ABOUT TABLE STEWARDS
Most organisations don’t fail from bad intentions.
They fail because no one ever showed them what strong financial stewardship looks like in practice. Table Stewards exists to show them.
What we do
Table Stewards helps charities, churches and nonprofits of every size safeguard their finances and assets through good governance, effective risk management and sound internal controls — so that every pound reaches the mission it was given for.
We do that in plain English, for the people who actually carry the responsibility: trustees, chairs, treasurers, chief executives, pastors, founders, finance volunteers and the staff who keep the show on the road. No accounting background required. No consultant’s day rate. Just practical, proportionate safeguards that a real organisation can genuinely run.
Because trust is not assumed. It is built by design.
What we believe
Proportionate, not bureaucratic
Most guidance is written for organisations with a finance department, then “adapted” by cutting bits out. We start from what a two-person team or a volunteer board can actually sustain — and build the strongest protection possible from there.
Controls protect people
Good controls are not an indication of mistrust. Rather, they remove ambiguity, reduce interpersonal tension, and protect the honest majority — including the treasurer who would otherwise be the only person who knows.
Practice over theory
Every framework here comes with the template, the checklist and the next action. If it can’t be used on a Tuesday evening by a volunteer, it isn’t finished.
FOUNDER
Abi Areh
I am a chartered accountant, auditor, and accredited counter fraud specialist, with extensive experience across the public sector and the nonprofit world. I have investigated fraud in nonprofits, advised boards rebuilding after financial crises, and sat in rooms where good people discovered that the financial foundations of their organisation were not what they believed them to be.
I have also served as a charity trustee — so I know board-level responsibility from the inside: limited time, complicated information, and genuine uncertainty about which questions to ask.
What I have rarely found is an organisation failing because its leaders were dishonest or indifferent. What I have consistently found is organisations that had never been shown what a coherent system of financial integrity looks like, or convinced that they were the kind of organisation that needed one. Table Stewards is my answer to that.
How we can help
Wherever you are starting from, there is a way in:
Start with the book
Accountable by Design is the complete system for small charities and nonprofits — five essential controls, nine high-risk processes, and a 90-day roadmap, with every template included free.
Start free today
Take the 5-Minute Board Exposure Quiz, read the opening chapters, or claim the editable TRUST Toolkit — no cost, no risk, useful this week.
Churches and faith-based organisations
Table Stewards began by writing for church trustees, treasurers, founders, pastors, leaders and boards, and that work continues.
Churches are nonprofits in every way that matters here: limited number of staff, volunteer finance teams, cash income, restricted funds, and cultures built on trust — which is exactly why the same safeguards apply, and why they are worth applying with care.
One practical improvement, every issue
Join trustees, treasurers and charity leaders getting clear, usable guidance on protecting their organisation’s finances — no jargon, no noise.