How Brother Wolf Animal Rescue Raised $1.1M+ to Rebuild After Hurricane Helene
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue serves dogs and cats in need across Western North Carolina, focusing on saving animals at risk due to medical issues, lack of space, or special care requirements. They work across county lines to provide safe places, foster homes, and a path to adoption, with strong support from donors who share their mission.
When Hurricane Helene struck in the fall of 2024, Brother Wolf lost their shelter and all physical assets, but thankfully all 150 animals in the shelter were able to be evacuated. Once their team could access power and the internet, Brother Wolf launched a campaign using a Bloomerang giving form, raising over $1,100,000 and gaining 5,500+ new donors. To thank these first-time donors, they also launched a volunteer program to help make thank-you calls to supporters all over the country. With remarkable fundraising efforts, effective use of technology, and relentless work from staff, they are making tremendous progress toward rebuilding. For their innovative rebuild campaign, Brother Wolf was honored with the Game-Changing Campaign Givie Award at GiveCon 2025.
Beyond hurricane relief efforts, Brother Wolf improved its use of the Bloomerang database by creating clear data entry rules and running custom reports. This allowed them to clean up their data and identify donors who might otherwise go unnoticed, such as those they don’t interact with face-to-face. Bloomerang’s customizable and detailed reporting features have been invaluable in strengthening the organization and maximizing their data’s potential. By leveraging these insights, Brother Wolf built stronger relationships with supporters through actions like personalized calls, handwritten notes, and tailored outreach, ensuring no donor falls through the cracks.
Bloomerang also helps Brother Wolf build meaningful donor relationships by providing data-driven insights to improve messaging and engagement. It allows their team to identify what’s working, address challenges, and ensure donors feel connected to their mission and are educated on how contributions make an impact.
The Brother Wolf team recognizes that branding is essential for creating a consistent, meaningful connection with donors across different platforms and campaigns. Whether through events, a GivingTuesday campaign, or emergency disaster relief, Bloomerang’s customization tools for forms, imagery, videos, and thermometers help tailor the experience to match the campaign’s theme. This ensures donors recognize and connect with Brother Wolf’s branding while enhancing engagement and impact.
By analyzing online giving data through Bloomerang, the organization noticed their average donation had increased over time, yet their suggested donation amounts remained outdated. They adjusted their donation form, raising the lowest suggested amount from $25 to $50 to align with the average gift size. This change significantly boosted online donations, increasing revenue for their programs.
The Brother Wolf team appreciates Bloomerang’s ease of use, customizability, and excellent customer support and has consistently had positive experiences with knowledgeable Bloomerang experts who guide them effectively, helping them achieve their goals
“Branding is really important to us, and we can use Bloomerang’s customizable forms to make sure that it mimics that same branding. If we have a donor that is giving to us for a natural disaster, we know that imagery and videos can be really important to really capture what's happening. We can use the customizable features because people respond to different elements of the form based on what it is they're looking for.”
donor retention rate
raised to rebuild after Hurricane Helene
new donors gained from the rebuild campaign
