How an animal rescue builds its 45-volunteer roster in an hour instead of an evening

An evening every week on the roster

We work with an animal rescue with one paid coordinator and 45 volunteers. Volunteers walk dogs, clean pens, feed animals, and drive to vet visits, and every shift needs the right people on it.

The coordinator built the weekly roster by hand from text messages. That meant scrolling back through dozens of texts, working out who was free when, filling the grid, and then texting around to fill the gaps. It took an evening every week.

What we set up

We started with automating repeat work (the industry calls it workflow automation). Volunteers now give their availability in Slack, which most of them already used to chat about the animals. An AI helper (the industry calls it an agent) asks each volunteer once a week and records their answers in Airtable.

Then the AI helper drafts the roster from those answers. When a shift has a gap, it messages the volunteers who said they’re free that day and adds whoever says yes. The coordinator reviews the draft and makes the final changes.

What didn’t work the first time

Our first version posted every gap to the whole volunteer channel. Volunteers got a stream of messages about shifts they couldn’t do, and some muted the channel. Now the AI helper only messages the people who said they’re free for that shift.

What changed, and what still needs a person

The roster now takes the coordinator about an hour instead of an evening.

The coordinator still makes the final call on who handles new animals, because that needs someone who knows each volunteer’s experience. A few volunteers still text, and the coordinator adds their availability by hand.

Where this fits

This is automating repeat work, with an AI helper doing the chasing. If your roster takes an evening, get your AI Starter Plan and tell it where your week goes.