How Foothills Animal Shelter Grew Their Recurring Giving to 400+ Donors
When you’re caring for hundreds of animals each year, you have to be smart with your resources.
For Foothills Animal Shelter, the largest single-campus shelter in Colorado, building sustainable fundraising to power their mission meant leaning into recurring giving and smarter campaigns.
With 4aGoodCause, they grew their PAW Program into a community of 400+ recurring donors—all while streamlining donor stewardship and reducing staff strain.
You’ll hear straight from Amanda Boerman, Director of Philanthropy, about how Foothills simplified acknowledgements for recurring givers, kept donors engaged, and turned their summer matching campaign into a reliable revenue boost.
Whether you’re an organization that supports animal welfare or another small nonprofit team with more passion than staff hours, you’ll find practical takeaways (and maybe a little inspiration) to grow your own fundraising too.
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Foothills Animal Shelter and 4aGC at a glance
💰 Total raised through 4aGC: $2.6 million
👥 Average new donors acquired annually: ~736 per year
🔁 Recurring givers: 400+ (10–15% growth YOY)
🏆 Recurring donor retention rate of 87%
You can listen to Amanda’s whole interview here with 4aGC’s Amanda Johnson or read through the case study below:
Animal Shelter Fundraising Case Study: Foothills Animal Shelter’s Fundraising Success
The mission
Nestled in Golden, Colorado, Foothills Animal Shelter is a socially conscious animal welfare organization, creating the best outcomes for all animals that enter their care.
Each year, they serve hundreds of animals—everything from dogs and cats to goats, chickens, and the occasional guinea pig.
Their mission is simple but powerful: Providing support to their surrounding community through education, services that strengthen the human-pet bond, and humane care for the animals they serve.
About the mission, Amanda shared “I think what I really love about this organization is getting to be a part of a team that has real community impact and makes a difference every day. Not only for animals, which of course brought me to this work, but for people, right?”
She highlighted that Foothills not only makes a difference for folks who love their pets and either need support, but also for families in her community looking to add a pet to their home.
The challenge
Before Amanda stepped into her role as Director of Philanthropy, the Foothills fundraising team was spread thin.
Much of the staff’s time was tied up in tabling at events out in the community multiple times a week.
While this was an excellent way to connect in-person with their community, it was also expensive and used a lot of the team’s time and resources.
Plus, Amanda explained that the effects of inflation and the growing need to rely on fundraising are a challenge, especially because the team doesn’t grow along with those increasing fundraising needs.
“So we’re…really trying to focus our efforts on not only donor acquisition, but also on retention and growth because those are the folks who are highly engaged with your mission.”
In addition, one of the challenges Foothills’ faced was that donor acknowledgements were fragmented—sometimes delayed by weeks—and opportunities to cultivate deeper donor loyalty were slipping through the cracks.
Amanda recalls that their process for acknowledging donors was pretty fragmented: “It was kind of a ‘help yourself’ and ‘do it when you can’ type approach.”
By reducing tabling time and bringing on a community engagement manager, Amanda explained how they were able to solve the issue:
“This team really prioritized how we streamline and build efficiencies in our data imports so that we’re reliably (and in a timely way) acknowledging and thanking our donors…. They’re hearing from us by the end of that business week, their letter is already out in the mail, and or they’ve gotten a phone call from us to thank them.”
By simplifying their fundraising process (powered by 4aGoodCause!), Foothills Animal Shelter was able to simplify and organize the team’s workload: from initial donation and acknowledgement to following up with recurring givers over time.
With 4aGC’s user-friendly donation pages, flexible recurring giving tools, Monthly Giving Toolkit, and strong branding customization, the team was able to:
Launch and grow their successful PAW Program, a branded recurring giving initiative, to over 400 recurring donors.
Create compelling, story-driven donation pages for their summer matching campaign.
Improve donor acknowledgements with streamlined data imports and weekly thank-you touchpoints.
Offer supporters easy, mobile-friendly, and secure ways to give (PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.).
A big part of the PAW Program’s success comes down to Beth, Foothills’ Community Engagement Manager.
Foothills Animal Shelter PAW Donation Page
For the past two years, the community engagement manager has been making sure all 400+ of Foothills’ recurring donors feel seen and valued.
From sending anniversary gifts and stewardship letters to picking up the phone for one-on-one conversations, Beth goes beyond “thank you” to truly understand donors’ giving goals.
“
They're hearing from us by the end of that business week, their letter is already out in the mail, and or they've gotten a phone call from us to thank them.
Amanda Boerman
Director of Philanthropy at Foothills Animal Shelter
Many of these supporters first join through direct mail or other platforms, but Beth’s personal touch keeps them connected.
