Successful in Advertising, a South Florida Family Ramps Up Their Giving

Heide and jose dans

In recent years, South Florida has become an increasingly important site for philanthropy, with both established givers and new donors ramping up their activity there. Some are leaving the cooler climates of New York, Chicago and even San Francisco to move to sunny Miami, a place where many billionaire businessmen including Jeff Bezos, Jorge Perez, Barry Sternlicht, Stephen Ross and more call home. And beyond the billionaires, there are a number of other wealthy figures engaged in sizable philanthropy in the Sunshine State.

Born to Cuban parents in New Jersey, Miami businessman Jose “Pepe” Dans has called South Florida home since he was a child. His career began while he was still a teenager in high school, selling classified ads for a newspaper. In 2004, he founded WOW Factor as a small startup. Today, WOW Marketing has grown into a top ad agency in the state, with clients including CVS Pharmacy, Kia, Norwegian Cruise Line and Walt Disney World.

Jose and his wife Heide play an active role at nonprofits in the area, with Jose Dans sitting on the boards of Dolphins Cancer Challenge, Chapman Partnership for the Homeless, and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation. They’re also keen individual donors. IP recently caught up with Dans to find out more about his emerging giving, his plans to engage his children in philanthropy, and his thoughts on the state of philanthropy in South Florida.

“A huge leap of faith”

When Dans was 16, he found himself in need of a part-time job. His parents divorced, and in order to afford Christopher Columbus High School, a private, all-boys college prep Catholic school in Miami-Dade County, Dans got a job at The Flyer, a modest publication known for its classified ads. “If you wanted to sell your table, or a bike, or your dog had puppies, you’d call us and we’d sell you 19 words for $19 or something like that,” Dans told me.

Dans didn’t immediately take to advertising. In fact, he didn’t like it at all. He pivoted to work in collections at a bank, where he met his wife Heide, to whom he’s been married for over three decades. But his old boss from The Flyer contacted him in the early 1990s, inviting him to become the senior account executive of the Chicago Tribune. “It was a lot more money than I ever imagined I would make… I learned a lot about selling advertising the real way,” Dans said. Riding the wave, Dans eventually found his way to Univision, where he delved into event marketing, including a concert with Ricky Martin and Shakira. Then, in the early 2000s, he left to start his own business.

It was a huge leap of faith, Dans said. Throughout our conversation, Dans wasn’t shy about the role faith has played in his life, both as he launched his own company and, once he felt settled, driving his giving.

Turning to philanthropy

“I have this woman who used to pray with me,” Dans recalled. “And I remember her talking about tithing, right? And she said, ‘Do you give 10% of your earnings?’” As an entrepreneur, Dans sought early on to bake philanthropy into his business. When he launched WOW, Univision became his first client, allowing him to really hit the ground running. The first step was bringing a charitable spirit to WOW Marketing, which, beyond being an ad agency, also has an event marketing division. Dans decided to bring these tools to the fundraising space, producing major events and buying tables for charities including Chapman Partnership, which manages homeless shelters in the Miami area.

Dans sits on the board of Chapman Partnership, which has a history dating back to when Hurricane Andrew pummeled the region in 1992. Dans recalled working multiple jobs as a teenager, while his mother was also working multiple jobs to keep the family afloat. “There’s this stereotype of a homeless person that they’re either drunk or drug addicts, or bums, but that’s not the case. Sometimes, people have just been sitting in a very unfortunate situation… and before you know it, they’re living in the streets,” Dans said. He praised Chapman Partnership, and said that it doesn’t just help people get back on their feet, but truly gives them the tools to become self-sufficient again, noting that 67% of participants stay self-sufficient.

Dans also supports Dolphins Cancer Challenge, an organization which has raised over $75 million to fund life-saving research and became the top fundraising event in the NFL in that time. The seeds of the organization were planted in 2010, when the Miami Dolphins initiated a two-day cycling event aimed at raising funds for cancer research at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

As is the case with so many medical research donors, there’s a personal element here: Jose’s father passed away from cancer, and Heide overcame cancer more than a decade ago. Dans believes every dollar that can be used to develop new treatments and diagnostics is critical. There’s another personal angle to their health giving: The couple’s son is diabetic so they also support Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation.

In addition, Dans supports his alma mater Christopher Columbus High School, where he set up a scholarship program. “We sponsor just about all their events, and we’ve named the wing of the building,” Dans added.

A wealthy region

The Dans family have looked to other affluent figures in the region as they build out their philanthropy. In the early days of his giving, Dans connected with another South Florida couple, Dan and Trish Bell, and was inspired by their vision of philanthropy. Dan Bell cofounded Kos Pharmaceuticals in Miami, and the Bells have been major contributors to Chapman Partnership, as well as the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science and the Baptist Health Foundation, to which they gave a $2 million gift in 2022. “We kind of tried to model our life after them,” Dans said. “They're the biggest givers I've ever met. They have the best heart of anybody I've ever met.”

In the same vein, Dans acknowledged that there’s a huge amount of wealth in South Florida and that more people need to get involved. He called it a “giving community, but maybe not as giving as some other communities around the country,” adding that if just 10 to 15% of people of wealth in South Florida gave more regularly, it would make a huge impact across Miami.

Dans also stressed that although many people of wealth in Miami are older and have been wealthy for a long time, he’s looking toward the younger generation and thinks that younger people will need to step up in the coming years. “What happens when the older folks, the folks that have had wealth for a while, start passing away? What happens to all of these organizations unless younger people start giving?” 

That question, though, isn’t just for emerging next-generation millionaires and billionaires, Dans said, but for younger people with maybe just a six-figure net worth, who can also make an impact. As for the Dans clan, they haven’t yet gone the route of a family foundation. Right now, Dans is content with giving through his company and as a family. And by family, he doesn’t just mean his wife Heide, but his children. His son and daughter are both volunteering at Chapman Partnership and helping build its programs. “In our life, we’re trying to make it a family thing and continue to pass those blessings on to others,” Dans said.