ecosystem. But first, let’s talk honestly about why full-service shelter software has failed to evolve and what we can do about it.

The Real Purpose of Shelter Software

At its core, animal shelter software should do one thing extremely well: support staff to move animals efficiently through the system to achieve as many positive outcomes as possible, whether inside the shelter or out in the field through animal services.

Since the creation of Chameleon in the early 1990s, progress has been painfully slow. Modern systems have improved user experience and infrastructure, but the core operational logic, including workflows, data structures, and priorities, still looks eerily similar to tools built 35 years ago.

Animal welfare organizations do not just need databases; they need logistics software.

We live in a golden age of logistics. Companies such as Amazon and Walmart have revolutionized how products and data move from point A to point B. Yet somehow, none of that innovation has made its way into animal shelter operations.

So, Why Is That?

It is tempting to blame the software companies themselves, and yes, some of the onus is on them. However, the truth is that this is a systemic problem shaped by the market, business models, and our own unrealistic expectations as an industry.

1. The Market Problem

Let’s start with the economics for animal shelter software.

In the United States and Canada, there are perhaps 5,000 potential clients for full-service software. Globally, that number might reach 10,000. This is a comparatively tiny market for software. For comparison, the global market for donor management software used by nonprofits includes about 9 million organizations, a market roughly 900 times larger.

That kind of scale matters. It determines how many companies can survive in the space, how much they can reinvest in development, and how fast innovation can happen. In a market this small, even great software companies eventually hit an economic wall.

2. The Business Model Problem

To survive in such a limited market, shelter software providers have had to diversify revenue by charging fees for data access, bundling with other services, or selling marketing relationships to third-party businesses.

On the surface, it seems like a win-win situation. However, the software company needs to focus their resources on these other income streams. These third-party businesses become the real client, not the animal welfare organization. That is why we have seen improvements in adoption and lost pet tools while other areas, such as intake, medical, field operations, or licensing, are often left behind.

Pricing also plays a role. When animal welfare organizations are unwilling to pay market rates for software, companies cannot afford to reinvest.

3. The Focus Problem

This one is on us, the animal welfare industry. For years, shelters have demanded all-in-one software, something that can handle intake, adoptions, licensing, medical, donors, field services, volunteers, reporting, and more.

In the corporate world, these systems are called ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning systems), and they were the holy grail of the 1990s and early 2000s. Most of them failed. Yet somehow, two decades later, we still expect small shelter software companies to succeed where multibillion-dollar corporations could not.

The result is platforms that attempt to do everything but end up doing most things only passably.

The Path Forward: Focus and Openness

The better path is to focus. Shelter software should do what shelters uniquely need and do it exceptionally well, while integrating with best-in-class tools that already serve other functions more effectively. Think of Acuity for scheduling, Raiser’s Edge for donor management, ezyVet for medical records, and of course, BarkPass for pet licensing and dog park management.

To move the industry forward, we need focus and openness:

1. Build focused products that serve the universal operational needs of shelters.

2. Provide open APIs and integrate with specialized tools that already excel in their domains.

3. Enable the free movement of data, both in and out, so organizations can consolidate reporting and make data-driven decisions.

   
   

This model is less expensive to build, easier to innovate on, and ultimately creates far more value for animal welfare organizations.

The BarkPass Connection

BarkPass is software specializing in municipal pet registration for both licensing and park access. Our target market includes any city or county government that manages these functions, representing roughly 20,000 potential clients in North America. By comparison, fewer than 1,000 sheltering organizations oversee pet licensing or dog parks, meaning the overlap between BarkPass and traditional shelter software is minimal.

This makes the BarkPass market roughly twenty times larger than any comparable pet licensing feature within shelter software systems. This focused approach allows us to deliver a superior experience, best-in-class functionality, and ongoing innovation, helping communities manage pets and public spaces with greater efficiency and ease.

The Fork in the Road

The industry is standing at an inflection point. Major vendors are promising sweeping rebuilds, and expectations are high. But the real question is whether these efforts will break new ground or reinforce the same structural issues that have slowed progress for decades.

The future of shelter software won’t be defined by technology alone. It will be defined by the choices we make together as vendors, shelters, and leaders across the field.