"Our clients deserve a clean, healthy and safe environment, a central location on a bus route and easy access in and out of our premises."

Sound familiar? This statement could have been made by any retailer in Bermuda intent on providing the best service to his or her customers ? but it's been made by Martha Dismont, executive director of The Family Centre and a prime mover behind an innovative business model for Bermuda's charitable sector.

And that is ? in order to provide quality services to clients, the non-profit and business should partner together to acquire premises that give charities much-needed long-term stability.

The community will have a chance to see this vision in action on Saturday when Charities House, the new home of seven of Bermuda's leading non-profit organisations, is open to the public.

Conventional wisdom and historical practice assume that charities will lead a hand-to-mouth existence, begging for office space, equipment and other administrative support in order to keep costs down while providing support to those who need it.

The reality is that the time and energy required to operate on a shoestring isn't cost efficient and drains valuable, and often volunteer, human resources to the point of exhaustion. As a result, programmes and services suffer.

It wouldn't be a good business model for the retail sector, and leading charities in Bermuda have come to the conclusion that it isn't a good business model for the Island's Third Sector.

There are 342 registered charities in Bermuda. According to statistical research commissioned by The Centre on Philanthropy and completed by The Urban Institute in 2003, virtually all of them are plagued by the challenges of maintaining a physical space while running their programmes and services.

More often than not, the quest for offices and the establishment of an efficient back-office function have a negative impact on the organisation's ability to deliver. Many charities crumble under the strain.

Mrs. Dismont has experienced this phenomenon first-hand, but she and two of her partner charities have done something about it.

"The Family Centre was established in January 1990 and since then, we've been in many different locations, all of them rented," said Mrs. Dismont.

"In 1998, we rented space in The Stables on Reid Street extension, along with The Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (CADA) and PRIDE (Parent Resource Institute for Drug Free Education).

"We called ourselves The Prevention Partners and we shared common meeting rooms, photocopiers, faxes and other administrative functions.

"The philosophy of partnering proved to be a sound one, but eventually the actual space we were renting presented some problems.

"Mould and mildew were affecting the health of our staff and clients. Although, the temptation was to try to soldier on, it got to the point where we just couldn't.

"I was reminded of when my daughter was two years old and she could sense when I wasn't really paying attention to her. She would take my face in her hands and turn it to hers, saying 'Mommy, are you listening?'.

"In essence, we were at that point ? we needed to stop what we were doing and pay close attention to this issue."

Part and parcel with the need to move was the realisation that rents in Bermuda were fast becoming untenable for non-profits who needed office space to run their programmes.

A relentless search throughout Hamilton revealed rents were three times what The Prevention Partners were paying at The Stables.

Therefore, Mrs. Dismont and her partners decided to revisit a proposal that, actually, had originally been submitted to the charitable sector by The Centre on Philanthropy.

It would be called Charities House and its premise was that best-practices charities should partner together to purchase an appropriate space.

Mortgage repayments, maintenance and operational costs would be met by tenant charities.

As debt was reduced, cost efficiencies would be passed onto Charities House tenants and long-term stability would be assured. Partnerships would be leveraged by being in close proximity to one another.

"Our objective never was to own a building," stressed Mrs. Dismont. "Our objective was to establish stability for partner charities and to model the benefits of living together and getting the best from each other."

Through real estate agent Jack Kripl, Mrs. Dismont and her partners found Cap-a-Laige, a newly-renovated building on Point Finger Road that had first been earmarked for condos and then doctor's offices.

"We walked into this two-storey shell and immediately thought it was perfect for what we had in mind," she remembered. "True, it was just a shell and there was still a lot of work to be done, but it was centrally located, it was new and clean, it had parking, it was on a bus route ? all the criteria that we needed in order to give quality service to our clients, many of whom are either very young or more mature and who have special needs.

"We knew we could really do something with the space if we could get the support."

While CADA had, by this time, had become a part of the National Drug Commission, Mrs. Dismont and PRIDE executive director Judith Burgess knew that Claudette Fleming, director of Age Concern, was also in dire need of new office space.

"Claudette was running Age Concern out of a tiny space in the back of the building occupied by St. John's Ambulance," she said.

"Almost everything she had was donated. But the needs of Bermuda's seniors population was growing and Claudette realised that perhaps this was the moment when a leap of faith was required ? so, to her credit, she made that leap and joined Judith and me on our quest to purchase Cap-a-Laige."

Clearly, the project required significant financial backing, far beyond the resources of the three partner charities. The three leaders found that support in the form of Bank of Bermuda CEO Philip Butterfield, and ACE Chairman, Brian Duperreault, and Bank of Butterfield CEO Allan Thompson.

"Phil is such a visionary," said Mrs. Dismont. "He likes big ideas, and he understood the benefits of this one right away. And Brian is fully committed to Bermuda and the charitable sector.

"He said if we could pull it off, he'd be with us. Allan essentially said that he thought it was a solid idea and felt it was an important one for Butterfield's to support."

The project also required a unique organisational structure because, as Mrs. Dismont explains, the partner charities had no intention of using precious donor funds to buy property.

"The Cap-a-Laige Trust was formed with the express purpose of acquiring premises in Bermuda for the benefit, occupation and use of certain specified charities and other Bermuda-registered charities who would be nominated from time to time. A Board of Governors was appointed to oversee the activities of the Trust."

Mrs. Dismont noted that Cap-a-Laige Ltd. was incorporated to secure a loan facility from Bank of Bermuda and Butterfield Bank.

The ACE Foundation, The XL Foundation and The Bank of Bermuda Foundation have each come forward as mortgage guarantors. A Board of Directors oversees the activities of the company.

The borrowed funds were used to purchase Cap-a-Laige in 2005. Lloyd Burgess coordinated day release prisoners from the Co-Educational Facility who helped with painting and other small construction jobs.

Architectural firm Linberg & Simmons, who had designed the original building, provided design services to create offices and meeting rooms, including a board room, on the building's two floors.

The Family Centre, Age Concern and PRIDE moved to their new premises in February, 2005 and they have since been joined by Big Brothers and Big Sisters, The Centre on Philanthropy, the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda and the Bermuda Council for Drug-Free Sport.

Mrs. Dismont added that the seven organisations provide programmes and services to the full spectrum of the Bermuda community with an emphasis on a healthy lifestyle at all stages of the population's development.

And Cap-a-Laige, now called Charities House, is living proof of the benefits of working together.

"Partnership fuelled this project, in the best possible way," marvelled Mrs. Dismont.

"Clearly, a significant financial commitment has been assumed by Cap-a-Laige Ltd. But there have been real cost efficiencies in preparing it for its occupants.

"The seven tenants are now sharing meeting rooms, a board room, washrooms, parking, photocopiers and a phone system. These were all operational costs that were carried separately by each charity. Now those costs to each charity have been reduced.

"As the mortgage is reduced, further benefits will accrue to the tenant charities. Ultimately, the goal is stability so that charities are able to focus on the business of giving their best to Bermuda.

"Now, with the uncertainty of where we'll be working removed, we have to deliver on our respective missions. We've come together with the promise of cost efficiencies and improved service to our clients, and now we had better deliver.

"Some people have seen the building and said 'Wow! You've really arrived!'. But this is just the beginning. Now we have to get on with our work."

Saturday's Open House will run from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. After the Premier presides over the official opening of Charities House at noon, agency volunteers will offer tours of the building with representatives of each tenant agency on hand to explain the work they're doing in the community.

There will be face painting and a bouncy castle for the youngsters and a tea for seniors.