No Office. All Volunteers. No Time to Waste. How Waggytail Rescue Saves NYC’s Vulnerable Pets — One Zero-Fee Donation at a Time

Waggytail Rescue doesn’t do things the conventional way. Their mission is simple: give small dogs and cats a second chance — especially the ones no one else will take.

From emergency transports to last-minute rescues from the euthanasia list, they fight for the dogs who’ve run out of options. No office. No staff. Just a few volunteers and a lot of heart.

Background

Waggytail was born 21 years ago when founder Holly DeRito walked into a shelter and saw a row of kennels marked for euthanasia.

“I decided I was going to start my own rescue to take the dogs nobody else wanted. I went home with seven that day.”

Since then, the organization has placed thousands of dogs and cats in loving homes. As a New Hope partner with NYC Animal Care Centers, Waggytail is on speed dial when shelters are overwhelmed — which is often.

They don’t just work with NYC shelters. They also coordinate flight arrivals from the West Coast and transports from the South, greet arriving dogs in community gardens, and hand them off to fosters with barely a moment to spare.

🎥 Watch their story:

Too many tools. Too little time. Too much lost to fees.

Before switching to Zeffy, Waggytail’s donation process was a mess. Donations came in through multiple channels. Spay/neuter deposits were tracked manually. Raffle tickets, merch, event RSVPs — all handled separately.

“It was chaotic. It was hard to know where the money was coming from — or going.”— Whitney, Operations Team

And the worst part? Platform fees. Even 3% here or there was money they couldn’t afford to lose.

“Every dollar matters. We save as many animals as we can afford to save. That’s the math.”
— Holly DeRito, Founder

One Platform, zero faees. 

Zeffy became Waggytail’s fundraising control center — no fees, no hidden costs, no wasted hours.

“It’s our all-in-one platform. Adoption donations, event ticketing, medical fundraisers, raffle tickets, merch — all of it lives in Zeffy now.”
— Whitney

With everything in one place, the team finally had time to focus on what matters: the animals.

Waggytail now uses Zeffy for: 

• Adoption donations and refundable spay/neuter deposits
• Medical fundraising campaigns
• Raffle ticket sales
• Event ticketing
• Branded merch
• Donor tracking and communications
• Automatically generated tax receipts

Since switching to Zeffy, Waggytail has saved more than $3,300 in processing fees. That’s not just a number — it’s impact.

Here’s what those savings made possible:

• Vetting and transport for 15 at-risk dogs
• Specialty care and diagnostics for 2 medically complex rescues
• Zero time wasted explaining platform fees to donors

“There’s actually a life at the end of all the work we’re doing. Every dollar saved becomes a second chance for a dog that had none.”
— Anaïs Elkins, Vice President

‍

Still Losing Money to Fees?

Waggytail doesn’t. They ditched their old tools, simplified operations, and turned $2.5K in saved fees into real-world results.

Zeffy is 100% free. No processing fees, no subscriptions, no fine print. Just more money for your mission. Explore Zeffy's tools →

‍

🐶 Support Waggytail Rescue

Waggytail is 100% donor-supported. That means every gift matters — and with Zeffy, every penny goes directly to the animals.