Temple communities can't easily see where donations go
TDRI says Thailand has over 41,000 temples, abbots have sole authority over temple money and many lack accounting skills, and monthly income and expense reports that go to the Buddhism office are not public.
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5 ways to tackle it
Hardware and sensors
Donation Box Screen: an e-ink panel at the donation box showing month income and spending
A Raspberry Pi with an e-ink screen sits next to the temple donation box and pulls from the ledger sheet. It shows donations this month, spending by category, and the latest receipts, updating after every PromptPay QR payment. Donors see where it goes while they stand there.
Build with Raspberry Pi Zero 2, e-ink 7.5in, Google Sheets API, PromptPay slip reading with Claude vision
Voice and phone
Abbot's Voice Ledger: say the expense out loud and the app writes the entry
The abbot or a volunteer says, 'paid the electricity bill, 1,850 baht', and photographs the receipt. Whisper turns the Thai into text, Claude files the amount and category, and the totals update on a large-text screen.
Build with Whisper, Claude, Google Sheets, PWA with large buttons
Camera and vision
Old Book to Sheet: photograph a handwritten donation book into a spreadsheet
Many temples keep paper ledgers and receipt books. A volunteer photographs each page, Claude vision reads the handwritten Thai names, dates and amounts, and the rows land in a Google Sheet for a person to check.
Build with Claude vision, Google Sheets API, confidence flags, Next.js
Web portal
Open Ledger: a public page with the temple's monthly income and spending
A one-page site, linked from a QR sign at the temple, shows income and spending by month and category, with receipt photos for large items. The committee posts it; donors read it, and the numbers come from the ledger sheet.
Build with Next.js static page, Google Sheets, QR sign PDF, Cloudflare Pages
AI agent
Ledger Auditor: an agent that asks the committee about anything that looks off
The agent reads the ledger each week and flags things like a large cash expense with no receipt, a duplicate payment, or spending above income. It sends the committee short questions and records their answers beside the entry.
Build with Claude agent, Google Sheets API, SMS or email, rule checks
What people reported
TDRI, Apr 2021: sole abbot authority, private reports, call for public financial reports
tdri.or.th