GiftClaim (originally "church and faith-organisation management plus giving")
Idea status: Idea stage · Target: an MRR ladder ($1k → $50k) instead of one fixed number · Verdict: No as described. No as a Gift Aid claim app. Go, small, only as a success-fee Gift Aid bureau for one independent church network you can already reach · Last updated: 30 Sept 2026
Origin: this idea came from the 30 Sept 2026 micro-SaaS idea catalog, idea E8 (../_research/2026-09-30-micro-saas-idea-catalog.md). The catalog's evidence was Pushpay buying Church Community Builder for $87.5M, Tithe.ly (~$18.7M, estimate) and Planning Center. Its suggested solo wedge was UK Gift Aid claim automation for small churches and charities.
Name: "GiftClaim" is a working name. Check trademark and domain before using it publicly.
Start here → WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md for:
- odds at each MRR level, with the conditions met ($1k ~35–50%, $5k ~12–20%, $10k ~5–10%, $20k ~2–4%);
- customer math, the profit and churn checks, 12 do's, 14 avoids and checkpoints.
What the research changed: the catalog's wedge turned out to be already built. AltarDesk sells almost exactly that product (bank-CSV matching, direct HMRC filing, GASDS), free up to 15 members and £17 a month up to 75. ChurchSuite does it from £9 a month, HMRC's own service is free, and Swiftaid is free up to £6,000 of Gift Aid a year. What's left is distribution and a done-for-you service: churches outside the Church of England and Methodist schemes have no central Gift Aid bureau, and churches already accept paying a share of what HMRC repays. See analysis/01.
Research was run on 30 Sept 2026, with a confidence level on each claim. See research/10-verified-research.md.
Folder layout
giftclaim/
├── WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md ← final analysis and decision (read first)
├── README.md ← this index
├── analysis/ ← the investor-style assessment
│ ├── 00-one-page-brief.md
│ ├── 01-verdict.md
│ ├── 02-market-reality-check.md
│ ├── 03-feature-scrutiny.md
│ ├── 04-expanded-feature-catalog.md
│ ├── 05-pre-mortem.md
│ ├── 06-fundability.md
│ ├── 07-gaps.md
│ └── 09-assumptions-and-open-inputs.md
├── plans/ ← execution plans
│ ├── 08-90-day-plan.md
│ └── 11-24-month-gated-roadmap.md
└── research/ ← cited evidence
└── 10-verified-research.md
File numbers match the other ideas in this portfolio, so cross-references like "doc 08" work the same way.
Documents
| # | Document | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| — | WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md | Final decision: MRR ladder, customer math, profit and churn checks, 12 do's, 14 avoids, checkpoints |
| 00 | analysis/00-one-page-brief.md | The whole assessment on one page |
| 01 | analysis/01-verdict.md | Five wedges compared, the MRR ladder for each, Tier A/B, fundable yes/no |
| 02 | analysis/02-market-reality-check.md | Buyers, pain scores, competitors (church software, Gift Aid tools, denominational schemes, HMRC), market size |
| 03 | analysis/03-feature-scrutiny.md | The modules of the idea as described, classified |
| 04 | analysis/04-expanded-feature-catalog.md | About 30 features, classified and prioritised for the bureau wedge |
| 05 | analysis/05-pre-mortem.md | Top 3 causes of death, warning signs, whether each is fixable |
| 06 | analysis/06-fundability.md | Invest?, the skeptic's questions, proof points, bootstrap vs raise |
| 07 | analysis/07-gaps.md | Gaps to paid, renewed and referred customers, pricing, compliance map |
| 08 | plans/08-90-day-plan.md | First 90 days, week by week |
| 09 | analysis/09-assumptions-and-open-inputs.md | Assumptions made, and the inputs that would change the verdict |
| 10 | research/10-verified-research.md | Cited research with confidence levels, and what's still unverified |
| 11 | plans/11-24-month-gated-roadmap.md | Phases, gates, revenue path for each time commitment, budget guardrails |
Caveat
Team, hours per week, church connections and budget were not provided. The assumptions are in analysis/09.
The core assumption is unverified: that independent and Pentecostal church networks have no central Gift Aid service and under-claim. The average Gift Aid per church (~£7,000 a year) is also an estimate. No verified base rate exists for bootstrapped B2B micro-SaaS. All odds are judgment estimates.