Called to give
To whom much is given, much is asked.
It’s a credo Ed Campany lives by. It’s why he never seems to own one of his prized luxury wristwatches for long – he gives them away. And it’s why he has a weekly allowance – “$3,000, many weeks it’s a lot more than that” – that he uses to bless people in his community.
His wife, Debra, is just as generous in spirit, though her acts are a bit more anonymous. For 15 years, she has championed causes close to her heart through her 501c3, DC Ministries, with a particular focus on helping women overcome abuse. “At first, I was hosting events directly through the charity,” Debra shared. “But then it became more of a funnel to help existing foundations and ministries that were already out there, boots on the ground, doing the work.”
The couple, neither of whom are strangers to struggle, have made giving the core tenet of their lives. Generosity, after all, has been the key to their success. Campany Roofing, the business they built for 33 years before its sale in 2023 – the reason they can now be full-time philanthropists – started with a single gift from someone who believed in Ed.
“When I met my pastor, he totally changed my life. He was the first person to believe in me. Gave me $10,000 – he got a few million for his investment. But he didn’t give it to get anything back. He gave it from his heart. It’s all a heart thing.”
Keeping faith
Ed’s early years were a challenge. His single mother tapped into welfare to keep her small family afloat. Father figures were an inconstant presence. A childhood stutter threatened his schooling. “Ed came from a background of lack,” Debra said. “Nobody told him he would amount to anything; they just assumed he wouldn’t.”
Her own childhood, while more financially stable, was rocky in its own ways. “My life had some detours. I took a few wrong turns. One of those wrong turns did end up being a right turn when I met Ed.”
It was in finding each other that Debra’s and Ed’s fortunes began to change. And a shared faith was the force moving them forward.
Ed had a vision for the business he wanted to build, and it was at church that he found its first investor. As Ed tells it, the couple was broke at the time, just regular people getting by paycheck to paycheck. “So for our pastor to encourage me to open my own business and then be the first one to step up financially? It was belief on a totally different level.”
Armed with the seed money and a borrowed pickup truck, Ed launched a roofing business and before long, Debra had left her post office job to join him. It wasn’t an overnight success – there were still years of famine before the feast – but the couple never gave up. And they never stopped giving. That, Debra believes, is what cemented their success.
“Ed’s always been a giver, so that’s what we founded the business on. If somebody was in need of a roof, we’d give them a roof. If a church needed help renovating or expanding, we’d always say, ‘Let us do the roof.’ Every Christmas, we sponsored a single parent. I think that’s really what was instrumental in helping us to grow; it’s how we ended up with a business worth $100 million.”
A chain of giving
When it came time to sell their business, tax efficiency and maximizing value were priorities, but as ever with Ed and Deb, so was giving. “We looked for ways to help them express their charitable values both within the transaction and after,” said Max Dean, managing director of Bespoke Capital Advisors of Raymond James who, along with fellow advisors Daniel Pakkala and Cody Hilbun, supports the couple’s overall wealth management.
One of those expressions is still in the works: a new charitable foundation. Another is the couple’s donor advised fund (DAF).
Established to create a turnkey hub for the couple’s already-prolific financial giving, the DAF was also a strategic move. Opening the account using funds tied to the business prior to sale ensured they weren’t subject to capital gains tax on the gifted portion, and having their giving centralized streamlines the process for annual charitable deductions.
As he continues working to help shape their philanthropic future, Max’s goal for the Campanys is the same one he has for every client. “The hope is that we impart our values to our children, then our grandchildren learn from our children, and this chain of generosity develops.”
Ed and Debra’s kids, James and Jacki, and their daughter-in-law, Noelle, are already strong links in their chain. Debra was including her daughter and daughter-in-law in the process long before the sale became part of the conversation, encouraging them to start looking for the causes that matter most to them.
And now the family has come together on an even more official scale. The team at Bespoke has been working with the Campanys to establish a family office, helping them craft a mission statement and hosting them for a three-hour intensive training. Deb was inspired to borrow that more formal approach for the family’s giving.
“I’ve started prepping them, ‘Hey, we’re coming to the end of the year, think about where you want to give.’ Basically, I tell them present it to me, make the pitch,” she laughed. “It’s been a great way to get them integrated in the whole process.”
But even as things get more official and the scale of the family’s giving grows, the same philosophy is still beating at the heart of it all. The one that set Ed and Debra on the path to success in the first place.
“I believe it’s our responsibility to give. To whom much is given, much is asked,” Ed affirmed. “We’re stewards of this money. What are we going to do, just let it sit when we could change somebody’s life like somebody changed mine?”
Hannah’s Home of South Florida
Founded by Carol Beresford and her husband, Pastor Paul, Hannah’s Home helps homeless, single, pregnant women and their babies overcome adversity, find hope, and learn to live victoriously. The organization offers a rich program aimed at equipping residents with prenatal care, community resources and other crucial needs to help them flourish independently.
Learn more at hannahshomesf.org.
