GiftClaim
As described:StopNarrowed:NarrowNo as described, and No as a Gift Aid claim app. Go, small, only as a success-fee Gift Aid service for one church network you can already reach.
churches & charities · ~$40 a month per church · last reviewed (next review by 29 Dec 2026) · 38 cited sources
Start this week
- Tell me your hours per week, and which church network you can reach, with the name of the person who would introduce you.
- Speak to 3 treasurers or Gift Aid secretaries in that network. Ask: how do you claim today, how long does it take, when did you last claim, and roughly how much came back?
- Read HMRC's Charities Online developer pages and Local Test Service notes. Find a charity-tax adviser who will review your rules for a fixed fee.
- Build the concierge kit: a declaration QR form, a bank-CSV matching sheet, and HMRC's claim spreadsheet (up to 1,000 donations each).
Checkpoints and kill gates
Decide in advance what counts as on track. Missing a checkpoint means changing the buyer or the offer, not adding features.
Day 45
~15 hrs/week
1 network agrees to introduce you. 3 churches have a claim filed by you.
Full-time
1 network agrees. 5 churches have a claim filed.
If you miss it
Try one more network. Missing twice means stop. The channel is the business.
Day 90
~15 hrs/week
10 churches, first fees collected
Full-time
15 churches, first fees collected
If you miss it
Cut to plain regular claims. Drop the backlog and the declarations drive until the core works.
Month 6
~15 hrs/week
$500 MRR, HMRC recognition done
Full-time
$1k MRR, HMRC recognition done, network 2 in talks
If you miss it
Pivot A: backlog recovery only, sold per job. Pivot B: white-label the engine to one denominational bureau.
Month 12
~15 hrs/week
$1.5k MRR, 2 networks
Full-time
$3k MRR, 2–3 networks, no network >50% of MRR
If you miss it
Stop adding features. Spend the time on network 3.
Month 18
~15 hrs/week
$2.2k MRR
Full-time
$4k MRR
If you miss it
Decide on the payments margin (DO #12). Put all remaining effort into the best-converting network type.
Month 24
~15 hrs/week
$3k+ MRR
Full-time
$5k+ MRR ($10k is the stretch)
If you miss it
At ≥$2k with churn ≤1.5%: keep running it and extend. Below $1k: stop, or sell the matching engine to a church-software company.
Do
1.Sell to a church network, not to single churches. The network leader introduces you, and churches opt in one by one.
Target: 1 network with 30+ churches by day 45
Why: Methodist, Church of England and 8 diocesan schemes already give their churches a Gift Aid route. Independent and Pentecostal networks have no equivalent that this research could find. One "yes" reaches dozens of churches.
2.Charge a share of what HMRC repays: 5% +VAT on regular claims, 10% on backlog recovery (minimum £100). £60 a year minimum, capped at £1,000 a year per church. No monthly fee.
Target: Blended ~£29 a month per church. Zero fees on rejected claims.
Why: Churches already accept this model: the Methodist Gift Aid Bureau charges £2.10 a line (15% on lines under £12), and Swiftaid charges 5% to submit and 10% to find missed Gift Aid. "You only pay when HMRC pays" beats a subscription with volunteer treasurers.
3.Take in what churches already have: bank-statement CSVs (or an open-banking feed later), photos of envelope sheets and paper declarations, and existing spreadsheets.
Target: A new church's first claim ready within 7 days of sign-up
Why: Most small church giving is standing orders, bank transfers, envelopes and plate cash. Asking volunteers to switch systems is what makes church software fail.
4.Automate the matching, and review only the exceptions. Match donors to declarations, flag missing addresses and tax-status doubts, split GASDS-eligible cash, and check the GASDS 10-times rule and the £8,000 limit.
Target: ≥90% of lines matched with no human touch by month 6. ≤10 min review per church per month.
Why: This is where your hours go. The margin and the ~15 hrs/week plan both depend on it.
5.File through HMRC's Charities Online API as the church's authorised agent, after passing HMRC's software recognition. Until then, use HMRC's free spreadsheet upload by hand.
Target: Recognised by month 6
Why: The API lets software submit, amend and track claims. Agents can file for a charity once it has told HMRC it authorises them.
