Planning Center
👤 Jeff Berg & Aaron Stewart (Two staffers at one church—Berg on web, Stewart on music—felt the exact Sunday pain they later sold to 80k churches.)🌐 siteLinkedIn
A worship-service planner grew into an 11-app church suite, then locked ownership in a foundation so it can't be sold.
Will it work? · our read
Unbuyable. The foundation protects independence, not growth. Bounded to churches at deliberately low ARPU, it will stay mid-sized on purpose, and that is the point.
01How the money moves
Church starts free: People database + Services planner
→
Adds paid apps as it grows: Giving, Check-Ins, Groups, Calendar
→
Monthly subscriptions + giving-processing fees across 80k churches
02The numbers
80k+
active churches
PC site
$29B+
donations processed
PC about
20 yrs
bootstrapped, no VC
PC about
Revenue never disclosed; $29B is donations processed, not revenue. planningcenter.com/about
Never disclosed; Owler EST about $19M/yr.
🔒
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(demo: preview the full teardown)Sourcesupdated · daily
planningcenter.com/about — 80k+ churches, 4M weekly users, 200+ staff, bootstrappedFounders' 20-year reflection — origin, accept/decline button, 'never be sold'Owler — third-party revenue estimate (about $19M, EST, not first-party)Kenny Lange podcast — Jeff Berg & Aaron Stewart interview
Revenue is EST, not disclosed: Planning Center is private and bootstrapped and has never published a number. Third-party Owler pegs it at about $19M/yr—treat as rough, and possibly low for a 200-person firm. First-party hard facts: 80k+ churches, 4M weekly users, $29B+ donations processed (lifetime), 200+ staff, 20 years, zero funding (planningcenter.com/about). The origin story, bootstrapped stance, and the 2024 Ministry Centered Foundation ('not for sale') are founder-stated and documented, not embellished. The $29B is donations processed, not revenue. We never score you.