Focus on Giving: Trustee Andrew Camden masters
the fine art of philanthropy
“I remember when I graduated from college and got my first job, my father said, ‘I want you to get your checkbook and bring it up, and we’re going to sit down and talk.’ I said, ‘OK,’ and I went and brought my checkbook.
“He said, ‘You’re going to write a check to the Allied Jewish Campaign.’ I said, ‘Why am I going to do that?’ He said, ‘Because you went to college. You did not have to pay a nickel to do that. You live comfortably. You have never been in want for anything. There are a lot of people that do not have those advantages. We need to help the people that need support in some way or another.’ ”
That formative conversation inspired a lifetime of giving for Andrew Camden, an ardent supporter of the arts and one of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan’s greatest champions.
An evening of art and conversation: Live Coal co-founder and CEO Yvette Rock chats with artist Ed Fraga during the Arts & Culture Conversation event, which was held in September at Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Trustee Andrew Camden’s beautiful, art-filled home in Grosse Pointe. Guests heard from Camden and several Community Foundation grantee partners including Live Coal, the Detroit Artists Market and the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Meeting a need in the community
Camden and his late wife, Gayle, have donated more than $2.3 million to the Community Foundation, including establishing a donor-advised fund and an endowment to benefit the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). As a vocal Community Foundation advocate and an active member of our Legal Financial Network, Camden has connected the organization with dozens of donors. He also has been a Community Foundation trustee since 2005, serves on the Program and Distribution Committee, and co-chairs the Asset Development Committee and the Legal Financial Network.
“Gayle and I were among the first signers of the donor-advised fund program at the Community Foundation, and I really believed the program was filling a huge need in the community. That was before Fidelity and Vanguard and all those places had their own funds,” Camden says. “I still believe the program we run and the way we manage it is far superior to any commercial program that’s run by a brokerage firm.”
Outside of the Community Foundation, Camden has built a successful career as an expert financial advisor and is currently managing partner of Kercheval Financial Group in Grosse Pointe Farms. He also serves on the Chautauqua Foundation’s board, is chair emeritus and director of the Museum Trustee Association, and is a lifetime board member of Planned Parenthood of Southeast Michigan. He is well-known for his love of the arts, which started early in his career. The first nonprofit board he was a member of was the Detroit Artists Market — which is where he met Jean Hudson, wife of founding Community Foundation Chair Joseph L. Hudson, Jr.
A world-class collector in his own right, Camden has been a steadfast supporter of the Detroit Institute of Arts, where he served as a trustee for more than 28 years and continues to serve as a trustee emeritus and as recent chair of the museum’s Friends of Modern and Contemporary Arts. Along with his late wife, Camden has donated several works to the permanent collections at the DIA, Cranbrook Art Museum and other museums.
Camden sees the Community Foundation as the ideal partner for supporting his charitable intentions, which is why he chose to establish an endowment fund that will benefit the DIA in perpetuity.
“There is no more credible organization than the Community Foundation, with an interest in making sure that your individual giving needs are responded to properly,” Camden says. “I can attest to that because of what the Community Foundation has done with me, with the DIA.”
Imagining possibilities: Community Foundation President and CEO Nicole Sherard-Freeman connects with Trustee Andrew Camden and Senior Program Officer Leah Counts during the event. At the Community Foundation, we know that investing in arts and culture drives economic development within our region.
Celebrating a lifetime of service, generosity
In June of 2025, the Community Foundation presented Camden with the Allan D. Gilmour Award for Community Leadership. The award recognizes a member of the Board of Trustees for their exemplary volunteerism and philanthropy, both to the Community Foundation and the broader community.
The Allan D. Gilmour Award comes with the ability to recommend a $5,000 grant to a nonprofit of the awardee’s choosing. Camden chose to establish an endowment fund with the Community Foundation that supports Detroit Public Theatre, a nonprofit theater company that produces nationally recognized plays and programs that attract audiences from throughout southeast Michigan to the heart of Midtown’s thriving cultural district. Camden hopes others will be inspired by the Detroit Public Theatre and support the endowment to continue the nonprofit’s work in perpetuity.
“If you contribute to a nonprofit because you care about the work they do and want to ensure that work goes on into the future, endowing is the way to make it happen,” Camden says. “Nonprofits always have needs right now, and the challenge of putting money aside for the future and putting it into an endowment for them is tough. The benefit of doing endowments at the Community Foundation is that you will protect the charity, knowing they’ve got money set aside for the future.”
Camden’s endowment advocacy creates beautiful symmetry with the advice his father gave him years ago: Charitable giving can be a meaningful way to pay forward your good fortune and create a legacy of positive impact.
Community in focus: Community Foundation Trustee Wendy Batiste-Johnson and her husband, Rodney Johnson, share a laugh with another guest. The Arts & Culture Conversation event highlighted that support from our donors ensures artists and cultural organizations have the funding they need to provide access to innovative and affordable community programming.
“(My late wife) Gayle and I were among the first signers of the donor-advised fund program at the Community Foundation, and I really believed the program was filling a huge need in the community. That was before Fidelity and Vanguard and all those places had their own funds. I still believe the program we run and the way we manage it is far superior to any commercial program that’s run by a brokerage firm.”
Community Foundation Trustee Andrew Camden
