Building a Sustainable Future for Our Cheyenne Animal Shelter
Written by: Britney Tennant, Cheyenne Animal Shelter CEO
Each year, the Cheyenne Animal Shelter opens its doors to thousands of dogs, cats, and other animals in need. We provide food, medical care, safe shelter, and ultimately, new beginnings. Behind every adoption photo and every tail wag is a team of staff, volunteers, and community members working tirelessly to ensure animals have a chance at life and love. This important work takes resources, and as a nonprofit, we rely heavily on transparency and trust. With the approval of our fiscal year 2025–26 budget, I want to share with the community exactly how our shelter is funded, how we spend our dollars, and why your support continues to matter more than ever.
Where the Money Comes From
Our projected revenue for the year totals just under $2.9 million. These funds come from a mix of community generosity, service fees, contracts, and creative fundraising.
Donations and Foundation Support remain a cornerstone of our budget, accounting for $1.3 million. This includes gifts from individuals, corporations, and our partners at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter Foundation..
Program revenue brings in an estimated $366,000, largely through adoption fees, veterinary services, and reclaim fees when lost pets are reunited with families. While these revenues help, they only cover a fraction of the actual cost of care.
Contract revenue from our local government contributes $900,000, helping us provide essential animal sheltering services on behalf of the community.
Finally, fundraising events, the shelter’s gift shop, and in-kind donations add another $274,000 in combined support.
While these numbers are strong, they still fall short of fully covering the true cost of sheltering.
Where the Money Goes
Caring for thousands of animals each year is resource-intensive. Our approved expenditures for the upcoming year total $3.2 million.
Personnel costs ($2.2 million) make up the largest share of the budget. This reflects not only wages and benefits for our dedicated staff but also payroll taxes, insurance, and workers’ compensation. Quality care requires trained, committed professionals, and investing in them ensures the animals receive the highest standard of attention. These costs have soared in recent years, yet continue to lag behind other local employers - making staff recruitment and retention a continued challenge.
Program expenses ($186,000) fund essential supplies such as food, bedding, and medical needs for the animals in our care.
Operating expenses ($409,000) cover everything from utilities and facility maintenance to software, liability insurance, and staff training. These are the unseen but critical costs that keep the shelter running smoothly and safely.
Fundraising expenses ($129,000) represent the investment we make in reaching out to the community, cultivating donors, and holding events that help sustain our work long-term.
When all is tallied, the shelter faces a projected budget shortfall of about $513,000 this fiscal year. This is not unusual for animal shelters and nonprofits across the country, especially as the cost of veterinary care, staffing, and operations rises.
The shortfall highlights two important truths: first, that providing animal welfare services is far more expensive than most people realize; and second, that we cannot do this work without the continued generosity of our community. While adoption fees or government contracts help, they do not—and cannot—cover the full cost of caring for every lost, abandoned, or injured animal that comes through our doors.
This is why your continued support matters so much. Every dollar given to the shelter is transformed into lifesaving work. A $50 donation buys vaccinations for a litter of kittens. A $200 donation funds a spay/neuter surgery, preventing future litters of unwanted animals. Larger gifts sustain entire programs, from community outreach to medical treatment for critically injured pets.
Your support ensures that no animal is turned away, that families can find their lost pets, and that adoptable animals find homes. It also helps us invest in prevention—educating the public, offering affordable services, and reducing the flow of animals into the shelter in the first place.
The animals we shelter are not just our responsibility as an organization—they are part of our community’s shared responsibility. Together, we can close the funding gap and ensure that every animal receives the compassion and care it deserves. We are deeply grateful for the Foundation’s support, corporate partners, government contracts, and thousands of individual donors who already stand with us. But as we enter a new fiscal year, we ask: if you believe in this mission, will you continue to give, volunteer, adopt, or advocate?
Our work is made possible only through collective effort. With your help, we can balance the budget not just with numbers, but with the most important measure of all: lives saved.
