Why we built StewardStack

Dear friend,

We help run retreats, conferences, prayer meetings, camps and outreach ourselves. For years we have been the people with a spreadsheet open at midnight before a weekend away. We love that work. What we didn't love was the paperwork behind it, and how much of our time went into chasing the same people, week after week, for the same things.

This is the story of why we built StewardStack, what we learned along the way, and what we hope it gives you.

The paperwork behind every Event#

Every Event meant the same scramble. Before anyone arrived, we needed to:

• collect parental consents for every young person coming;
• make the right Event assignments, so each Event had the right people and each of them was ready to serve;
• check the required compliance checks were in place, digging out background checks and chasing references that had been "on their way" for weeks;
• get a risk assessment written, read and agreed.

None of this is optional, and none of it should be. Safeguarding exists because children and vulnerable adults deserve to be safe in our care. But the way most of us do it, spread across inboxes, shared drives, paper forms and the memory of one or two dedicated people, makes it fragile. When that person is away, or steps down after ten faithful years, much of what kept everyone safe walks out of the door with them.

We didn't need more reminders. We needed one place where the answer to "is everything in order?" was already there.

Built for ourselves first#

So we built StewardStack for ourselves first. We wanted a tool that understood how ministry actually works: staff and volunteers side by side, people who serve in several roles at once, a prayer meeting every Tuesday alongside a retreat once a year, and a team that changes from season to season.

It keeps team management and safeguarding together. Each person has one record, with their roles, checks, references and training in one place, so you can see at a glance who is ready to serve and who still has something outstanding.

It helps you plan Events and open registrations, with Tickets, places and the forms you need gathered as people sign up. On the day, check-in and check-out show who is on site, and participant tracking stays clear from the moment someone registers to the moment they go home.

Each Event also shows what is done and what is left, before, during and after it, so nobody has to keep the list in their head.

And if something happens, incident reports stay with the Event instead of disappearing into an inbox. Safeguarding concerns go to the people responsible for safeguarding, and only to them.

The money side belongs in the same story#

Running Events costs money, and ministry runs on generosity. Ticket payments, invoices, donations and tax relief on giving all connect back to the same people and Events you already know. The family who paid for a retreat, the volunteer who bought the food and the supporter who gave a gift are not three strangers in three different systems.

Why we care about getting it right#

As a team, we have spent years designing dependable products for compliance-heavy work and leading ministry hands-on, including in national roles, and we have built and sold a software company before this one. Between us, we have seen what happens when important records live in the wrong place, and what becomes possible when they don't.

This isn't built for a problem we've only read about. We do this work too. Much of StewardStack started as a question we have asked ourselves on a Friday night before an Event:

• Has everyone's check come back?
• Do we have consent for every child?
• Who is leading each group, and are they ready to?
• Where is the risk assessment?

StewardStack gives us the confidence we want it to give you too: knowing the checks are done, the records are together and nothing important has been quietly forgotten. That confidence matters most for the people we serve, but it matters for the people who serve too. Volunteers should spend their evenings with young people, not with spreadsheets.

What comes next#

We add to StewardStack every week, shaped by the organisations that use it. You can follow along on our changelog, and we will use this blog to share what we learn about running Events well, safeguarding in practice and looking after the records behind ministry.

If any of this sounds familiar, come and try it. Book a demo and we will walk you through it with your own Events in mind, or get in touch if you would simply like to talk.

With you in it,

Daniel
Co-founder, StewardStack