In time, he became interested in charity work. He noticed people of different religious beliefs did not always work well together for the same causes, because their beliefs kept them apart. He tried to work around the differences, and help people find ways to work together to solve the same problems. He started the Guthrie Center, as a place for people to work together. He later bought the old church where his friends had lived, and made it the headquarters for the Guthrie Center.