good works collective
The house where nonprofits go to grow
Words by Rob Dalton
The Marge Williams Center watercolor by Elaine Krause
Civic life on Bainbridge Island is a long-running conversation that unfolds across ferry decks and grocery aisles, but its epicenter is an unassuming house on Winslow Way. For 25 years, the Marge Williams Center has served as the island’s nonprofit nexus, part office building and part good-works greenhouse, nurturing organizations that support the community’s quality of life.
On May 16, the center will celebrate its quarter-century anniversary with an open house. Modest by design, the celebration reflects the way things here tend to be.
Marge Williams was a businesswoman, booster and master of encouragement. She ran a gift shop from the main floor of her home, co-founded the Bainbridge Island Senior Center and the Downtown Association, served for eight years on the former town council and collected friendships in great numbers.
After Williams’ death, her friend Ed Kushner floated a bold idea: What if Marge’s house became a home for island nonprofits? A few phone calls later, a cluster of anonymous angel investors stepped forward and the Marge Williams Center was born. The vision was simple: create a place where local organizations could find stability, camaraderie, and the basic resources required to thrive.
“We wanted to honor Marge’s legacy of building community by providing a place for nonprofits,” says co-founder Wendy Johnson, “but I don’t think any of us imagined how many lives and organizations would benefit from this place. It’s become an integral part of the island’s history.”
When the center opened in 2001, its mission, “A Permanent Place to Nurture Nonprofits,” might have seemed aspirational. Twenty-five years later, that vision has helped launch dozens of organizations that outgrew the space as their missions expanded. Today, the center is home to Sustainable Bainbridge, One Call For All, Bainbridge Youth Services, and many others, including Arts & Humanities Bainbridge, which has been there from the beginning. The center itself is a nonprofit, run on a shoestring budget by an all-volunteer board.
“When you look at the nonprofits that have called this house home, you realize how deeply their work touches nearly every person on the island,” says board member Cheryl Dale. “Parks & Trails, the Bainbridge Community Foundation, the Land Trust—and so many others—have all grown their impact from within these walls.”
The appeal is partly practical: below-market rent, utilities included, a shared conference room, high-speed internet and the oddly comforting presence of a communal copier. But the real magnetism is atmospheric. Working in proximity to other mission-driven people—honoring each other’s victories, commiserating over challenges, sharing resources—fosters an infectious sense of hope. And the building, modernized over the years with solar panels and heat pumps, is a testament to the belief that stewardship is not a grand gesture, but a daily practice.