As Amanda put it, “For these PAW donors who are so connected and so engaged with our programs, we want to make sure they’re getting all of the information they need and they really understand their impact on an ongoing basis.”
But that’s not all.
Amanda shared that Foothills’ marketing manager “has done a wonderful job of really providing consistent branding and 4aGoodCause allows that familiarity [across communication channels]. And [our donors] know what Foothills looks like because of the customization we’re able to implement.”
“I’ve supported a variety of platforms in my 12-year tenure in fundraising,” Amanda explained, “And I’ve never worked with a platform in my experience that has been as responsive or customer-service oriented as 4aGoodCause… if you have a question, you’re going to get a prompt response from a human.”
“With the PAW program in particular, we’ve been putting a lot of focus on a good donor experience and reliable points of contact [for donors] through Beth and myself,” Amanda explains.
“And our goal is 10% or more growth in that program every year. We’ve been hitting it for the last two or three. Recurring donors are really such a gift to an organization and those programs are worth the effort for sure.”
Foothills Animal Shelter - New Donors by Year
“
And our goal is 10% or more growth in that program every year. We've been hitting it for the last two or three. Recurring donors are really such a gift to an organization and those programs are worth the effort for sure.
Amanda Boerman
Director of Philanthropy at Foothills Animal Shelter
Here are the highlights:
Recurring giving growth: They have 400 recurring donors across multiple giving modalities, including the PAW Program, with 10–15% growth year-over-year.
Sustained campaign success: Their summer matching appeal continues to grow, fueled by strong storytelling and consistent branding.
Improved donor stewardship: Weekly thank-you calls and prompt acknowledgement letters ensure supporters feel seen and valued.
Healthy new donor acquisition: Since 2022, Foothills has grown by ~736 new donors on average per year.
Efficient fundraising: The team of five now spends more on strategic fundraising and donor care, which is paying off with healthy donor retention rates and growth in their donor base year after year.
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Top fundraising tips from Foothills Animal Shelter
Our team asked Amanda what she’s learned from her fundraising efforts over the last few years, and several things stood out in the conversation.
Foothills makes it a priority to listen to their community and adapt accordingly. While Amanda mentioned that national studies often say canine-related stories can raise more money, they’ve discovered that segments of their own donor base has a strong love for cats—and tailoring campaigns to highlight feline care has deepened engagement.
The lesson? Pay attention to your own supporters’ passions and meet them where they are.
Offer plenty of giving and payment options
From direct mail to online donations to recurring gifts through multiple platforms, Foothills ensures there’s no wrong way to give.
On the digital side, 4aGoodCause has made it easy for donors to give through mobile-friendly 4aGC donation pages that allow for e-checks/ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and more—removing barriers so that generosity happens in the moment.
Amanda noted she’s seeing an increase in their donor base moving to donor-advised funds (DAFs), which 4aGC also supports.
Use compelling storytelling
Every summer appeal is anchored in the story of an animal whose life has been changed through the shelter’s care.
Pair that with strong, consistent branding across mail, email, and donation pages, and donors feel part of a shared mission.
Amanda detailed that Foothills leans into optimism in their storytelling—focusing on how the community can rally together to support animal health, their caregivers, or give animals in need a fresh start.
With recurring gifts providing reliable funding and campaigns that continue to exceed expectations, the team is exploring even more ways to tell their story, expand their donor base, and meet the growing needs of animals in their community.
“
We’re so appreciative of our community because we’ve been able to meet our fundraising goals—and those goals have been growing annually. They're achievable, but ambitious.
Amanda Boerman
Director of Philanthropy at Foothills Animal Shelter
“We’re growing about 15%+ year-over-year. This year in particular, our budgeting goal was a little bit more aggressive…. but we have a lot of the critical pieces in place: We can steward our existing supporters. We’re ready to acquire new donors and thank them in a timely way, so that we can get them on board and they feel seen, heard, and appreciated. And we’re out in the community in thoughtful, engaging, meaningful events.”
Instead of spreading themselves thin with multiple in-person events per week, Foothills has shifted to thoughtful donor stewardship, consistent communication, and high-impact campaigns like their summer matching appeal.
That focus has paid off, with fundraising goals being met (and stretched) year after year.
And while the future will certainly bring more dogs, cats, and the occasional surprise goat or guinea pig, one thing is certain: Foothills’ donor community will be ready to help give them all a fresh start.
Ready to launch your own high-performing and seamless fundraising campaigns like Foothills Animal Shelter?
Ronald is the President and Founder of 4aGoodCause, the fundraising CRM that makes recurring, monthly giving a breeze for small nonprofits.
For over 25 years, Ronald has had the joy of doing what he loves, building online solutions that make a difference in the world. He’s helped raise millions of dollars online for small nonprofits across the country. Connect with Ronald on LinkedIn.
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