Chance 4 Change: A Website and Management System for a Dog Rescue Charity

Chance 4 Change is a registered dog rescue charity based in Wellington, New Zealand. It takes in unwanted, neglected and abused dogs and works to find them loving forever homes, through adoption and a network of foster carers.

For a rescue, the website does a lot of the work. It's where adopters meet the dogs, where fosterers and volunteers sign up, and where supporters donate. Chance 4 Change had a website, but it needed an upgrade, and keeping the dog listings up to date had to be simple for a small team.

The challenge

The charity needed:

• a modern website that shows each dog well and makes adopting, fostering, volunteering and donating easy
• a simple way for the team to add and update dogs without editing pages by hand
• a place to share happy endings and foster stories, which build trust with future adopters and donors
• a way to raise money for dogs that need medical treatment

What we built

A new public website

• Dogs for adoption, each with their own profile and story
• Clear pages for adopting, fostering (with an application route), volunteering and surrendering a dog
• A donate page so supporters can give online
• A featured dog on the homepage, a newsletter sign-up and full charity details

An admin system

The charity's admins log in to a dashboard that shows the numbers at a glance, such as how many dogs are looking for homes, how many have been rehomed, foster stories and urgent medical cases. From there they can manage:

• Available dogs: add a dog with photos and their story, and update them as things change
• Adopted dogs: dogs that have found their forever homes, shared as success stories
• Foster stories
• Medical fund cases: a page for a dog that needs treatment, with photos and the story behind the appeal

Everything added in the admin area appears on the public website straight away, so keeping the site current no longer needs a developer.

Technology

• Next.js for a fast website and admin system in one codebase
• MongoDB for dogs, stories and medical cases

The project took around two to three months.

The result

• The team can easily manage dogs, success stories and appeals themselves
• The website gives every dog a proper profile, and makes the next step clear whether a visitor wants to adopt, foster, volunteer or donate
• Rehomed dogs and foster stories are showcased, helping more rescue dogs find homes

We continue to support Chance 4 Change with the platform.

Building something similar?

Charities and non-profits often run on small teams and tight budgets, so the website has to be easy to keep up to date. If you need a site that your team can manage themselves, tell us about your project and we'll get back to you with a free design.