6.Offer a 4-year backlog check to every new church. Include retrospective declarations from current givers.
Target: ≥50% of new churches recover some backlog
Why: Gift Aid can be claimed on donations up to 4 years back. It's the fastest proof of value and funds the first months.
7.Give each church a "declarations drive" kit: a QR link, a printable form, and a Sunday announcement script, for tithers who never signed a declaration.
Target: +20% declared givers in 6 months, per church
Why: The £560M a year of unclaimed Gift Aid is mostly givers who never declared, not charities that forgot to file. More declarations means more fee for you and more money for the church.
8.Keep an HMRC-ready audit file per church: every declaration, every match, every claim, kept for 6 years.
Target: 100% of claims traceable to a declaration
Why: HMRC can ask to see records up to 6 years later. An audit file is the reason a church stays.
9.Treat religious data as special-category data. A church member list reveals religious belief under UK GDPR. Sign a data-processing agreement with each church and host in the UK.
Target: DPA, privacy notice and ICO registration live before the first church
Why: One data incident in a close-knit network ends the business.
10.Report the money outcome to the network every quarter: Gift Aid recovered per church and for the network, and backlog found.
Target: Every network review opens with a £ figure
Why: It's what gets network 2 to say yes.
11.Automate your own operations: self-serve upload, automatic claim reminders, Direct Debit fee collection after each repayment, email-only support.
Target: Support ≤2 hrs/week per 50 churches
Why: Keeps the business workable at ~15 hours a week.
12.Add a payments margin only after $3k MRR: Pay by Bank giving through GoCardless, with a 1% platform fee capped at £2, declarations captured at the moment of giving.
Target: Decide at month 12, not before
Why: It's the catalog's "revenue from payments" idea, and ChurchSuite proves the model. It's also a second product. Earn the right first.
Avoid
1.Building church management software (members, rotas, groups, events, check-in, apps)
Why: Planning Center, ChurchSuite (3,000+ customers, from £9 a month), AltarDesk, Tithe.ly, Breeze and ChurchDesk own it. Pushpay paid $87.5M for Church Community Builder. A solo founder can't win this.
2.The US church market
Why: Crowded, low willingness to pay, and volunteer decisions. Gift Aid has no US equivalent, so your one edge disappears.
3.A £9–17 a month Gift Aid SaaS for single churches (the catalog's wedge as written)
Why: AltarDesk already does exactly this, free for small churches. ChurchSuite does it from £9. HMRC's own service is free.
4.Competing on price against "free"
Why: Swiftaid is free up to £6,000 of Gift Aid a year. HMRC is free. You win on "done for you, audit-ready, found money", not on price.
5.Church of England and Methodist churches as a first market
Why: They have the Parish Giving Scheme (free), 8 diocesan schemes and the Methodist Gift Aid Bureau. You'd be selling against the church's own service.
6.Holding or passing on donors' money in v1
Why: Taking donations or receiving repayments on a church's behalf brings payment rules, safeguarding of funds, and trust risk. HMRC pays the church. You invoice after.
7.Filing claims without a valid declaration or clear tax status
Why: HMRC can claw back wrong claims for up to 6 years, from the church. You lose the network, not just the church.
8.Calling anything "tax advice" or "HMRC-approved"
Why: Say "filed with software recognised by HMRC for Charities Online" only once that's true. Leave judgement calls to the church's trustees.
9.A general "all UK charities" pitch
Why: Donorfy, Beacon (£37–325 a month), infoodle, Giftaider, Swiftaid and many CRMs cover charities. Churches in networks are the only group with a channel you can reach.
10.Mosque or gurdwara Gift Aid as a second segment before year 2
Why: MasjidManager, GiftAidManager, MosquePay and GoodtoGive already target them. A second faith needs a second network and new trust.
11.Lifetime deals and free forever plans
Why: Your fee is already zero when nothing is recovered. Free plans add support with no revenue.
12.Paid ads
Why: Churches find tools through their networks and treasurers, not ads.
13.Raising money
Why: A $3–10k MRR bureau needs no outside money. Buyers of this kind of business are faith-software roll-ups, and only at much larger scale.
14.Adding features when a checkpoint fails
Why: A miss means the wrong network or no trusted introducer. Fix that first.