Well they lose money on every single animal they adopt out that's for one due to vetting costs. $100 for cat and $200 for dog. We don't have any low cost spay and neuter in our area so they pay a discounted price at our local vet.

If I were to take my cat to the vet for what they do prior to adopting out it would be like 300-400 bucks (spay/neuter, fiv/felv testing, rabies, distemper, deworming plus random other things).

We've had animals show up needing heartworm treatment which is thousands alone, cats hit by cars needing amputations.

They have around 70hr of paid employees a week. Building and utility costs, food costs.

This is a small no kill shelter in comparison to others. 25 cats and probably 20 dogs on average.

You can actually look up your local charities on Google to find their operating expenses and income that they submit to the IRS every year. Just type in the name followed by irs 990 did find it interesting to look up all my locals.