Case study
Homeward Hound – North Macedonia & Romania
- Non-profit animal rescue
- Rehoming across England, Scotland and Wales
From Facebook-only rescue posts to a complete adoption and promotion platform. We built this as a free project for a small non-profit rescue helping dogs and cats connected with North Macedonia and Romania find homes across England, Scotland and Wales. Homeward Hound is not a registered charity.
Starting position
Where the business started
There was no website. Animals were mainly promoted through Facebook posts, while adoption and fostering applications used an existing Google application form.
The rescue needed one clear place where prospective adopters could browse animals, understand the process, apply, support the rescue and share an individual animal.
The challenge
What needed solving
Facebook posts are useful for reaching people, but animal information can become scattered across updates. The team needed a lasting home for each animal's details and photographs.
The rescue receives animal information and batches of photographs, including through WhatsApp. Those materials needed a manageable route into reviewed profiles and social posts.
A useful system had to support the rescue's day-to-day work, not simply give it a brochure website. Public information, private administration and social promotion needed to stay aligned.
Research & strategy
How we planned the site
We designed around the real workflow: receive details and photographs, review the facts, prepare a draft, publish an animal profile and promote it socially.
The existing Google application form remained part of the adoption journey. There was no need to replace a working process just to make the website look more self-contained.
Permanent animal pages became the common destination for browsing and sharing. Private rescue controls support those pages, while promotion tools prepare material for a person to review and post.
Site architecture
The page structure we built
The public pages bring browsing, applications and support together. Behind them, a separate private rescue system manages animal records and prepares promotions.
- Public website
- Home: current animal content/
- Dogs and permanent dog profiles/dogs
- Cats and permanent cat profiles/cats
- About the rescue/about
- Support the rescue/support-us
- Contact/contact
- Adoption journey and existing Google application form
- Privacy and cookie information
Website build
A public website built around the animals
A warm, branded website using Homeward Hound's real identity, with clear journeys on phones and larger screens.
- Dogs and cats listings drawn from saved animal records, with permanent individual profiles
- Dynamic homepage animal content, rather than a static set of manually copied examples
- An adoption journey linking to the rescue's existing Google application form
- Support routes to confirmed PayPal giving, GoCardless monthly giving and Amazon Wishlist, with contact for bank details
- Clear rescue information and contact routes for prospective adopters and supporters
Rescue admin system
A private workspace for the rescue team
- Authenticated private admin for managing animal records
- Animal stages covering draft, available, reserved, adopted and archived
- Priority and exposure controls so the team can choose which animals receive attention
- Multiple photographs per animal, with main-photo selection, reordering and descriptions
- Bulk Intake accepts reviewed, structured animal details and creates drafts only; the team remains responsible for checking facts before publication
- Safe ZIP photo uploads for batches received through WhatsApp, using the same private photo handling as individual uploads
Social promotion system
From a reviewed profile to a ready-to-post promotion
The Social Promotion Hub prepares material for the rescue to review and publish. Posting into Facebook Groups stays with the team, and every promotion uses facts from the reviewed animal profile.
- Consistent, fact-safe Facebook Group and WhatsApp caption templates, using the animal's recorded details
- New Arrival, Still Looking and Spotlight promotions, plus updates appropriate to the animal's current stage
- Branded square and portrait campaign graphics
- A Facebook media pack ZIP with the exact edited caption, branded graphic first and original animal photographs in a consistent order
- Weekly roundup and carousel tools for preparing multi-animal promotions
- An assisted posting workflow, promotion history and Mark as posted records
- Permanent animal URLs so each promotion has a clear destination to share
Search & sharing
The search, sharing and privacy foundation
The public site can be found and shared, while the rescue's working records and underlying animal photo storage remain private.
Search foundation
- Page SEO, canonical URLs, sitemap and robots setup on homewardhoundadopt.org.uk
- Permanent animal profile addresses that can be linked from listings and social posts
Sharing and privacy
- Animal-specific Facebook and WhatsApp link previews
- Controlled delivery of public share photographs while underlying animal photo storage stays private
- Privacy and cookie pages based on the actual website implementation
Visual walkthrough
The site itself
A genuine capture of the live Homeward Hound homepage in October 2026: real rescue branding, animal content and clear routes to browse dogs and cats.
Results
How this project is being measured
The platform has just launched. Early usage can now be tracked, but there are no verified traffic, adoption, donation or search-performance outcomes to report here yet. The work described above is delivered functionality, not a claim of measured client results.
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