Date: 30 Sept 2026
Target: ~15 hrs/week: $3k MRR by month 24. Full-time: $5k MRR, with $10k as the stretch. Profitable, ≥80% gross margin, ≥70% month-3 retention.
Rule: nothing in a later phase starts until the current phase's gate is hit. Gates and pivot rules are in WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md. The detail for days 1–90 is in 08-90-day-plan.md.
Phase 1: Prove the channel (Months 0–3) → Gates day 45 and day 90
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Customers | 1 network introduction. 10 treasurer interviews. Concierge claims for 5 churches by day 45, 10–15 by day 90. |
| Product | Matching script, spreadsheet-based exception review, HMRC spreadsheet upload, Direct Debit fee collection. Then web v1: CSV and photo intake, matching, exception queue, audit file. |
| Compliance | Charity-tax adviser review of rules and wording. Professional indemnity insurance. ICO registration. Data-processing agreement template. Agent authorisation for each pilot church. |
| Pricing | 5% +VAT regular, 10% backlog (£100 minimum), £60 a year minimum, £1,000 a year cap. Pilot churches get 3% for 12 months. |
| Exit | ~15 hrs/week: 10 churches paying. Full-time: 15 churches paying. Zero HMRC queries. |
Phase 2: Make it low-touch (Months 4–6) → Gate month 6
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | HMRC Charities Online software recognition and API filing. Claim status tracking. Automatic monthly upload reminders. Declarations-drive kit (QR link, printable form, announcement script). |
| Operations | Match rate to ≥90%. Review time to ≤10 minutes per church per month. |
| Distribution | First quarterly network report. Workshop at the network's finance day. Start talks with network 2. |
| Exit | ~15 hrs/week: $500 MRR. Full-time: $1k MRR, network 2 in talks. |
Phase 3: Second network (Months 7–12) → Gate month 12
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Network dashboard (optional £49 a month). Bulk onboarding. Open-banking feed pilot with a regulated provider. |
| Distribution | Sign network 2 (and 3, full-time). Free Gift Aid health-check page for search traffic. Referral offer: 1 month's fee waived per referred church. |
| Operations | First part-time reviewer from ~150 churches (a retired treasurer). Help centre. |
| Exit | ~15 hrs/week: $1.5k MRR, 2 networks. Full-time: $3k MRR, 2–3 networks, no network above 50% of MRR. |
Phase 4: Scale what works, decide on payments (Months 13–24) → Gate month 24
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Decision at month 18: Pay by Bank giving through GoCardless with a 1% platform fee (capped at £2), declarations captured at the moment of giving. Build it only if ≥3 networks ask. |
| Distribution | All effort on the best-converting network type. Consider a white-label engine for one denominational bureau. |
| Team | Reviewer hours scale with churches. No engineering hire. |
| Checkpoint | Month 18: ~15 hrs/week $2.2k MRR; full-time $4k MRR. |
| Exit | ~15 hrs/week: $3k+ MRR. Full-time: $5k+ MRR ($10k stretch). Profitable. |
Revenue path (illustrative, not a forecast)
At ~$40 a month per church (5% of ~£7,000 a year of Gift Aid, £1 ≈ $1.34, both unverified). Backlog fees are one-off and excluded.
| Month | ~15 hrs/week: churches | ~15 hrs/week: MRR | Full-time: churches | Full-time: MRR |
|---|
| 3 | 10 | ~$250 (pilot 3%) | 15 | ~$350 (pilot 3%) |
| 6 | 17 | ~$500 | 30 | ~$1k |
| 12 | 40 | ~$1.5k | 80 | ~$3k |
| 18 | 55 | ~$2.2k | 100 | ~$4k |
| 24 | 75 | ~$3k | 125 | ~$5k |
This assumes ~1% monthly church churn and no network lost. Losing one network can halve MRR overnight, which is why no network should exceed ~40–50% of MRR by month 12. If median Gift Aid per church is under £3,000 a year, this path doesn't work. Change the network type before spending on growth.
Budget guardrails (bootstrapped)
- Hosting, document reading and AI costs below 5% of fees.
- Adviser, insurance and ICO fee: ~£2–3k a year. Don't cut these.
- Zero paid acquisition, ever, unless a channel pays back within 3 months.
- Review labour below 10% of revenue. If it rises above that, fix matching before adding churches.